Multilingual Trends in Cypriot Education: Shifting Dynamics in Secondary and Vocational Studies

Overview of Foreign Language Learning in Cyprus

New Eurostat data underscores significant disparities in foreign language learning across educational levels in Cyprus. At the lower-secondary level, an impressive 79.8% of students study two or more foreign languages—well above the EU average of 59.5%. However, this figure reflects a decline of 11.8 percentage points since 2013, signaling a worrisome downward trend in early multilingual proficiency.

Divergent Trends in Upper-Secondary Education

In upper-secondary general education, only 33.2% of Cypriot students engaged in studying multiple languages in 2023, a stark contrast to the EU’s 60% benchmark. This 26.8 percentage-point drop over the past decade is the steepest decline recorded among EU nations. In stark contrast, vocational programmes on the island have experienced a dramatic 50.2 percentage-point increase since 2013, positioning Cyprus as a leader in multilingual growth among vocational students.

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Comparative European Landscape

Multilingualism across Europe remains robust in general education, although recent figures indicate a slight decrease from 60.8% in 2022. Countries such as France (99.8%), Romania (99.1%), and Czechia (98.5%) lead the way, with Finland and Luxembourg also reporting exceptionally high participation rates of 97.7% and 97.3%, respectively. Conversely, nations like Portugal, Ireland, and Spain lag significantly behind, with only 6.7%, 10.4%, and 22.4% of students, respectively, studying multiple languages.

Vocational Education: A Study in Extremes

The landscape in vocational education is even more disparate. Romania stands at the forefront with 97.2% of vocational students studying two or more languages, followed by Finland (85%) and Poland (78%). Slovenia and Estonia also show strong performance with 71.4% and 65.8%, respectively. In comparison, Spain and Greece exhibit minimal engagement in multilingual studies, each with just 0.1% of their vocational student population.

Dominance of English and Emerging Linguistic Trends

English continues to reign supreme in European foreign language curricula, with 96.0% of upper-secondary general students and 80.1% of vocational pupils studying the language. Cyprus not only demonstrates near-universal English learning but also distinguishes itself with a notably high proportion of pupils studying French at 53.9%, one of the highest in the EU. Additionally, Russian has gained traction among vocational learners, with approximately 15% of students opting for it as a second language.

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Copyright Law Struggles To Keep Up With AI Training

by News Editor

August 24, 2026

Courts Are Still Applying Old Copyright Rules To AI

AI companies train models on enormous amounts of published material, including books, articles and academic research. Whether using that content without authors’ permission violates copyright law remains unresolved.

Much of the debate centres on fair use, which allows copyrighted material to be used without permission in certain circumstances. Courts consider factors such as the purpose of the use, how much material was involved and its impact on the original market.

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Anthropic Case Sets An Important Precedent

A major case involving Anthropic and a group of authors provided one of the clearest rulings so far. Judge William Alsup found that using copyrighted books to train AI models was lawful, comparing the process to people reading and studying literature before creating something new.

Anthropic was nevertheless ordered to pay $1.5 billion in a settlement. The penalty concerned books the company had obtained from illegal online libraries rather than the AI training itself.

For AI companies, that distinction could prove significant because it separates studying copyrighted material from directly copying it.

Competition Could Be The Key Issue

A case involving Thomson Reuters and Ross Intelligence offers a different perspective. A court ruled that Ross could not claim fair use after using Reuters’ copyrighted material to develop a competing AI-powered legal research platform.

The decision suggests courts may be less willing to consider AI training fair use when copyrighted content is used to build a product that directly competes with the original.

For authors, an unresolved question is whether AI-generated content should be considered competition for the works used to train these models.

The Law Has Yet To Catch Up

US copyright law predates generative AI by decades, leaving courts to apply old principles to new technology. Questions also remain over copyright protection for AI-generated works. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, a court ruled that material created entirely by AI cannot receive copyright protection.

Major AI companies remain involved in copyright litigation, and different courts could reach different conclusions. For now, there is no universal rule: the legality of AI training will depend on the circumstances of each case and how courts ultimately interpret copyright and fair use.

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