There are very strict criteria for private universities, they are the strictest in the EU, underlined the Minister of Education Kyriakos Pierrakakis, speaking to the TV station “SKAI”.
As Kyriakos Pierrrakakis pointed out, “the Legal Entities of University Education only concern strategic partnerships and presence in our country, there are quality conditions. Those who come will only be serious, and there is interest from serious universities. They will be branches with a minimum of 30 teachers, minimum, for the ETHAEE to consider the application. Secondly, a minimum of three faculties as in Greek public universities, with the exception of if a university is in the Top 20 universities of the world. These are just some of the criteria, they have to do research, and the teachers will develop in a similar way to the public ones.”
“Currently we have 40,000 Greeks studying abroad according to the criteria of foreign universities
These, he added, are non-profit branches of foreign universities. “There are also some rules that we must observe in relation to the entire existing constitutional imprint of how higher education works in our country. The ones that were published are the “cutters”, they are the minimum, because firstly each school will set its own criteria, which secondly should be the same as the parent university, and thirdly these criteria should be approved by us as well. The National Authority for Higher Education (ETHAAE) will also receive the criteria in the file”.
“We have over 30 colleges in our country”
He finally emphasized that “at the moment we have 40,000 Greeks studying abroad according to the criteria of foreign universities. As long as there is recognition by DOATAP, there is automatically equivalence and the professional qualifications. We have more than 30 colleges in our country. Greece has been led by EU jurisprudence to recognize the professional rights of these colleges. The major has already been recognized without strong rules because for decades we have treated this subject as a taboo and we hide behind our finger.”