Pierrakakis: We set the stricter criteria in Europe for the operation of non-public universities

The operation criteria of non-public, non-profit universities that will be founded as departments of major and acclaimed international institutions in cooperation with the Greek public universities, will be the stricter in Europe, Education, Religion and Sports Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis underlined in an interview with ANTENNA TV on Thursday referring to the new bill that is already characterised “a historic reform”.

Pierrakakis pointed out the reasons for this development. “Greece is the only country in the world that this order of things does not exist in the higher education, the prospect to reverse the brain drain both educationally and economically and the huge opportunity for Greece to become a regional educational centre as Cyprus, with major benefits for the education, the social mobility and the economy”.

Referring to public universities, he said that “we will fund them with over 1 billion euros while resolving all the institutional wrongdoings that keep them hostage, because we want a free public university. We want the public university free from the bureaucracy that keeps it hostage and at the same time we seek its internationalization through a series of partnerships.” According to Pierrakakis, the possibility of foreign universities to establish postgraduate or undergraduate studies in Greece “is a social request after years of isolation.”