The case of a faculty member at the Cyprus University of Technology who was convicted of criminal offences but continues to work at the institution resurfaced during parliamentary scrutiny of the university’s 2026 budget.
The issue was raised at the House Education Committee, where MPs requested clarification on the institutional handling of the matter and the image projected by a public university in such circumstances.
According to previously disclosed information, the academic was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for offences committed in connection with European Union funding for the implementation of EU programmes.
Following the conviction, CUT’s Disciplinary Committee imposed compulsory retirement. The academic appealed the decision and, after the appeal was examined, the University Senate ruled to suspend his eligibility for promotion for three years. As a result, he remains in his post at the university.
The case had also been debated in the past. In March 2022, the House Education Committee discussed the need for disciplinary regulations governing academic and other staff at Cyprus’s two public universities.
Those regulations were subsequently approved by the plenary of Parliament. However, they do not contain a provision mandating automatic dismissal for academics sentenced to imprisonment, as applies in the wider Public Service.
This leaves discretion to the Senate of CUT, as well as that of the University of Cyprus, to decide on disciplinary measures on a case-by-case basis.