Many universities take new students with low grades

Almost a quarter of university and technical college departments have accepted new students that attained less than 50 percent in their entrance exams, it emerged Wednesday.

The Education Ministry published the results of the summer exams, which showed that the average grades among senior high school leavers had dropped further. As a result, 106 of 463 departments in the tertiary education sector have taken on teenagers with a mark lower than 10 out of 20, once considered the pass mark.

A total of 104,616 teens applied for places at universities and technical colleges (TEIs), which is almost 5,000 more than previous years. Just under 71,000 were accepted, which is slightly down on last year’s 72,763.

One in six students got into the university that was their first choice. Universities and TEIs outside of Greece’s big cities saw a drop in interest, which is thought to have been prompted by parents’ growing financial difficulties.