As former, current or future students of the University of Cyprus, a prestigious young university aiming high, with an important record of successes and of valid academic excellence,

we ask for student evaluations to be considered in our teachers’ promotion and tenure decisions.

Motivated by the recent promotion evaluation cases of two exceptional educators and among the most prominent academic teachers of the Department of Business and Public administration, namely Dr. George Kassinis, who was not granted Professorship, and Dr. Alexia Panayiotou, who was negatively evaluated for tenure by her evaluation committee facing now the threat of dismissal, we strongly believe that any academic evaluation process that does not bear new generations into consideration is microscopic, non-sustainable and eventually doomed to fail. The quality of academia should not be defined solely on the basis of quantitative rankings regarding research productivity; most importantly, it should be defined on the basis of the impact it bears to the new generation of scientists it is called to nurture. Unfortunately, the system as is punishes those that devote time and effort to be good educators and gives credit to those that focus solely on research, frequently neglecting teaching. This should change!

We therefore ask for student evaluations to be considered in any promotion and tenure decision, towards a more sustainable form of systemic evolution and in order for the quality of education of the University of Cyprus to increase.