By Antonis Anzoletou

It was certain that the issue of establishing non-state universities would cause a new round of confrontation between the government and the opposition. In November, highlighted the “thorns” and objections caused by the specific ideological-political perennial battle between right and left in Greece. The conflict is expected to be fierce, as for the government it is a “symbol” reform that will mark its second term, while for the majority in the opposition it will be a “red flag”.

New Democracy and SYRIZA are expected to be fiercely contested for article 28 of the Constitution which provides for the conclusion of interstate agreements and essentially paves the way for the establishment of Higher Institutions by foreign universities in the country.

The establishment of non-state universities is a commitment of the Prime Minister and it is a fact that he is not willing to take any step back: “Something like this would clarify the situation in the current landscape of post-secondary education and prepare the way for the major reform of Article 16. And in we will move down this road immediately”, Kyriakos Mitsotakis had emphasized on July 6 shortly after the great election victory, pointing out the need to put an end to the Greek peculiarity of the state monopoly in higher education. The great importance that the government attaches to this reform was signaled by the Prime Minister by announcing it during the budget debate. And the “knives” soon came out. In very high tones, Koumundourou party sources stated that “the prime minister of surveillance, wiretapping, the country’s international involvement in issues of press freedom, promotes from the floor of the Parliament the establishment of private universities, in violation of the Constitutional provisions. The insult to the Constitution by the prime minister himself has no precedent in the post-political period.” With this particular leak, SYRIZA showed in the clearest way the road on which it will move in the next period.

Maxim’s design includes the specific bill to be passed in January with the aim of very quickly making the country a pole of attraction for education services. The Prime Minister’s official announcement has been processed for some time by the Ministry of Education and will be presented to tomorrow’s Cabinet. It is a fact that it is the first and decisive step that paves the way for the revision of Article 16 of the Constitution for the establishment of non-state institutions of higher education. There is information that 10 foreign Universities of high prestige have already expressed their interest, and two Cypriot HEIs are said to be among them. According to the government’s calculations, the benefits will be many and significant. It is estimated that the possibility of operating non-state universities will contribute 1% to the GDP and strengthen the bet of reversing the brain drain.

At the political level, how exactly will it move PASOK, which in the first phase appears positive, will play an important role for the battle in the field of the center-left. It will be interesting to see if a new conflict between Koumoundouros and Charilaos Trikoupis will be triggered after the conflict recorded about the former Prime Minister Kostas Simitis and the reports of Stefanos Kasselakis. Pavlos Marinakis was asked about this specific issue in the briefing and noted that he expects the left and center-left parties to show greater maturity.