Academics cry foul at draft law broadening student powers at universities

The academic community is accusing Education Minister Costas Gavroglou of granting excessively broad powers to students at the country’s universities and technical colleges.

According to the draft law that was presented to lawmakers late last week, student representatives will be able to assess postgraduate courses, including those they are enrolled in themselves, and what their professors will be teaching.

Students will also have the power, via their elected representatives, to agree or disagree with the awarding of honorary degrees, as well as to judge the work of honorary professors. Their vote on the postgraduate course committee will also give them the authority to assess and back or scrap an entire course, even if it is in a different department.

At the undergraduate level, student spokespeople will sit in on every meeting of department councils and have a say on the content of courses and professor transfers, among other matters.