A landmark ruling by an administrative appeals court yesterday ordered the state to pay 50,000-euro fine to the owner of a private college after its degree certificates were ranked below those granted by state universities.

The verdict overturned an earlier ruling by a lower court that had justified the decision by the National Academic Recognition and Information Center (DOATAP) to deny degrees from the college equal status.

The court rapped DOATAP for “not recognizing the professional parity of degrees granted by higher education institutions in the European Union.” It said DOATAP’s move had had a “negative impact on the reputation of the college,” which operates as a franchise of a French university. “DOATAP is entitled to examine whether studies are of equal value to those carried out at Greek universities, not whether part or all of these studies are carried out at a private college in Greece,” it added.