Education Minister Evripidis Stylianidis met yesterday with Britain Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell, as Britain turns up the pressure on Greece to recognize qualifications obtained by students at some of the country’s private colleges that collaborate with British institutions.

It is the third time this year that the two men have met and, speaking at an event organized by the Association of Greek Colleges, Rammell suggested that Greece had to do more to ensure that the university franchise system operates smoothly. “It would be suicidal for a British institution to enter into a cooperation of questionable quality with a college if the high standards required are not met,” he said.

During his meeting with Stylianidis, Rammell raised the issue of the Greek public sector automatically recognizing, as the private sector does, degrees obtained at British Universities as being equivalent to Greek degrees.