The current school year has been characterized by the leadership of the Ministry of Education as “the year of the school”, thus emphasizing initiatives and actions to improve the educational process. However, in parallel with the changes that are underway or have already been implemented in the school environment, the changes in Higher Education that are expected for 2025 arouse interest in the new Greek academic map that will be drawn from the new year.

Changes in schools

Multiple books, literary works, digitization and prevention of internet addiction constitute a first set of actions announced for the schools. At the same time, the first legislative intervention of the Ministry of Education in 2025 will “bring” a new network of schools, the Public Onassia Schools.

In more detail, in the second half of the current school year, the goal has been set for the students of Primary and Secondary Education to hold in their hands books with complete literary works of “iconic writers”, for which the pedagogical suitability and aesthetics are “widerly accepted their value”, as reported by the Educational Policy Institute.

Thus, depending on the class, students will have the opportunity to meet Greek and foreign writers, such as Penelope Delta, Jules Verne, Kostis Palamas, Anton Chekhov, George Vizyinos and William Shakespeare.

The introduction of entire literary works in all classes of compulsory education is also the first step towards the introduction of the multiple book. With a planned launch in September 2025 in digital form, teachers will have a repository of digital resources at their disposal, with the aim of familiarizing themselves with the new teaching approach and the selection of books they will have as “allies” in teaching. This is a period of preparation that will start from the coming school year, until the universal application of the multiple book, which is expected to bring a completely different way of approaching teaching and learning than the one we are used to today.

Of course, the opposite of books is the digital world and the facilities and innovations it brings. The Digital Tutoring has already been running since the beginning of the current school year, however, it will be enriched with material for more classes in the coming months, providing support through asynchronous learning. In addition, the strengthening of platforms, such as e-schools and e-parents, is expected in the next period of time.

In this context, it is recalled that the new operating regulation of schools has been implemented, which also provides for the ban on the use of mobile phones, as a step to deal with incidents of violence and intimidation in the school environment. To this, and as part of the students’ digital education, a tool for learning the correct use of the internet will be added, the educational material that will be provided by the Personal Data Protection Authority under the name “ZIMANIOUS”. Primary and secondary schools will introduce the educational game in the IT lesson, in order for the students to learn how to manage themselves, their image, their relationships and their data in the digital world. The above, in conjunction with the program developed in collaboration with Google, “Be an internet hero”, which has been included in the last three years in the Skills Workshops, through which children learn about safe internet navigation, on how they can deal with phenomena on the internet, where they should go, etc., are also part of the National Strategy for the Protection of Minors announced last Monday from Internet Addiction.

Special mention, however, deserves to be made of the network of Public Onassis Schools, the first of which are expected to operate from September 2025. As announced during the last Ministerial Council, the Onassis Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, plans to convert 22 public gymnasiums and lyceums into Public Onassia Schools (11 Gymnasiums and 11 High School), in vulnerable areas of Attica and the rest of the territory, proposing, as the Foundation mentions, “the public school of the future”. The relevant legislative initiative is expected at the beginning of 2025 and, according to the first announcements, the network of these schools is expected to be upgraded not only at the level of structures and infrastructure, but also at the level of the educational process, giving more than 6,000 students the opportunity to participate in a new model of education, which “will combine the content of public education with the cutting-edge, modern knowledge and skills required by the 21st century”. This synergy, as stated by the Onassis Foundation, “aims to open new horizons in public education, to bring the School of Tomorrow to today, building a future full of opportunities for all children, with a focus on schools open to the local communities”.

New academic map

Regarding Tertiary Education, the new map of Tertiary Education that will be drawn up in Greece, after the establishment of non-state universities, and the intensification of the internationalization actions of public HEIs, are expected with particular interest.

In particular, from January 2025 the application period for licensing and operation of non-state universities begins. The deadline expires next March and the number of applications, combined with the names of the universities that will take this first step, is awaited with great interest. It is worth noting that according to the schedule, the first non-state universities will be able to operate from September 2025.

In addition, the collaborations of public universities with foreign educational institutions are expected to be strengthened, with a series of joint postgraduate programs, which will be financed by the Ministry of Education, through the Recovery Fund in the first phase.

It is also reminded that the presence of the public Greek HEIs and their connection with the international educational community will continue in the new year through Study in Greece, the AMKE of Greek HEIs and a national organization for their internationalization and extroversion.

The first bill

The start of 2025 is expected to bring the first draft of the Ministry of Education, which was presented to the last Cabinet, before Christmas.

The bill will include provisions to strengthen the autonomy of schools, the introduction of the International Baccalaureate (IB) in some of the Standard High Schools in Athens and Thessaloniki, the operation of Standard Sports Schools, the regulation of the operation of the Study Centers, as well as the network of Public Onassis Schools, mentioned above. It is recalled that, based on the information so far, the operation of IB departments in the Standard Schools, as well as the opening of the Sports Schools, is planned for the beginning of the next school year, in September 2026.