A new era for universities
The government has taken a key step in the direction of getting Greek universities to open up to the marketplace and private entrepreneurship.
Under the new rules, universities, technical colleges (TEIs), and research centers will no longer be subjected to strict state control, and will be able to secure funding from European Union programs and the private sector – in other words, they can receive economic support from private companies that have an interest in investing in the development of a particular technology.
The initiative is naturally being resisted by a group of university academics and unionists who want to keep the country’s academic institutions as they are now: pretty much a closed club for mediocre scientists and those who are used to building a career with the help of partisan ties.
However, there is no such thing as research that does not in some way correspond to some kind of market need, even in the world’s last remaining socialist states.
