NEWS

State sees low return on education investment

Every graduate degree from a public university costs the Greek state between 5,000-95,000 euros, Kathimerini understands, with Athens Medical School topping the price scale.

Greek universities receive 97.9 percent of their funding from the state – the highest rate among the 35 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – raising concerns that it is getting a low return on its investment as an increasing number of graduates with specialized degrees look for work abroad.

“In many specific academic areas 90 percent of the investment is lost,” according to Theodoros Hadzipantelis, a professor of applied statistics at the Aristotle University.

For example, data show that 1,554 Greek medical school graduates worked in Germany in 2007, a figure that shot up to 6,000 in 2012.

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