e growth of knowledge economies, the information revolution, the internationalization of economies, migration and brain drain. If reforms are not implemented now to meet and master these changes, Greece will increasingly be at a disadvantage.
No Western country has such an illustrious academic past as Greece – indeed, the legacy of classical Greece has provided the foundation for all higher education and research around the world: Greece needs to catch up with its past, urgently and decisively.
A country as small as Greece can no longer afford to lose the talents of its citizens. A comprehensive program of reform needs to be undertaken and implemented without delay.
B. The Findings
In addition to the various meetings in Greece on December 17, 2010, the members of the committee had access to reports, documents and parts of the Greek Constitution as it relates to higher education. The reports, discussions and debates among the members of the committee informed the following findings:
· This is a critical time in Greece’s history, characterized by a financial crisis with serious ramifications for the country’s existing social and political structures. Addressing the challenge as was articulated above requires fundamental and meaningful reform not only of the Greek financial institutions but of educational institutions as well.
· Greece’s system of Higher Education suffers from a crisis of values as well as outdated policies and organizational structures. The tragedy is that leaders, scholars, students and political parties that aim to promote the public good have been trapped in a system that subverts the goals they seek, corrupts the ideals they pursue and forsakes the public they serve.
· The enormity of the challenge and the urgency with which it must be addressed requires not just reform, but a change in civic culture. And this can only come from fundamental changes, notably in the institutions of higher learning which have to set the example and demonstrate the standards for the rest of the society.
· The committee’s discussions indicated that there is a clear majority among stakeholders in favor of reforming higher education, though there is no agreement on what this reform should be, who should initiate it and how, and a forceful minority that advocates no change should be handled.
· A number of political decisions have led to governance policies within the university that provide an imbalance of power and control on academic issues and decisions. For example, students have 40% of the vote in the selection of university administrators. This imbalance of governance has led to decisions that are politically motivated and have not benefited the quality of the academic enterprise.
· Among all the EU member states and a few other countries (Australia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico), Greece has shown the highest expenditures per university student and the largest increase in these expenditures between 1995 and 2005. However, Greek universities and their faculty feel impoverished; they have no financial autonomy or accountability and they are at the mercy of a bureaucracy that stalls every effort to provide efficiency and transparency.
· Greek universities lack the most fundamental information technology and other assessment tools to measure input and output parameters and to objectively assess performance (completion rates, offers/acceptances, publication performance and teaching effectiveness of professors). For example, universities have not established mechanisms to keep track of vital statistics: how many students attend classes, how many students transfer effectively, how many students graduate in 5, 6 or 8 years, what is the cost of educating the students, etc.
· Using inadequate methods, Greek universities report the lowest graduation rate in the EU. Only about one-third of enrolled students graduate within the required period. For example, out of the 600,000 students thought to be enrolled in Greek Higher Education Institutions, only 180,000 approximately have registered to collect the free textbooks provided by the