Amendment writes off academics’ debts to univesities

Debts run up by academics with the institutions where they are employed will be written off, according to an amendment submitted to Parliament on Thursday for a vote by the Education Ministry.

The proposed regulation “seeks to resolve the difficulties of debt collection of faculty members over the last 20 years,” the ministry said in a statement. Since 1997, the Greek state has instituted the obligation of academics to return to the universities where they serve a percentage of the income they earn from practicing their profession in a private capacity (as lawyers, engineers, doctors, etc.).

This percentage was 15% until 2011, decreased to 10% by 2014 and set at 7% thereafter. However, many academics were unable to keep up with payments.