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Greece has more students but fewer graduates

Greece has more students but fewer graduates

Greece may have a large number of registered university students as a percentage of its population but it lags drastically behind other European countries when it comes to the ratio of graduates to the total number of students.

According to data from the latest report of the Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (ADIP) presented by Kathimerini, in 2017 there were 735,027 registered students – undergraduates and postgraduates, including so-called “eternal” students that drag their studies on indefinitely.

The figure accounts for 6.83 percent of the total population of the country and is the highest among European Union member states and almost double the European average of 3.87 percent.

However, Greece is in last place on the European scale in terms of graduates against the total number of students, with 9.41 percent in 2017, while the EU average was 24.15 percent.

The authority notes that the Greek percentage is being dragged downwards by the “eternal” students, a concept alien in other European countries. 

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