“Today’s government announcements on the Private Universities Bill are a challenge and a new attack on youth rights! Because they hit the value of the degree, strengthen the commercialization of education, while access to university education is judged even more by the “wallet” of each family”, says the KKE in a statement.

“The government’s report that in this way, supposedly, “the walls” in education are being “removed” is out of slyness.

The real walls in education are found in front of the thousands of young men and women who study in public universities and experience daily the degradation of studies and degrees. The thousands of students and their families, who toil and worry, making countless financial sacrifices, in order to be admitted to universities” notes the announcement and adds:

“The unfair bill presented by the government is a cause of “war” for students-students and for all the people, because:

– Escalates the attack on public university degrees and practically abolishes the single way of admission to universities, confirming that the “single higher education space” is only single for business groups and investors. At the same time that some will enter private universities, finally, with the “strict criteria” of their tax return, the common family will continue to bleed for their children to cross the walls of class barriers for a place at university.

– A decisive blow is given to the value of the degree. At the same time that they are cutting the “skills gap”, they are creating even more degree categories for the same profession, thus increasing the army of unemployed graduates, squeezing down the rights of those who manage to work.

– The expansion of “individual responsibility”, which frees the state from the “burden” of exclusively public higher education, not only does not “increase” the opportunities for the children of ordinary families, on the contrary when the “if you want to study.. . paid” will objectively lead to an increase in the cost of studies in public universities as well.

– Public-private coexistence will accelerate reactive changes in public universities. With mergers, department eliminations, new admissions cutters, more pressure to raise the graduation rate, etc., the public university will shrink to make room for the private market and at the same time to reduce the spending on the public ones. Thus, resources will be “freed up” to inflate surpluses and feed the big business groups. Experience shows that neither public hospitals were upgraded from coexistence with private ones, nor public schools from coexistence with private ones.

“The bill, which is misleadingly titled as a “free university”, a “freedom” serves: the buying and selling of degrees, both by establishing private universities and by expanding commercialization in public ones: double and joint degrees with foreign universities, foreign language undergraduate degrees with tuition fees , etc.

This is, after all, the reason for the government’s haste to bypass Article 16 of the constitution, by making use of Article 28, which is dangerous for all issues, until it is possible to revise it.

This “freedom”, however, enslaves the modern needs for high-level education and specialization to the selfish goals of groups and investors. It condemns the universities to permanent underfunding of free services and infrastructure for students and employees” reports the KKE and emphasizes in concluding its announcement:

“Students, students, all the people have every interest to fight so that this unjust bill is not filed, not passed, and to claim everything necessary for an exclusively public, modern and upgraded university that will not look at anyone in the pocket, but it will educate scientifically and the degree will ensure employment in the subject of study with rights.’