Results of the Pancyprian exams for university entrants were announced on Wednesday, Education Minister Athena Michaelidou said, noting that over 5000 students participated this year.
Students taking the exams were seeking spots in state higher education in Cyprus and Greece and military schools in Greece.
Michaelidou said that 5,250 candidates were eligible to take the exams for higher education in Cyprus and Greece, of whom 5,004 sat the exams.
She added that with the current distribution, 2,974 places are available, of which 1,689 are at the University of Cyprus, 1,185 at Cyprus University of Technology (Tepak), and 100 at the military schools of Greece.
The head of the exams service, Demetris Chandriotis said that the results for access to Greek universities and the application process for them would be announced in the coming days.
The examinations service will announce the ranking of each candidate for Greek universities on the ministry website.
Top marks on the exams were received by 12 students, the ministry announced.
As clarified during the announcement, a candidate may have received top marks in one subject, but secured a place in a school belonging to another subject, depending on the order of preferences the student had listed.
Michaelidou said that with publication of the results, the cycle of this year’s Pancyprian exams is completed, and they were a complete success.
“All the provisions of the existing legislation have been followed precisely and without exception, as always, in order to ensure the immutability and objectivity that make these examinations an institution whose reliability is widely recognised,” she added.
She noted that 337 teachers worked on grading the exams, while each answer booklet was graded by two people and if there was a discrepancy of more than 10 per cent of the total grade, it was remarked by a third teacher.
Speaking after a cabinet session, Michaelidou congratulated the students that were successful and thanked all the teachers and staff involved in the entire exams process.