2023-05-16 06:28:37
And after failing the National Examinations, what? Where do 18-year-olds go and what do they choose who don’t want to take the National Examinations again or those who don’t want or can’t afford to leave for studies abroad? “K” maps the large admissions pool of high school graduates who choose a different path than the public university: private colleges. These are young people from middle and low economic strata, but there are also those from wealthy families. The majority of college students did not choose them because they were “locked out” from public HEIs due to the Minimum Admission Base (MBA) in effect from 2021, as recently put into public debate by the official opposition.
On the contrary, Brexit has “premiumed” Greek private colleges with students who can no longer study, due to rising costs, in Britain. Those “cut off from EBE” choose Vocational Training Institutes (VET). Cumulatively, students in colleges and IEK in our country approach 100,000.
“I missed the career guidance from school. In retrospect I found that I was not interested in political science which was my original aim to study at university. So I chose to study business administration at a college in Athens that cooperates with a British university,” 22-year-old Sofia Kanellopoulou told “K”.. “At Panhellenic I collected about 14,000 credits, but I didn’t get into the schools I wanted in the field of health sciences. I could have been admitted somewhere, but I preferred to study psychology in college,” 18-year-old Zacharias Ofman adds from his side to “K”.
Based on data from the Association of Hellenic Colleges, during the current academic year 2022-2023 a total of 28,063 students are studying at the colleges, the vast majority of which are based in Athens and Thessaloniki. According to the Ministry of Education, officially instituted colleges in Greece are 32. However, the foreign HEIs with branches in Greece are 30: 25 British, 2 French, 2 American and 1 Czech. The difference is due to the fact that a university can collaborate with more than two colleges and vice versa.
Colleges have seen a 10% increase in their students in the current academic year 2022-2023 compared to 2021-2022. “The increase is not due to the establishment of the minimum import base, but to Brexit. Many Greek children who used to choose to study in Britain, now prefer a Greek college, which cooperates with a British university and functions as its branch in our country. In Britain now due to Brexit both the cost of tuition fees and the cost of living have increased especially for a non-British citizen”. observes in “K” the president of the Association Mr. Vassilis Daskalakis.
Research
Brexit has “premiumed” Greek colleges with students who, due to rising costs, cannot study in Britain.
According to research by Mr. Yiannis Kiuvrekis, associate professor at the Univ. of Thessalia, and Mr. Georgios Andrikopoulos, scientific associate at the same institution, seven out of ten (68%) students stated that they did not have college as their first choice, in contrast to the remaining 32%. One in two (54%) chose to study in college because they were not admitted through Panhelladics to the Greek HEI they wanted. In justifying their choice of college, 43% indicated that they wanted to study near their parents. In terms of college students’ socioeconomic status, 32% reported that their family’s financial status is stable, 27% consistently good, 24% that it is moderate, 13% reported that their family’s financial status is not good and 4% that it is very good. Most college students study at the undergraduate level, with annual tuition fees for undergraduate programs ranging from 4,500 to 8,000 euros and for postgraduates from 7,000 to 9,000 euros.
One in four IEK students chose to return to the desks having completed their studies at a Higher Educational Institution!
“Studies are not easy, the student has to work to respond. We ask for a good knowledge of English at the level of the proficiency diploma. For example, the student cannot take as many exams as he wants to pass a course. At the same time, of course, the audiences are small, if we compare them to public universities, attendance is mandatory, while there is guidance of the students from the professors.” Mr. Ioannis Ververidis stated to “K”, general secretary of the Association of Greek Colleges. “Certainly, all colleges do not have the same requirements, which are also related to which foreign university each college cooperates with,” adds Mr. Ververidis, estimating that children who do not enter public universities because they did not overcome a school’s low grade EBE, they go to IEK and not to private colleges.
Moreover, the outgoing government gave importance to the strengthening of public IEKs in the context of the upgrading of post-secondary education and training. Thus, it enables those who do not pass the EBE to complete a “parallel computer program”, as it is called, in order to claim a place in a public IEK. Based on the data of the General Secretariat of Vocational Education, Training and Lifelong Learning of the Ministry of Education, the electronic form that the graduates of the Panhellenic Examinations could fill in in 2022 contained 519 sections of public IEK. In 2022, 13,472 students were admitted through the parallel computer system to the public IEK, while 20,432 applications were submitted. In 2021, 8,594 students were admitted through the parallel computer program, while 22,790 applications were submitted.
“I chose to study the specialty of Interior Architectural Decoration and Object Design. It’s the specialty I’m interested in, but I didn’t manage to get through the Panhellenic exams in the corresponding university department. This specialty has very good professional prospects”, remarked 19-year-old Anna-Maria Zouberi speaking to “K”.who studies at the public thematic IEK Aegaleo.
Vocational training
The value of professional education and training began to be clearly reflected in recent years amid the economic crisis that the country went through. At that time, there was an increase in interest in studying at IEK. It is typical that one in four IEK students chose to return to the desks after completing their studies at a university. According to a survey by KANEP-GSEE, in 2020 a total of 23.9% of students at IEK were university (9.9%) or TEI (9.2%) graduates, while 4.8% held a master’s or doctoral degree . The rest were high school graduates (46.4%), TEE (11.5%) and IEK (18%). The percentage of IEK students with a previous higher education degree almost quintupled, as in 2012 the percentage of HEI graduates studying at IEK was 5.2%. The reason is clear: unemployed higher education graduates who choose to specialize in a subject related to their studies, with the aim of joining the labor market, study at IEK.
The numbers
They preferred IEK
22.790 applications submitted in 2021
8.594 students were admitted in 2021 through the parallel computer program in the public IEK.
20.432 applications submitted in 2022
13.472 students were admitted in 2022 through the parallel computer program in the public IEK.
1.400 candidates declared in 2022 the specialty of IT application technician (web designer) and as many as the specialty of nursery nurse. These are the most popular specialties.
1,000-1,700 euros are the annual tuition fees at private IEK.
College studies
28.063 are students in Greek colleges during the current academic year 2022-2023. There was a 10% increase over 2021-2022.
4,500-8,000 euros the annual tuition fees of the colleges’ undergraduate programs vary.
7,000-9,000 euros college graduate program tuition varies.
#cut #base