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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic view on e-learning-related concepts as a basis for an e-learning strategy. Furthermore, it aims to shed light on the level of application of existing open-source learning management systems (LMS) by the public and private universities of Cyprus. Due to a currently existing information gap in the field, the study should rather be seen as an exploratory descriptive snapshot to create initial awareness based on which further hypotheses can be derived for future studies. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative research has been conducted in this study with an online questionnaire distributed to all the public and private universities in Cyprus. Findings – The conducted research analysis results clearly illustrate the comparisons among different features and services of an e-learning platform. Additionally, the analysis results highlighted the tendency of the participants toward a social learning environment which was considerably high in using social networks and other collaboration platforms, as students were more attracted to those e-learning platforms that integrate social learning elements such as various social media tools. Research limitations/implications – The only data collection method used was the online questionnaire. Even though it provided the researchers with sound and useful outcomes in a considerably short time, the validity of the results was not properly justified. The findings cannot claim to be representative. The main reason of selecting only one type of data collection method, i.e. questionnaire was the limited time of completing the research. Another significant limitation was the very low co-operation level of some of the universities under study which resulted in having less reliable results, as the response rates of some universities were merely 1 per cent. Originality/value – This research study provides a comprehensive body of knowledge about LMS and e-learning, in general, within the public and private universities in Cyprus. In other terms, the results of this study enhance the existing knowledge about the e-learning features as well as demonstrating the tendency of the students toward social learning within an LMS.