Deans to fight college degrees
University deans attending a summit in Delphi yesterday pledged to fight European legislation requiring Greece to grant full recognition to degrees obtained from private colleges. The deans told Education Minister Evripidis Stylianidis, who attended the summit on Saturday, that they would take legal action against reforms drafted by his ministry that would grant degrees issued by private colleges the same status as those issued by public institutions. Stylianidis called on deans and professors at the country’s universities and technical colleges to let go of their «phobias» about private colleges, noting that state institutions had the «infrastructure, academic staff and funding to win the quality battle.» Stylianidis defended his ministry’s bill, saying that if it did not exist «even street kiosks would be able to issue degrees.» Deans from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) walked out of the summit, protesting that five-year degrees from their institution have not been recognized as master-level degrees.
