It starts today, Tuesday at Committee on Educational Affairs of the Parliament, the debate on the bill of the Ministry of Education “Strengthening the Public University – Framework for the operation of non-profit branches of foreign universities”, in order to come next week, specifically on the two days of March 7 and 8, to the Plenary of the Parliament for a vote.

The draft law includes a total of 205 articles, a part of which concern the operation of non-state branches of foreign academic institutions.

Reporter of the New Republic will be the deputy of Viotia, Lefteris Ktistakis and Dionysis Kalamatianos of SYRIZA.

The bill has sparked backlash in the education community with students staging sit-ins and ongoing mass rallies in Athens and other cities.

All the same, the attitude that some PASOK-KINAL MPs will take, such as Nadia Giannakopoulou, who allegedly do not agree with the decision of Nikos Androulakis to vote against the bill, remains a mystery.

However, it is recalled that the Ministry of Education, before starting the discussion of the bill in the Committee on Educational Affairs, made some changes such as

• Increased the percentage from 80% to 90% of faculty members who must hold a doctorate in a subject related to the subject of their teaching and have the essential qualifications required to occupy a teaching staff position of the corresponding level.

• Removed the provision that provided for up to 12 hours of work/week for the professors of the non-state HEIs.