Greek Parliament on Saturday approved the conservative New Democracy (ND) government’s education reform bill, which authorises the establishment of private universities in the country.
It was approved by 159 to 129 votes out of 299 lawmakers voting, with eleven lawmakers abstaining.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis defended the bill during the plenary debate. It will strengthen public education and give a new generation of young people equal academic opportunities, according to the prime minister.
PM added that private universities will be able to operate as Greek branches of foreign educational institutions, some of which are already keen to operate in Greece: “Greece cannot remain any longer captive to doctrines and anachronistic concepts.”
However, there was also a contrary opinion: the leader of the main opposition SYRIZA, Stefanos Kasselakis, maintained that the bill would turn universities into supermarkets. The president of the social-democratic PASOK party, Nikos Androulakis, also underlined that the bill does not propose a real reform of higher education.
Greece has 24 accredited public universities, as well as several private colleges.
The Constitution had previously prohibited private institutions from operating as independent universities of post-secondary education, but colleges have entered into co-operation agreements with foreign universities, thus overcoming the restrictions.
