Education reforms are the cornerstone of government policy and will introduce changes that are expected by the majority of Greeks, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said yesterday.

Karamanlis, who met earlier with representatives from New Democracy’s student group (DAP), repeated the government’s commitment to upgrading the tertiary system.

Greece has been pushing through changes to universities and technical colleges in a bid to make the sector more competitive at an international level. The Education Ministry is expected to soon unveil two new pieces of proposed legislation relating to postgraduate degrees and university research. The bills are seen by some as a move to help the conservative government shift focus from a recent bond scandal to its more popular reforms policy.