The Winery School of the Technical School in Omodos has completed four years of operation, attended by six to seven young people annually, 40% of the students attending the school. As the director of Secondary Technical Vocational Education, Elias Markatzis, told us, a local winery hosts the teacher and the students for practical training. The program covers from planting the vineyard, grooming, harvesting, transporting the grapes to the winery, to marketing, so the school has a vineyard that the trainees take care of and learn to positively influence the quality of the wine.
Mr. Markatziis indicated that buses have been launched to facilitate the transport of students from communities in the area, which is a free of charge service. He stressed that young people who attend Oenology are enthusiastic and this is a great success, since they come from wine villages and enter directly into the labor market that needs them, if they do not continue their studies.
Oenologist and winemaker Sophocles Vlasides told us that the results from the operation of the school have are not yet entirely visible, but added that professionals in the sector are fully in agreement with the idea, since one of the problems in the field of winemaking throughout Cyprus is the lack of technical staff, "who you can trust to work in the winery and have knowledge so that you can rely on them". He added that through this school we can win this part, while pointing out that a culture must be created in order for students to appreciate the industry and not consider working in a winery demeaning. "That is, to have people with knowledge and love for the sector, so that they can perform", Sophocles Vlassides concluded.
An important development for the wine villages of Limassol is also the creation of a Sommelier School in Vouni by the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), with the assistance of the Community and the Limassol Development Agency. The head of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management of CUT, Antonis Theocharous, said that an agreement with the community will be officially signed on November 4, in the presence of the Minister of Agriculture and the Deputy Minister of Tourism.
The old primary school and the building of the Wine Information Centre in Vouni will be used for the operation of the school. As Professor Theocharous told us, the Sommelier School will make pat of the CUT Academy of Tourism, which is the evolution of the HHIC. It will have its administrative headquarters in Paphos, but the courses will take place in Vouni. A feasibility study is currently being carried out and the school will start with a staff of two or three that will be expanded, if embraced by society and the economy.
Antonis Theocharous pointed out that there is more than expected interest from ordinary citizens, for whom fast track courses will be offered (e.g. for two weekends, attracting people to the community), beyond the two-year course of studies that will be offered by CUT and will be recognized by the Agency of Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency. Mr. Theocharous estimated that by December the feasibility study will be put before the Strategic Planning Committee, then it will be approved by the Senate and "if everything goes well", come early 2025 it will operate with a certified program, while from 2024 seminars will be organized for ordinary people.
