PASOK: Civil war for private universities and… disobedience to Nikos Androulakis – 2024-03-07 06:23:13

They broke out arguing over the content of Androulaki’s proposal for non-profit / non-state HEIs and his tactics for the government’s draft law on the operation of private universities. The noise, after all, is sought by internal party political objections to the strategy drawn up by PASOK president Nikos Androulakis in a wider field.

On a collision course with two of its top executives, MPs Odysseus Konstantinopoulos (although it seems that he will follow the party line) and Nadias Giannakopoulos (who refuses to be disciplined), the leadership of Harilaou Trikoupis is on the bill for private universities . Their disagreement became clear during the informal meeting of the party’s Parliamentary Group, at noon on Tuesday (March 5, 2023), with arguments that took the form of fire against the way PASOK-KINAL president Nikos Androulakis handled the issue. In fact, there were “thunderbolts” from Odysseus Konstantinopoulos for the decision to vote against the government bill, without prior consultation between executives and MPs.

Nadia Giannakopoulou insists on refusing to vote against the bill and it remains to be seen the attitude of Odysseus Konstantinopoulos who usually avoids friction and confrontations.

In fact, the possibility of raising the issue of party discipline by the president of PASOK-KINAL, Nikos Androulakis, is increasing.

Odysseas Konstantinopoulos criticized the fact that the leadership of Harilaou Trikoupis started from the fact that it will not be an obstacle to private universities to reach the vote against the bill, without until recently the people having understood why PASOK says “no”.

Nikos Androulakis faced the entire criticism as words for everything except the “snuffbox”, that is, what he proposes for the party’s position in the vote on the bill.

All the MPs had in their hands the plan and the proposal prepared by the head of the Education sector MP Stefanos Parastatidis with the positions of PASOK-KINAL and the points he disagrees with the ND plan. The confrontation intensified when Nadia Giannakopoulou pointed out that the proposal for the Scandinavian model had not been discussed within the party and raised the issue of the functioning of collective bodies, noting emphatically, according to leaks, that “we are parliamentarians, we are not employees”.

It has not yet been clarified in which way during the vote in parliament, where PASOK-KINAL will vote against the bill in principle and vote in favor of certain articles, Nadia Giannakopoulou will express her opposition (abstention or vote in favor) with the official party line .

Androulakis: I will not allow a rift in the voting

“I will not allow there to be a rift in the voting”, clarified Nikos Androulakis at the meeting of the Parliamentary Group. Regarding the Pierrakakis bill for private universities, Nikos Androulakis took the position, noting that:

“The perennial programmatic position of our party is the establishment of non-state non-profit universities by revising Article 16.

PASOK wants:

-strong public university

-strong non-state non-profit universities

-and strong regulation of post-secondary education.

Mr. Mitsotakis is helped by the absence of a counter proposal. We, however, have a comprehensive proposal both for the correct operating framework of non-state non-profit universities and for strengthening the public university.

With the bill, it is possible for a fund and a for-profit university abroad to establish an essentially for-profit branch in our country. Greece was a European exception and Mr. Mitsotakis makes us an exception again, as the establishment of for-profit foreign branches will be allowed but not Greek non-profit universities.

It cannot be that some people have been buying and investing for two years, and a bill comes cut and sewn on their investments. Isn’t this a settlement?

I will not allow there to be a rift in the voting.”

Stefanos Parastatidis, Member of Parliament of Kilkis and responsible for K.T.E. Education PASOK-KINAL summarized PASOK’s positions under the title “7 + 1 Points of Disagreement with the Pierrakakis Bill”:

“+1. ON THE UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE DRAFT LAW

OUR POSITION: The issue is at best constitutionally moot which creates an environment of legal uncertainty. It is not only the fact that there is a dichotomy between constitutionalists and European law experts, but there is also a well-established jurisprudence of the SC, which has never questioned the compatibility of Article 16 with EU Law. In such a critical matter we should proceed with absolutely solid steps. Because in the end the agreement of the law with the Constitution will be judged by supreme judges (STE) and it would be criminally frivolous to put new children, families and those who decide to get involved in an adventure. Our position is that the express prohibition that was included in the Constitution should also be removed from the Constitution. Not by the government, as mediator of the Constitution.

WHAT DOES THE GOVERNMENT SAY: The government claims that the draft law is in line with the Constitution. He invokes the opinions of constitutional experts and a change in Union Law. The Government bases the alleged agreement to the Constitution of the bill on 3 pillars:

Ø Non-profit character

Ø Cross-border (Foreign University Branches)

Ø Strong oversight and quality assurance framework

These pillars turn out to be flimsy.

1. FOR THE NON-PROFIT CHARACTER OF UNIVERSITIES.

OUR POSITION : The first pillar of our policy focuses on the mandatory non-profit character for all non-governmental institutions. For us, a fundamental and non-negotiable principle is the clear and unambiguous distinction between commercial-business profit and Higher Education. Only this approach can guarantee academic validity and freedom.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT’S BILL PROVIDES FOR: It suffices in the grammatical formulation of the non-profit character without introducing any regulation that prevents the falsification of this character.

Ø Allows a) the establishment of non-profit branches from foreign for-profit universities in cooperative schemes with business fundsb) the establishment of branches by entrepreneurs, domestic or foreign, without absolutely any participation of the parent university through commercial agreements (franchise/validation), agreements that he has “baptized” as special academic agreements.

Ø It does not contain any prohibitions outsourcing services (management, book printing, real estate), to natural or legal persons interconnected with the partners of the annex, thus leaving open the field for indirect distribution of revenues of the annex.

2. FOR THE QUALITY CRITERIA FOR LICENSING AND EVALUATION OF APPENDICES

OUR POSITION: The licensing of non-state institutions and their faculties/departments should be linked to the corresponding level of evaluation and international ranking of the faculties/departments of public institutions.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT’S BILL PROVIDES FOR: There is no relevant provision in the Bill. The entire evaluation process is simply assigned to the ETHAAE, which is charged with additional responsibilities, control and certification of the new structures, without being strengthened institutionally and operationally, at a time when approximately 1000 study programs are already pending at the ETHAAE for approval.

3. TO STRENGTHEN THE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

OUR POSITION: Strengthening a public university means increasing funding, improving critical quality indicators, strategic planning, a serious academic map, enshrining real self-government and balanced support of regional university institutions in our country.

WHAT DOES THE GOVERNMENT’S BILL PROVIDE: This bill does none of that. The government sacks technical legal amendments to problematic articles of the Kerameos Law and transfers parts from the DIPAE to the DFTH without any assessment of staffing, infrastructure and funding to tell us that 70% of the bill is for the public university. Instead of substantial commitments to increase funding, he lists existing funding. Instead of a road map and a clear timetable for the convergence of the Greek university with Europe in critical fields such as the amount of public funding or the ratio of teachers/students in which the country is in the tail, celebrations for an increase of only 11 million from the national budget. Instead of drawing an academic map, it introduces private universities of dubious constitutionality and quality into the field of Greek higher education anarchically and without dialogue.

4. FOR THE INPUT SYSTEM

OUR POSITION: The system of admission to higher institutions, regardless of their nature, public or non-state, must be common and uniform. This issue does not only concern the self-evident need to apply rules of equality and meritocracy, but also the level and quality of studies.

WHAT DOES THE GOVERNMENT’S BILL PROVIDE: The provisions of the bill border on mockery:

– The access threshold is defined as: a) High school diploma and score in the Panhellenic exams with m.o. greater than or equal to the lowest minimum entry base of the scientific fields multiplied by the factor of 0.8 and not the school. For graduates of the country’s public high schools, the entrance threshold will be very low, especially in high demand schools.

5. FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION CRITERIA

OUR POSITION: Inclusion of non-profit universities in the wider academic map based on geographic, financial and scientific field distribution criteria.

WHAT DOES THE GOVERNMENT’S BILL PROVIDE: To the visible risk of the disappearance of regional public universities and to the complete absence of state regulation and strategic spatial planning so that higher education institutions serve the purpose of regional development, the Ministry responds with a “cut” (50%) to the already low amounts of the letters of guarantee (1,000,000 instead 2,000,000 euros) and corresponding fees (300,000 instead of 600,000 euros) for private universities that will be based outside Attica and Thessaloniki. It is a matter of law that many departments of the region will be closed, as the largest percentage of their students come from Attica, where it is predicted that the new educational structures will be installed.

6. FOR THE COMMITMENT OF LONG-TERM STAY OF THE NEW STRUCTURES ON THE EDUCATIONAL MAP OF GREECE

OUR POSITION: It is crucial that in order to operate in Greece, non-profit universities should be provided with a specific guarantee clause for the long-term implementation of an integrated educational plan. So as to ensure that they do not abandon the plan of providing quality educational services and suddenly leave the students in the lurch.

WHAT DOES THE GOVERNMENT’S BILL PROVIDE: There is no relevant provision. On the contrary, the low threshold for the amount of the investment (guarantee letter 2,000,000 for Athens and Thessaloniki, 1,000,000 for the rest of the municipalities of the country and a fee of 600,000 and 300,000 euros respectively) does not constitute a serious commitment to a long-term stay in the country.

7. TO ENSURE ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND WORKING CONDITIONS IN NON-STATE UNIVERSITIES.

OUR POSITION: Protecting the rights of academics and ensuring that their working conditions are in line with the guarantees of independence and academic freedom applicable to the public university

WHAT DOES THE GOVERNMENT’S BILL PROVIDE: A dystopian work environment is being formed with long teaching hours, compressed salaries, negative for research production that creates conditions of entrapment and dependence on property at the expense of academic freedom. No ranks are provided for faculty members, nor is a minimum salary limit set for faculty and staff members contrary to international practice.”