Fines to prompt college move
The government is planning to grant graduates of private colleges in Greece the same professional rights as their counterparts from state universities, in accordance with European Union law, to avoid the imposition of a 600,000-euro one-off fine followed by daily 15,000-euro penalties, sources told Kathimerini yesterday. According to these sources, Education Minister Anna Diamantopoulou requested, and was granted, a two-month grace period in which to conform to an EU directive dictating that graduates of foreign colleges – branches of foreign universities operating as franchises – be granted the same professional status as those from regular universities. Diamantopoulou has reportedly said that breaking the deadlock with private colleges is a priority for the Education Ministry and that a controversial law passed by the previous conservative government, paving the way for the operation of private colleges, would not be radically reformed but only subject to some light tweaking. The minister, who served as European commissioner for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities between 1999 and 2004, reportedly expressed her concerns about the looming fines from Brussels during a meeting with university deans yesterday and appealed to them to form strong alliances in the academic community to deal with the strong reactions the recognition of private colleges is likely to provoke. Speaking after the meeting, the dean of the National Technical University of Athens, Constantinos Moutzouris, stressed the importance of establishing «quality guarantees» for private colleges. «We must put in place strict criteria for the inspection of private colleges,» he told Kathimerini. «Otherwise we cannot proceed with a new legislative framework,» he added. According to sources, the university deans agreed upon the importance of launching a dialogue regarding the quality of education at all levels.
