Despite crunch, Greek universities still manage to excel
Despite a crisis in education that has seen hundreds of educational institutes around Greece struggling to make ends meet amid budget cuts and staff shortages, six of the country’s universities have made it onto a 2015-2016 list of the world’s top tertiary education institutions.
The 12th edition of the prestigious QS World University Rankings found that the work being done by their technical faculties puts the following Greek universities in its Top-700 league table: National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Crete, University of Athens, University of Patra and Athens University of Economics and Business.
The NTUA was the only one among the six to rank in the top-400 league in the 376th spot, and also fared well in QS’s citations per faculty index indicator, the parameter used as proxy for the global impact of a university’s research. In this measure, the NTUA (238th by citations per faculty area) is in the world’s top 250.
QS also rates faculties and found that the NTUA ranks 67th among the world’s top 100 engineering and technology faculties. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki came in 146th, the University of Patra 211th and the University of Athens 234th. The Athens University of Economics and Business, meanwhile, ranked 193rd among 200 in the Social Sciences and Management faculty area.
However, the report says, “Greece is currently in a prolonged period of systemic cuts to its higher education sector, with plans to reduce the number of higher education institutions from 520 to 350. This has led to a Greek ‘brain drain,’ as Greece’s most talented students and graduates seek their fortunes abroad. The overall effect seems to be reduced international recognition of Greek universities, amongst academics and employers alike.”
The QS World University Rankings is an annual league table of the top universities in the world and is among the best-known and respected ranking of its kind.
