The need for a different culture to prevail for the public university in parallel with the increase in expenses was underlined by Alexis Tsipraswho, as part of his tour to Magnesia, met with the rector’s authorities and representatives of the teaching, research and technical staff of the University of Thessaly.

Mr. Tsipras underlined that the important effort being made at the public university – and at University of Thessaly– and the discrimination that the Greek universities receive highlights even more strongly that the whole discussion about the public university is based on a logic of slander, as they show them as a man of illegality. “This is all very unfair, I don’t know any other branch in Greece that has as many international awards as Greek universities. It is also unfair to the children who study in public universities.” He noted that despite the high level, graduates of Greek universities cannot be absorbed by the Greek economy and production, and that is why most of them have the option of going somewhere outside. “If we see what possibilities a graduate student has abroad, compared to ours, it makes you cry.”

He also noted that it is a network of factors that make it difficult for Greek students, economic, social, productive. “A studio apartment in Volos has gone for 300 euros,” he characteristically said and added: “If we want to invest as a country in the future, we must invest in human capital.”

Generalizing, Mr. Tsipras said that around the education, as around health, two different cultures and two different worlds collide and he added that as in health, so too in education there is a huge space for private spending. ND wants to discredit public services in order to create a sphere of private interests in education as well, Mr. Tsipras said and added: “It is not only a question of fiscal possibilities but also a question of priorities and will. We made an effort to upgrade the map of public education despite the financial constraints. However, we do not see that the effort has the necessary continuity and there is no necessary support through spending. “When the European average of spending is 5.5% of here we are two points behind,” said Mr. Tsipras and added: “If we are aiming for a path of convergence with the EU we should see how to support education and health and public infrastructure. We are committed to doubling education spending over the next four years, and doubling the number of teachers in public institutions. This requires a different understanding of how you want the economy and society. The best minds are leaving, the country is aging, and that will create a vicious cycle of productivity.”

He congratulated lecturers and students whose work “gave an image of the connection of knowledge in the university with the market and with entrepreneurship”.

One issue they put to him is young people who work with blocks, for him to say that “the issue does not only concern universities, we have to see how where dependent work is hidden the employment relationship will also change”.