Athens plans to create global education ‘hub’ with courses in ancient history and philosophy
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Greece plans to use its cultural and historical riches to lure Chinese and other foreign students to its universities as part of an overhaul of the state-run higher education system.
Niki Kerameus, the education minister, said in an interview that by 2024, she hoped about 40,000 to 50,000 foreign students would be taking part in English-language courses in classical literature, philosophy and ancient history.
“During past years Greek universities have been inward-looking institutions. We want to internationalise them and render them a hub for [tertiary] education in south-east Europe,” said Ms Kerameus. “We are working with academic institutions, with governments and through personal contacts at universities abroad.”
Universities would be offered extra state funding if they participated, she added.
The measures to attract foreign students are among higher education reforms being prepared by the centre-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Universities will get greater autonomy to admit students, design courses and charge fees for graduate courses and non-EU students working towards their first degree.
A new four-year programme in classical studies, beginning in October at Athens’ Kapodistrian university, is targeting Chinese undergraduates as part of Greece’s warming relationship with Beijing, which focuses on deepening cultural ties between two countries with a rich ancient heritage.
Greece last year joined a number of countries in eastern and south-east Europe, among them 11 EU members, that are formally linked with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure investment drive. Athens has also sold stakes in the port of Piraeus and the national electricity grid to Chinese state companies.
Ms Kerameus, who graduated from University of Paris II before attending Harvard Law School, also plans to fast-track co-operation between Greek and US universities.
“Whenever I travel abroad I try to visit universities to open up a channel of communication and get the message across that Greece is strongly interested in establishing international co-operation at the educational level,” she said.
She also wants to diversify funding sources for Greece’s cash-strapped state universities, which are banned from seeking private sector financial backing.
The government is unlikely to try to overturn a constitutional ban on setting up private non-profit universities after a previous attempt by a centre-right administration in the early 2000s prompted months of sit-ins by students and leftwing activists, and violent demonstrations.
Instead, Ms Kerameus said, Greek universities would be encouraged to earn income from running summer schools that would charge foreign students.
“We want to provide the possibility for universities to have other tools of funding than just the state budget, for example tax incentives for donations and endowments, public private partnerships and proceeds from patents,” she said.
The first public-private partnership is already under way: a project to construct new residential accommodation for 3,000 students at the University of Crete, which will cater mainly for foreign students.
