Universities and higher education institutions in Greece that have not held elections for the composition of their new management councils are in grave and imminent danger of losing state financial support.

A severe ultimatum was issued by the Education Ministry to all universities and technology institutes that have not yet complied with the provisions of the law 4009/11 voted through parliament last September.

So far only two of more than 60 higher education institutions have completed the process and the ministry has announced that financial support will cease after 15 January.

Opposition to the law, regarded by the academic community as an attempt to privatise state higher education via the back door, was expressed by the majority of university rectors and they have vied to render it inoperative.

The government, which has cut state financing to universities by between 40% and 50% in the past year as a result of the country's dire economic situation, is now threatening to stop aid altogether unless the provisions of the law are adhered to.

The rectors on the other hand claim that the law is unconstitutional and have appealed to the State Council, the highest judiciary authority in the country. The case will be heard on 3 February.

Meanwhile, Deputy Education Minister Professor Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos has met with a delegation of rectors in an attempt to discuss specific proposals for a mutually acceptable solution to the problem.

It is thought that if the ministry tacitly agrees to extend the 15 January deadline and the rectors commit to a date when the electoral process would be completed, an agreement between the two sides might be possible.

The thorn in the flesh for the rectors is changes in law making university budgets the responsibility of elected management councils in future instead of the university senate. They asked for the suspension of that part of the law but both Education Minister Anna Diamantopoulou and Arvanitopoulos were against the idea.

It is interesting to note that the hostile climate against the higher education law when it was first voted in parliament has completely evaporated; more significantly, there are now large numbers of professors clearly supporting the law, putting pressure on rectors to change their stance.

At a meeting of the professors' association at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Rector John Mylopoulos, a staunch opponent of the law since its inception, was accused of deliberately adopting an obstructionist trade union mentality towards the legislation.

Mylopoulos claimed that his critics were a very small minority who were motivated by personal interests, and issued a long statement defending his own and the senate's actions, blaming the education ministry for taking contradictory decisions and imposing tight timetables.

He also said that discussions between the rectors' coordinating committee and the deputy education minister were being carried out in a spirit of accord and were likely to produce positive results.

"In any case," he said, "neither tension, polarity and discord among academics, nor threats and blackmail on the part of the ministry, promote good relations in the academic community and should be avoided."

Meanwhile, Diamantopoulou has tabled a bill before parliament for the reform of secondary education and changes in the system of examinations for university entry.

"A government based on the consensus of several parties in parliament is the ideal environment for the promotion of educational subjects," Diamantopoulou said, referring to the coalition government currently in Greece headed by banker Lukas Papadimos and the participation of the extreme right wing party.

"I hope this consensus continues to exist."

universityworldnews.com