The Management Council of the Hellenic Mediterranean University of Crete expressed its strong concern regarding the draft law on non-state universities in a new resolution. He discharges the Mitsotakis government and emphasizes that part D, which concerns the establishment of non-state universities, is grossly unconstitutional and circumvents Article 16. With the existing form of the bill, as stated in the resolution, “equal treatment between the of prospective students as the law provides significantly differentiated admission conditions between public institutions and the prescribed “special legal entities of university education”.
ELMEPA requests a renewed and real dialogue with the government regarding the public University, the immediate staffing with teaching staff, the strengthening of student care (especially in island-regional HEIs) and the full guarantee of the professional rights of graduates of public HEIs.
The entire resolution of the Board of Directors of ELMEPA:
“The Management Council of the Hellenic Mediterranean University, at the meeting no. act 45/01-03-2024, decided by a majority to issue a resolution for the establishment of non-profit branches of foreign universities in our country, as follows:
The Board of Administration of the Hellenic Mediterranean University expresses its strong concern regarding the draft law of the Ministry of Education, Religion and Sports which was submitted for processing and examination to the Standing Committee on Educational Affairs of the Parliament and which provides for the establishment of non-profit branches of foreign universities in our country.
The Management Board finds that:
1) In the draft law and in particular in Part D of the above draft, entitled “Establishment and Operation of Legal Entities of University Education”, Article 16 of the Constitution is bypassed, which expressly states that higher education is provided exclusively by institutions that are legal entities of public law with full self-government.
2) The non-profit nature of new institutions is not ensured by creating conditions for the development of private profit-making interests in higher education and by allowing the “upgrading” of existing colleges and the establishment of low-quality private universities.
3) Equal treatment between prospective students is not guaranteed as the law provides significantly differentiated admission conditions between public institutions and the prescribed “special legal entities of university education”.
4) The professional rights of graduates from public HEIs are being undermined at a time when, for almost 5 years, important institutional issues regarding the securing of the professional rights of graduates from Departments of public institutions have been pending for almost 5 years.
5) The financial distress of public institutions is strengthened as the private institutions that will be established will absorb significant public resources and state aid. This situation will particularly affect the regional Public Universities which will suffer a further reduction of their student population, with what this implies for their financing and competitiveness, as in addition the ratio between “stable” and ” conditional variable’ funding from the regular budget.
6) We believe that the debate on higher education should focus on the major problems facing Public Universities.
The Board of Administration of the Hellenic Mediterranean University requests:
- the withdrawal of Part D of the draft law concerning the “Establishment and Operation of Legal Entities of University Education” and the initiation of a meaningful dialogue for the strengthening and upgrading of the Public University.
- the immediate staffing of public universities with permanent academic, laboratory and administrative staff, the increase of state grants and funding to the levels of the European average.
- the essential support of student care, especially in island-regional Universities.
- the immediate guarantee of the professional rights of the graduates of the public University”.
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