With nationwide exams and the minimum admission basis of the field and not of the department, students will enter the non-state universities according to what the Minister of Education Kyriakos Pierrakakis said, during the presentation of the bill “Strengthening Public University – Framework for the operation of non-profit branches of foreign universities”.

According to Mr. Pierrakakis, anyone who has an international baccalaureate and anyone who has a high school diploma from another country equivalent to ours, enrolls without exams in non-state universities.

The Minister of Education, presenting the bill in a press conference, he clarified that non-state universities will be able to enroll those candidates who meet all the additional criteria that the parent foreign university will have set.

He also explained that in order to be a candidate, he should meet the minimum admission requirements of the scientific field he is interested in. This will result from the average of his performance in the courses of the scientific field he is interested in multiplied by 0.8.

The bill in question will be put up for consultation starting this evening with the aim of submitting it to Parliament by February 20.

According to what the minister stated, the establishment of non-state HEIs will take place under the supervision of the state which will have the legal name Legal Entities of University Education.

As he explained, their establishment will take place upon approval by the National Authority of Higher Education and the opinion of the National Organization for Certification of Qualifications and Professional Guidance.

The degrees will be stamped by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and recognized by DOATAP.

“Their opening will take place from the academic year 2025-2026. For their operation, letters of guarantee of 500,000 and at least three schools with the exception of the top 20 universities of the planet are required. The admission will be done with national exams and they will have to meet the corresponding Minimum Admission Basis of the scientific field”.

These are 200 articles which include settings and for non-state as well as state universities upgrades.

As Mr. Pierrakakis pointed out, the non-state universities will start accepting student applications from September 2025; while ongoing discussions with well-known foreign universities which have expressed interest.

Mr. Pierrakakis emphasized that he welcomes the unanimous decision at the Chancellors’ Synod on digital examination, while stating that the law is the law: “Criticize as much as you want, as long as the students are not harmed by it,” he said. He stated that there will be strict criteria of the ETHAAE for the establishment of non-state universities, which will also apply to the establishment of a new department from a HEI.

Commenting on the publications about the national baccalaureate Mr. Pierrakakis replied that it is not time to open this discussion: “It’s in our intentions, but not now”. He also stated that the degrees will be stamped by the Ministry of Education and will not need to be recognized by DOATAP.

The bill includes 200 articles which, among others, include settings for:

  • non-profit non-state universities
  • the institutional and financial upgrading of state universities
  • the academic restructuring of the Democritus University of Thrace
  • the full administrative autonomy of the Hellenic Public University

The minister stated that the Open University will become autonomous and he emphasized that there will be joint master’s degrees of public universities with foreign universities.

Regarding the occupations, Mr. Pierrakakis stated that “occupations, violence and disasters are undermining the Greek public university. I respect the dialogue, but the rest undermines Greek universities”.

It is noted that while the presentation was taking place outside the Ministry of Education, student associations held a protest rally.