History of Global Semesters

30 Years in Higher Education

Global Semesters was spun out of the University of Nicosia, the leading university in Cyprus, in 2003.

The University of Nicosia has long been a leader in international education in Cyprus. At any point in time, about 1,000 degree-seeking international students, primarily from Europe and Asia, attend the University of Nicosia. The University of Nicosia has also played a leading role in intra-European study abroad, founding the European Association of Erasmus Coordinators and hosting the first General Assembly in Cyprus.

We founded Global Semesters as a separate organization in order to focus on understanding and supporting the unique characteristics of North American study abroad students and develop world-class study abroad programs.

Over the last 30 years, through the University of Nicosia, we educated almost 20,000 students from practically every country in the world. Currently, The University of Nicosia has three campuses in Cyprus with about 7,000 students from over 85 countries and is one of the major sponsors of political, social and economic research in Cyprus.

Today we operate over 60 programs based at nineteen host universities in Cyprus, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Argentina, Italy and China.

That said, we maintain strong ties with the University of Nicosia. Our Chairman, Dr. Andreas Polemitis, has been the Academic Dean of the University of Nicosia for 25 years. Our operational headquarters are adjacent to the University of Nicosia in Cyprus and many of our study abroad programs are hosted at the University of Nicosia.  Our admissions and institutional relations teams are based in Manhattan in New York.