In what is being considered shocking news for the academic community in Cyprus and beyond, Panos Pashardes, the former head of the University of Cyprus’s Economic Research Centre (ERC), passed away at the age of 68 last Sunday.
The late professor, who joined the University of Cyprus in 1994, previously received his economics degree in 1973 at the University of Athens in Greece, and master’s as well as his PhD at the Birkbeck College of the University of London in 1975 and 1979 respectively.
Professor Pashardes has a broad range of knowledge as regards economics, but made his specializations in in public and welfare economics, consumer behavior, Cypriot economy and applied econometrics. Throughout his academic career, he has published dozens of academic journals, many of which stand as staple texts for reference.
Pashardes’ views on economic policies were largely liberal in nature, despite the fact that he was himself a member of the socialist party Edek. He even publicly advocated privatization of state-owned enterprises including (but not limited to) telecoms company Cyta, and supported overhaul of human resource management in the public sector.
The loss of the ace academic comes as a big shock and massive loss for the academic community – both in Cyprus and other European countries.
