Education Minister Athena Michaelidou congratulated Marina Neophytou on Thursday after she became the first woman to be elected rector of the University of Cyprus.

In her statement issued on the social media platform X, Michaelidou said she was “certain cooperation would continue” between the government and academia, with the aim of “upgrading the university as well as higher education nationwide”.

Neophytou won 214 votes in the fourth round of voting on Wednesday, in a hotly contested election, with it being the first time some five candidates stood for the post.

Neophytou has been dean of the engineering school since 2023 and is a professor of environmental engineering.

As head of the civil engineering department from 2021 to 2023, she helped start an undergraduate environmental engineering programme, the first of its kind in Cyprus, which began in 2025.

She holds a BA, a master’s in engineering and a doctorate from Cambridge University, all on full scholarships.

She has held visiting positions at ETH Zurich, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Los Alamos national laboratory in the United States.

Neophytou will serve a four-year term until 2030 and is expected to take office in mid-December.