Evaluating the evaluators
The agreement by the heads of tertiary technical colleges (TEI) to accept a controversial plan to evaluate their institutions – including their course outlines and teachers – is a welcome development that opens the way for some of them to have independent postgraduate programs. Let’s hope those few resisting will stop, since their resistance is neither logical nor in line with international practice. It is completely inconceivable for teachers, whose job it is to evaluate students, to refuse to be evaluated themselves. Both the Education Ministry and the National Education Council appear to be immovable in their intention to implement the decision, regardless of their obligations to comply with European Union «norms» and directives. Another step in the right direction is the Education Ministry’s decision to end the unacceptable trend of lifelong students – something only seen in Greece – by establishing an upper time limit for the permissible number of years study in each faculty. But the state should also bear in mind that the student body includes not only young people being supported by their families during their studies but also people who are supporting themselves while studying. People in such circumstances need some leeway to finish their degrees, so it would be unjust to totally restrict their access to education.
