CySKILLS-AI — Cyprus's National AI System for Aligning Education with the Labour Market

Cyprus's Research and Innovation Foundation is funding CySKILLS-AI, a three-year national AI system launched on 20 March 2026 at the CYENS Centre of Excellence in Nicosia, built to close a documented mismatch in which over 40% of Cypriot graduates cannot find work matching their qualifications even as employers report skills shortages.

The project aims to close what its designers call a 24-36 month 'intelligence latency' between labour-market shifts and curriculum change, starting with the ICT sector, where required skills evolve every 12-18 months.

CySKILLS-AI replaces manual analysis of fragmented survey data (CYGraduates, CYEmployers, EUROGRADUATE) with a three-layer AI architecture — a unified data hub, specialised AI agents for skills-mismatch analysis and forecasting, and role-specific dashboards for the Ministry of Education, higher-education institutions, employers and students. Phase A (March-November 2026) pilots the approach in the ICT sector before wider rollout, funded under the Research and Innovation Foundation's 'AI in Government' programme (grant AI IN GOV'T/0725) and led by host organisation Artemis Intelligence with CYENS Centre of Excellence, the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth, and the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy.

As a brand-new project, no outcome or impact data exists yet — only the launch announcement and the pre-existing graduate-employer mismatch statistics it aims to address.