Students are crammed in Overcrowded universities will have to admit up twice as many freshmen

Overcrowding at Greek universities is set to worsen as many institutions will have to accept up to twice as many students as they would like in the 2007-08 academic year, according to government figures released yesterday. The Aristotle University in Thessaloniki has informed the Education Ministry that it only has room for 3,395 students but authorities have assigned 6,550 places for senior high school graduates. Athens University wanted a maximum of 4,640 students but will have to enroll 6,380. In total, universities must accept 435 more students than last year when they asked for only 25,132 to be enrolled but the Education Ministry gave places to 36,685. «Unfortunately, yet again our proposal was not adopted,» the rector of the National Technical University of Athens, Constantinos Moutzouris, told Kathimerini. «In fact, we have to take into account that with the enrollment of transferred students, the number of freshmen will almost double.» The government has agreed with academics to change the system of offering university places but the new scheme is not set to start until next April. Currently, the Education Ministry decrees how many senior high school graduates are accepted into tertiary education each year. Under the new system, the universities and the ministry will decide how many students will be accepted into each department over a four-year period. However, the latest increase in the intake of students is likely to make it more difficult for the two sides to agree on the numbers next year. Almost 1,000 fewer students will be given places at technical colleges (TEIs) in the next academic year compared to last year as the government has pledged to boost numbers at regional institutions. As a result, almost 2,000 fewer students will enroll at urban TEIs. Instead, student numbers at regional TEIs, including the Ionian Islands and western Macedonia, will increase substantially. Meanwhile, MPs began debating the university reform bill yesterday. They are due to vote on the draft law, which the opposition parties have criticized, by Friday.