ttee’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 state.
· Among all EU member countries, Greece has the largest number of tudents leaving Greece to enroll in universities in Europe and elsewhere. Every year, 60,000 Greek students attend European universities.
· The unemployment rates of graduates, and periods of unemployment after graduation, are unacceptably high. Their employability is compromised by the economy and their reduced ability to compete with graduates from other European universities.
· Greek university campuses are not secure. While the Constitution allows University leaders to protect campuses against elements that seek political instability, Rectors have been reluctant to exercise their rights and responsibilities, and to make decisions needed in order to keep faculty, staff and students safe. As a result, University leaders and faculty have not been able to be good stewards of the facilities they have been entrusted with by the public.
· The politicization of the campuses – and specifically the politicization of students – represents a beyond-reasonable involvement in the political process. This is contributing to an accelerated degradation of higher education.
· There are many pockets of good research, yet overall the research effort lags behind in comparisons with the other EU members.
Over the last 30 years, the Greek university system has undergone organizational and cultural changes that are prohibiting its universities from achieving their goals and attending to their mission. Greece is trying to reverse this path and within this process it must also reform the financial and educational institutions that support the society and impact economic growth. Education in general, and Higher Education more specifically, desperately require reform, if Greece is to sustain the financial and economic initiatives presently under way and to succeed in reversing the conditions of a downward economy.In view of the above, the committee is suggesting the following:
A. Clarify the Mission of the Various Greek Institutions of Higher Education: The Univers