“Eternal” half of the students when the government presents the bill for private universities

He has entered the final phase Draft Law on UniversitiesIt aims to improve most of the public universities, while also including criteria for establishing branches of foreign universities in our country.

At the same time, one out of every two students in Greek HEIs belong to the “eternal” category, while the laws on exempting universities from people who maintain student status 15-20 years after admission are not applied.

The issue came to the fore after famous basketball player Nicos Pappas appeared before the Assembly of the Law Society of Athens, as he had the right to do since he was admitted in 2008 without exams after the national victory. The youth team won the gold medal at the U18 Pan-European Championships in Tower.

Nicos Pappas voted in favour to become A career in law In reaction to the Pierrakaki bill, He never appeared in his school even during his career as a professional basketball player.

Recently, his name has been mentioned for various positions in Syriza – from Athens mayor to Eurolist, where he was fired after the referendum, Stephanos Kasselakis announced open primary elections – once the visit was again banned.

Of course, Papa's case is not unique, except that he is a famous former athlete, nor are all members of the larger group of “eternal” students facing similar problems. According to university data, in the last 2022 census, of the 704,047 registered undergraduate students, 324,461 or 46.09% exceeded the maximum study period limit.

In the final Act of 2022, the maximum study hours are provided as n+2 or n+3 depending on the time of each teacher, where “n” is normal time, hundreds of thousands of eliminated “perpetuities” will begin in the 2027-2028 school year.

The “first”, according to data from the National Higher Education Authority (ETHAAE), belongs to the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, with a percentage of “permanent” students of 58.21%, comprising 42,192 out of 100,963 registered students. Active, while “permanent » 58,771.

Athens University of Economics follows with a percentage of “perpetual” 57.60% – out of a total of 22,685, active 9,618 and “perpetual” 13,067. It is followed by the University of Piraeus with a percentage of inactive students of 57.41%. That is, out of 24,323 students, 10,360 are active and 13,963 are inactive. The University of Western Macedonia (53.11%), Panteio (53.08%) and Hellenic Mediterranean University (51.44%) also have high percentages of “eternal” students. Conversely, the Technical University of Crete shows the lowest percentage of inactive students at 29.45% and the Hellenic Open University at 19.57%.

The above figures refer to undergraduate students who have gone beyond the usual study period, i.e. ν+2 for 4-year programs (ν=4 years) and beyond ν+3 for 5-year and 6-year programs. .

“In Greece, the average duration of obtaining a degree is 1.5 years. That is, if the normal duration of study is ν=4 years, it is extended to 6 years. However, there is a higher number of students than the average,” says Dr. Periklis Mitkas, head of the National Commission for Higher Education: “However, In some cases, like EKPA, the numbers are “interesting”, taking into account that the old university institute has more stagnant ones.

Deletions

Law 4957/2022 (Official Gazette 141/21.07.2022) Article 76 of para. Although based on 2 rules – the well-known “law n+2 and n+3” – the removal of students from their school if they exceed a certain period of time, regardless of how many subjects they have been tested in or not, the measure has not been implemented to date and the removals will start from the academic year 2027-28 due to transitional rules. .

However, prior to the enactment of the said Act, Act 2009/2011 (Official Gazette 195/6-9-2011) was in force, according to which a student who did not register for two consecutive semesters was automatically expelled. Teacher. But this law was not implemented. However, until this moment in the student records, there are still thousands of “students” who have not crossed the threshold of the university for many years. And the question arises why university records are not allowed?

“Eternal” does not “exist” as numbers, nor do they prevent the functioning of universities. They are completely off-limits – 70-year-olds don't come to study! Besides, after the 5th year of study, they don't even have benefits – free books, student passes or discounts, they don't participate in procedures, they don't vote. They don't just lose their student status. Many consider this a “big problem”, but it is not so”, answer the deans of universities with a large number of “permanent” students. As for the reasons why the records have not yet been destroyed, “In recent years, universities have only declared active students, i.e. those who switch to n+2 ” they explain. The rest are not counted in the student population.

There is no doubt that the total number of inactive students Negatively affects a university's image, as reflected in international ratings. In addition, as shown by new data, the phenomenon of “eternal” students favors the performance of private universities, giving them a competitive advantage. What does Dr. Pericles Mitkas recommend in this regard?

“The attention of every institution must be directed towards first-rate individuals who make an honest effort to obtain a degree and need the support of their professors. In this way, policies aimed at reducing the proportion of enrollees are part of the institution's quality assurance policy and are evaluated accordingly. Greek universities will begin to expel inactive students. Until, instead of asking for “apologies”, it is preferable to develop mechanisms to investigate the phenomenon, monitor the course of its students and provide assistance to those in need”.

What applies

In particular, regarding the maximum duration of study for male and female students with an enrollment year of 2022-2023, an increase is possible if the study program is 4 academic years, i.e. 8 semesters, based on the new law. An additional two academic years of study time were given. In case of study programmes, the minimum duration exceeds eight academic semesters and the maximum duration of study is increased by six academic semesters (n+3).

Based on the above, the school's Dean's office will be obligated to issue a letter of expulsion for certain students if the attendance ceiling is exceeded. If he does not do so, it is a disciplinary offense and the university will be fined based on regular public funding (Law 4653/2020 (A' 12) Article 16 para 2 (A' 12) AEI

Intermediate arrangement

As this arrangement applies to students enrolled in the 2021-2022 academic year, there is a transitional arrangement for those already studying in the 2020-21 academic year. For students who exceed the maximum period of study due to serious reasons, different limits are given.

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