International cooperation in education is a ‘common goal’ for Greece and the US
Lee Satterfield, deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, spoke exclusively to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) about the common priorities that the governments of Greece and the US have set in education, as well as the importance of the visit by representatives of 30 US universities to the country.
“There is a spark of growth between the universities of the two countries, and we hope that whatever emerges will last for many years,” Satterfield said, noting that partnerships have already emerged with Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins and Stockton universities, while expressing optimism that many more will emerge, starting this week. “I think we are witnessing a dynamic effort,” she said.
For Satterfield, the key in matters of education is continuity and consistency and she underlined the importance of politics beyond government terms and diplomacy between citizens. “Education takes the lead when it comes to cooperation between people,” she said and added: “We live in a globalized world and this world is becoming smaller and smaller thanks to technology. It is in our interest, therefore, to jointly find solutions to the biggest problems of our world. In whatever field this may be, whether it is to deal with a possible future pandemic, or the climate crisis, or to encourage girls and women to get involved in the field of STEM.”
It is precisely here that the two countries go hand in hand, she said. “The Greek and the US governments share the same values in the field of education: Both have set the goal of promoting as many international collaborations as possible,” Satterfield told the AMNA.
As early as last May, during a visit by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the USA, the Greek Minister of Education, Niki Kerameus, had informed her of the ministry’s actions laying the groundwork for agreeing collaborations between the universities of the two countries.
“I wanted to be part of this initiative. I had to be here. To enable more students from the US to study in Greece and more students to come from Greece to the US, which is consistent with the work I am tasked to do from the position I hold,” she said. [AMNA]
