Education minister unveils draft bill for non-state, non-profit universities in Greece

In addition, they will also have to meet any additional criteria imposed by the parent foreign university, he said.

The minister was presenting the draft bill allowing the founding of non-state, non-profit universities in the country, which is to be posted for public consultation by Wednesday evening.

Pierrakakis explained that prospective students must also meet the minimum pass mark for the subject they intend to study, which will be calculated by multiplying the average exam mark for the particular subject by 0.8.

The minister said that the minimum cost for founding such a branch of a foreign university in Greece will be 2.0 million euros, with 500,000 euros allocated to each of the three departments it is required to have and another 500,000 for buildings. An exception will be made for the top 20 universities in the world rankings, which will have the option of founding a branch with a single department.

He said that the criteria for founding non-state universities will be the strictest in Europe and supervised by the National Authority for Higher Education, while the branches will be legal entities of university education linked to the parent university, which will be responsible for the curriculum. They will not be permitted to employ faculty members who also teach in the state universities.
According to Pierrakakis, anyone with a school leaving certificate from another country that is equivalent to that of Greece, or an international baccalaureate can enroll in a non-state university without sitting exams.