Time is of the essence

A large section of Greece’s university community had warned the previous SYRIZA government that the changes it forced through in higher education, and particularly the legislation which merged universities with technical colleges, would cause big problems for the institutions – and not just of a bureaucratic nature.

Any steps by the new leadership of the Education Ministry to return to a system of rational management and extroversion must be taken carefully but quickly, which is what the current leadership seems to be doing.

We do not need any fancy innovations and experiments to improve higher education. All we need to do is go back to basics and restore what is self-evident: For example to reintroduce the university councils which will grant the institutions more independence in their operation, and tackle the issue of students who have exceeded the official term of study (the so-called “eternal” students).