The Minister of Education Andreas Loverdos is troubled by an immanent huge wave of student transfers in the upcoming academic year and asked from the Parliamentary Committee on Education Matters to make some proposals.
Based on legislation introduced by his predecessor Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos, about 20.000 students will have the right to transfer universities. This div includes students with low family incomes and from large families. With many universities set to face new budget cuts of up to 15%, academics warn that the problems will increase.
Three proposals
There have been three proposals on how to tackle the issue. According to the first proposal, the Ministry of Education would introduce distance learning, as it is currently implemented in the Open University. While this proposal may suit some fields (such as Humanities), it presents serious problems for fields where laboratories are required.
The second proposal suggests that in the case of student transfers, the funds the institution receives for each student will also be diverted to the recipient institution. This has prompted the reaction of regional universities, which claim that this will lead to their collapse.
The Ministry’s third proposal is for students to be free to request a transfer from one regional institution to another, without any restrictions put in place.
