CIU Runs a Free Counseling Center for Students

For international students at Cyprus International University, this matters: help for anxiety, adaptation problems, or exam stress is available on campus and costs nothing.

The Psychological Counseling and Guidance Center (PCGC-PDAREM) has operated since 2000. It is free for registered undergraduate and postgraduate students and for staff. No extra fee, no insurance claim needed.

Services include short-term individual counseling, psychological assessment, guidance, and student workshops or seminars on well-being.

Sessions run 45 to 50 minutes, once a week, with the same counselor each time. Timing is arranged around both the student's and counselor's availability. The center works under the Turkish Psychological Association's 2004 ethics regulation and the British Psychological Society's 2021 guidelines.

Support covers a wide range: anxiety disorders, exam anxiety, depression, adaptation problems, psychosocial issues, phobias, stress, anger control, abuse or neglect, academic problems, attention difficulties, relationship problems, procrastination, and grief. For newly arrived students, adaptation and exam anxiety are likely the most relevant categories.

A first session is an assessment: the student and counselor talk through the concern and decide together whether regular follow-up sessions are needed.

On confidentiality, the center states plainly: "No information will be disclosed to the academic and administrative staff." Nothing leaves the center without the student's written consent.

The team is led by Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eliz Volkan, with psychologists Zeynep Suiçmez and Sinan Törer, based in the library building (LR210/LR212). Contact is by phone (+90 392 671 1111, ext. 2086 or 2030) or email (pdarem@ciu.edu.tr).

If you're comparing universities, in-house mental health support is worth checking case by case — see all 19 accredited TRNC universities for how services stack up, and the safety guide for students for broader support options in North Cyprus.