What is normal elsewhere in the EU is met with criticism in Greece: the government’s plan to allow private universities caused violent protests. Now Parliament has decided.
The Greek Parliament approved the admission of private universities in Greece late on Friday evening, despite numerous protests. 159 members of the 300-seat parliament voted for the corresponding law. 129 voted against, as the parliamentary presidency announced.
During the debate, thousands of students, professors, pupils and teachers demonstrated in front of the parliament building. There were temporary clashes between autonomous people and the police. Rioters threw incendiary devices and officers used tear gas. According to the rescue service, 16 people were slightly injured. Police said there were three arrests. Reporters on site reported that the situation had calmed down in the evening.
Students should stay in the country
The issue has kept Greece in suspense for weeks: private universities have so far not been permitted in order to underline the general right to education in the country. Critics fear that by allowing private institutions, higher education will only be available to an elite in the future and state universities will be neglected.
Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis rejected these allegations, saying: “Today more than 40,000 Greeks study abroad and spend valuable foreign currency there.” These young people could spend the money domestically in the future. This will also reduce the phenomenon of “brain drain”. Many young Greeks move abroad to study because education is considered to be of higher quality there. However, the young people often stay at the respective university after completing their studies and are therefore missing from the Greek labor market.
Criticism of the government’s education plans
State universities would not fall behind, Mitsotakis assured during the parliamentary debate. They want to invest a billion euros in the universities in the medium term. The opposition questioned this: They accused the conservative government of planning a kind of “supermarket formation”, according to which only those who had the appropriate financial resources would be taken into account. The first private universities are expected to open next year.