A group of eminent academics has been assigned to overhaul the institutional framework governing the operation of Greece’s universities with the aim of tackling the phenomenon of the “eternal student” and reforming outdated practices.

Eight university professors have accepted the Education Ministry’s invitation to oversee the reform of a framework established more than 20 years ago, following the fall of the military junta.

The problem of university students prolonging their studies beyond the prescribed four or six years will be one of the academics’ chief challenges, according to National Education Council President Thanos Veremis, who is heading the committee.

The principle of university asylum, which forbids police and judicial access to university grounds, will also be reviewed.

The system by which deans are elected — students’ ballots count for 80 percent of the final vote and professors’ ballots just 20 percent — will also be debated.

“The situation is ripe for change,” Ionian University Dean Dimitris Tsougarakis told Kathimerini ahead of a deans’ summit due in Corfu this weekend.