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An overview of the Greek education system

TheGreekeducational system is under the supervision of theMinistryof National Education and Religious Affairs (YPEPTH) 1.Education in Greece, including pre-school, primary and lower sec-ondary education, is compulsory for all children 6 to 15 years old.Primary Education (Demotiko) lasts 6 years, low-secondaryeducation (Gymnasio) lasts 3 years and upper secondary education– the Unified upper secondary school (Eniaio Lykeio) and the Tech-nical Vocational School (TEE) lasts 3 years.The Vocational Training Institutes (IEK) are part of post-secondaryeducation offering formal education.Higher Education is divided intoUniversities (Panepistimio) andTech-nological Educational Institutions (TEI). Admission to tertiary ed-ucation is based on a student’s performance in national level ex-aminations taking place at the end of the third year of upper sec-ondary education.

THE GREEK EDUCATIONSYSTEMStructure and Recent ReformsbyDr. Manos Papazoglou

Political scientist, Research Associate to the Greek Parliament

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The Ministry is being assisted byagencies such as:

• theSchoolBuildingsOrganiza-tion (OSK) responsible for theconstruction andequipmentofschool buildings,

• theSchoolBookPublishingOr-ganization (OEDB) publishesanddistributesall schoolbooks,

• ThePedagogical Institute (PI) isan advisorybody regardingpri-maryandsecondaryeducation,

• The National Council of Educa-tion (ESYP) is an independentadvisorybodyregardingprimary,secondary and tertiary educa-tion,which is inclusiveof repre-sentativesofawidespectrumofeducational, politicalandsocialunions and groups,

• theOrganization forVocationalEducation and Training (OEEK)organizes and operates IEKs,

• the State Scholarship Founda-tion (IKY) grants scholarships,

• the Organization for CertifyingDegrees and Diplomas fromAbroad ruleson theequivalenceofdegreesconferredbydomes-tic and foreignhigher educationinstitutions,

• the research academic Com-puter Technology Institute (ITY)providesconsultancy regardingInformation Society projects.

The Ministry has efficiently corre-sponded to parliamentary control.In the period March 2004-March2007, it hasproduced6,094writtenresponses and has provided 170

oral responses toquestionsandpe-titions submitted to the Greekpar-liament. (sourceMinistry of Educa-tion, Dep. of Parliamentary Control)

RECENT REFORMSThe Greek government (March2004-) set the quality of educationas a strategic objective priority.

Indeed, the governmentmanagedto break the deadlock in higher ed-ucation and push forward legisla-tive initiatives pending for morethan 5 years.Most of the legislativetasks announced in the 2003Greek National Report regardingthe Bologna Process –includingquality assurance, diploma supple-ment, ECTS, 4-year agreementsbased on performance betweenState and universities, lifelonglearning etc.– have been legislatedby the incumbent Greek govern-ment in the period 2004-2007.

Especially in the field of tertiary ed-ucation, had been made goodprogress towards converging to thestandardsofquality, set for shapingup a European Higher Education

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Area (i.e. the common targets set intheBolognaprocess), therebysecur-ing Greek universities, academicsandstudents’ active involvement inthe european and international ac-ademic developments.

All the legislative initiatives wereundertaken following extensivepublic deliberation with the edu-cation community and politicaland social groups in multiple fora– in the parliament, in ESYP, inface-to-face meetings and web-based forum.

Themost important legislative re-forms from March 2004 to March2007 aim at converging with euro-pean educational standards andbenchmarks and are beingoverviewed below. Firstly, in thefield of tertiary education:

• L. 3549/2007 (OJ 69, A΄) for re-vising the legislation regardingthe structure and operation ofhighereducation institutionsbyfurther securing the self-gover-nance of tertiary institutions,while increasing their social ac-countability, and further pro-moting democracy and trans-parency in their functions.

• L. 3328/2005 (OJ80, A΄) for theestablishmentof a newAgencyfor Degree Recognition (DOAT-AP).

• L. 3374/2005 (OJ 61, A΄) regu-latesQualityAssurance inHigh-er Education, theestablishmentof the European Credit Transferand AccumulationSystemandthe Diploma Supplement.

• L. 3369/2005 (OJ 171, A΄) forLife Long Learning.

• L. 3404/2005 (OJ 260, A΄) forsecuring the academic featuresof TEIs.

• L. 3404/2005 (as above), Arti-cle 23 for Joint PostgraduateStudy Programmes and JointPhDs, which allows the use ofa language other than Hellenicin study programmes.

• L. 3391/2005 (OJ 240, A΄) reg-ulates the establishment ofthe Hellenic International Uni-versity and aims at enhancingstudent mobility.

• L. 3432/2006 (OJ 14 A΄) up-grades the status of the HigherEcclesiastical Schools super-vised by theMinistry of Educa-tion, whose degrees becomeequivalent with those of theHigher Education Institutions.

• L. 3413/2005 (OJ 278 A΄) whichallows Higher Military Schools(supervised by theMinistry ofDefense) to participate in con-sortia with universities for theestablishment of Post-gradu-ate study programmes and re-search programmes (degreesare awarded by universities).

• L. 3450/2006 (ΟJ 64 A΄) up-grades the status of the Mer-chantMaritimeAcademies (su-pervised by the Ministry ofMercantile Marine) that arecurrently able to participate inconsortia with universities forthe establishment of Post-grad-uate studyprogrammesand re-search programmes (degreesare awarded by universities).

• L. 3443/2006 (OJ 41, A΄) whichenacts Local Youths’ Councils

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and their participation in thelocal governance.

• L. 3475/2006 (OJ 146 A΄) regu-lates the access of theSecond-ary Vocational Education stu-dents to the Higher Education.

• L. 3304/2005, (OJ 16 A΄) for theimplementation of the princi-ple of equal treatment regard-less of racial or national origin,of religious or other beliefs, ofdisability, age or sex orienta-tion in the field of employment(co-signed by the Minister ofEducation).

• L. 3488/2006, (OJ 191/Α΄) con-cerns the implementation ofthe principle of equal treat-ment of men and women withregards to employment, vo-cational training, and profes-sional development, as far aslabour is concerned (co-signedby the Minister of Education)

• Another step taken towardsenhancing quality in HE is the

legislative reform concerningthe entry requirements for allHEIs. According to L.3404/2005, Article 13 (OJ 260A΄) which was added to L.2525/1997 (article 2a) fromthe academic year 2006-2007theminimum score necessaryfor entrance to HEIs has to beat least 50% of the highestpossible passing grade.

Moreover, other legislative initia-tives concern:

• L. 3282/2004 (OJ 208, A΄)which defined criteria for stu-dents eligible to move to an-other university,

• L. 3323/2005 (OJ 61, A΄) estab-lishing a Government Body onEducation and Culture,

• L. 3376/2005 (OJ 191, A΄) es-tablishing a School for Euro-pean Education in Heraklio,

• L. 3369/2005 (OJ 171, A΄) es-tablishing a complete systemof Lifelong Learning,

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• Law 3432/2006 (OJ 14, A΄) re-garding the improvement of ec-clesiastical education,

• Law 3467/2006 (OJ 128, A΄) re-garding the administration ofthe education system,

• Law 3475/2006 (OJ 146, A΄) re-garding the operation of Tech-nical Vocation Schools,

• Law 3512/2006 (OJ 264, A΄) es-tablishing an Islamic Temple inAthens.

FUNDING OF EDUCATIONThe Greek government increasedon an annual basis and in real fig-ures the funding of education.

In addition to public funding,Greek tertiary education receivedfunding from EU resources whichamount to 960million euros in theperiod 2000-2006, while the gov-ernment secured 420million eurosfor the period 2005-2008 (seeTable 4).

Table 1 Funding of the Ministry of Education

Source: Ministry of Economy and Finance Government Budget 2007

Table 2 Increase in the funding of the Ministry of Educationand of tertiary education (2005-2007)

Source: Ministry of Economy and Finance Government Budget 2007

Table 3 Funding through the Education and Initial Vocational Training OperationProgramme (EPEAEK)

Source: Ministry of Education, EPEAEK

Measuring Progress(% of budget)

February 2004 January 2007(% of the initial budget)

January 2007(% after the budget increase)*

Activating Measures 95% 117% 111%

Approved Projects 57% 109% 103%

Legal reservations 48% 94% 89%

Reported spending 28% 65% 61%

* As a result of good implementation, the European Commission supplied additional funding of279,30 million € (dec. Ε(2004) 5583/22-12-2004).

2005 2006* 2007*

Ministry of Education budget 7.40% 9.50% 6.10%

Universities/ operational costs 5.44% 13.51% 10.95%

TEI/ operational costs 16.67% 28.29% 12.62%

*estimation

2004 2005 2006 2007

Ordinary Budget 5,238 5,612 6,100* 6,459*

Public Investment Budget 600 656 761* 819*

Sum 5,838 6,302 6,861* 7,278*

% change2005/04 2006/05 2007/06

7.40% 9.50%* 6.10%*

*estimation

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Table 4 Projects in Higher Education funded through the Ministry of Educationby EU resources (2001-2006)

Source: Ministry of Education, EPEAEK

PROJECTS FUNDING (thousand euros)

RESEARCH PROGRAMMES

“Pythagoras” (post-doctoral research in Universities) 74,165

“Archimedes” (post-doctoral research in TEIs) 24,677

“Heracleitos” (doctoral research in Universities) 24,500

GRADUATE STUDIES

University Program Studies 20,940

TEI Program Studies 8,775

INFORMATION STUDIES

Universities 11,597

TEIs 5,248

POSTGRADUATE STUDIES 59,896

ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

Universities 40,304

TEIs 11,584

TRAINING

Universities 26,400

TEIs 25,300

LIAISON OFFICES

Universities 13,010

TEIs 9,535

EXPANDING HIGHER EDUCATION (new departments)

Universities 105,038

TEIs 62,837

QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Authority for Quality Assurance in HE 2,620

Development Planning for HE 1,655

LIFELONG LEARNING

Lifelong Learning Institutes in Universities 255

Lifelong Learning Institutes in TEI 750

Extended University Programmes in Universities 10,831

Extended University Programmes in TEI 12,233

Open University 18,800

BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE (BI) AND EQUIPMENT

University BI 94,815

TEI BI 59,180

University Equipment 79,379

TEI Equipment 40,396

SUM 844,720

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According to OECD data, Greece isabove the OECD average as re-gards public funding for tertiary ed-ucation, while the same holds inthe EU15 (1.28% of GDP accordingto Eurostat). In addition, publicsources account for 98% of Greektertiary education funding (com-pared to 82.8% in the EU25), whileGreece is among the 6 europeancountries with no fees for tertiaryeducation. Furthermore, althoughOECD and Eurostat data show lowfunding per student in Greece,the relevant data include both ac-tive and non-active students but,in Greece the drop-out rate in ter-tiary education is estimatedaround 42%of student population.

EU funds in educationFunding through the OperationalProgramme for Education and Ini-tial Vocational Training (EPEAEK)amounts to 2,728,9million€ in theperiod 2000-2006 (75% from theEuropean Social Fund and the Eu-ropean Regional DevelopmentFund and 25% fromnational funds)In the periodMarch 2004– Januarythere was a sharp increase in the

resource allocation of EPEAEKfunding compared to the periodMarch 2001-Februrary 2004.

TheManaging Authority of EPEAEKhas managed to implement strictfinancial rules and therefore, ithas decided financial correctionsof 5 million euros as a result ofnon-compliance with national andCommunity legislation on the partof final beneficiaries. In addition,no funding has been lost as a re-sult of the n+2 rule.

RESEARCH AND NEWTECHNOLOGIES IN THEMINISTRY OF EDUCATIONResearch in tertiary educationfunded by EU programmes.

TheMinistry of Education channelsthrough EPEAEK a great amount offunding allocated by EU funds toHEI. In addition to 844,720,000 eu-ros covering a wide range for re-search and other academic activ-ities, Greek HEI receive funds forconducting research in fields suchas Intercultural Education, Equality

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etc. the total amount of which is110,000,000 euros.

New TechnologiesIntegrating and developing Infor-mation and Communication Tech-nologies (ICT) in education has be-come a key governmental priority.In this regard:

• following government’s deci-sion, 8,179 students achievingfirst-class grades of lower sec-ondary education were award-ed a personal desktop.

• as a result of a inter-ministerialinitiative, the action “Diodos”facilitates ADSL internet accessat lower rates for students andacademic personnel of HEI

• as a result of an inter-ministe-rial initiative, the governmentimplements the action “LookDigital” which contributes 500euros to 12,584 tertiary educa-tion students achieving first-class grades towards the ex-penses of buying a laptop

• the Ministries of Educationand Development jointly pre-pared a draft law for promotingresearch conducted by HEIand research institutes, whichhas been set for public consul-tation.

• the National School Networkhas been established provid-ing services to all educationaland administration schoolunits and access to 58,514teachers and educational ma-terial for students.

• financing through the “Infor-mation Society Operational

Programme” is used for devel-oping education software andsupplying hardware for use inschools.

• the percentage of PC-equippedand internet-connected schoolunits and information labora-tories steadily increases.

In addition, the research academicComputer Technology Institute(ITY):

• conducts basic and applied re-search in hardware and soft-ware technology, networks,and the Information Society’ssocioeconomic impact,

• designs and develop productsand services

• supports all kinds of ICT edu-cation and training in relationto the Information Society

• develops technology andtransfer know-how

• provides consultancy, designand administrative servicesconcerning the InformationSociety to the Ministry of Na-tional Education & ReligiousAffairs and to the public sectorin general, to natural and legalentities and social institutions.

TERTIARY EDUCATIONHigher Education institutions inGreece are fully self-administeredlegal entities under public law,and are funded and supervised bythe Hellenic Ministry of NationalEducation and Religious Affairsin accordance with Provision 16 ofthe Constitution. The following

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draws on Ministry of Education,Greek National Report to theBologna Process 2007.

The Hellenic higher education sys-tem comprises two sectors (Law2916/2001): The university sector,which consists of 23 universities(including the Open University)and the technological sector,which consists of 16 TechnologicalEducation Institutions (includingthe School of Pedagogical andTechnological Education). The Hel-lenic International University, locat-ed in Thessaloniki, is themost re-cently established university(2005). During the period 2004-2006 13 new Departments havebeen established in various univer-sities and 4 new Departmentshave been established in 4 TEIs,whereas threemore Departmentswill operate in 2007-2008.

Higher education is also providedby Higher Ecclesiastical Schools(Ministry of National Educationand Religious Affairs), Merchant

Marine Academies (Ministry ofMercantile Marine), the HigherMilitary Education Schools (Min-istry of Defense), the Higher PoliceAcademies (Ministry of Public Or-der). However, all the above insti-tutions cannot offer Post-graduatestudy programmes but only in cas-es of cooperation with the univer-sities which award the post-grad-uate degrees.

There are Higher EcclesiasticalSchools, supervised by the Min-istry of Education and, there arealso other higher education insti-tutionsmainly supervised by otherMinistries (for example the Mer-chant Marine Academies that areunder the supervision of the Min-istry of Mercantile Marine, theHigher Military Education Schoolsthat are under the supervision oftheMinistry of Defence, the HigherPolice Academies are under the su-pervision of the Ministry of PublicOrder). Almost all of them fall un-der the competence of theMinistryof Education only for particularissues.

There are still no non-state, non-profit HEIs. In March 2007, theGreek Parliament approved theamendment of Provision 16 of theConstitution that currently pro-hibits the establishment of non-state universities, which is due tobe amended and approved by theparliament after the next generalelections.

University law 1268/1982 and TEIlaw 1404/1983and2916/2001pro-vides for one of the strongest par-ticipatory roles of the students ascompared toother countries, allow-ing students to have an active par-ticipatory role inHE institutions, con-cerning decision-making, gover-nance, strategicplanning andqual-ity assessment as they participatein all governing bodies (Senate,

Table 5 Total number of new students in the academic year 2006-2007

Type of HEI Universities TEIs Other Total

Number of new students 35,974 25,696 2,722 64,392

Percentage 55.86% 39.90% 4.24% 100.00%

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General Assembly, Internal Evalua-tionGroup, etc). For instance for theRectors’ election the participationrateof the students in theelectoratebody rises up to 80% of the mem-bers of the academic staff. Anotherexample is the participation of stu-dents in the General Assemblywhich is theDepartment’sgoverningbody. The percentage of the repre-sentatives of under graduate stu-dents rises to50%andofpost-grad-uate students to 15% of the totalnumber of the academic staff. Therole of students is vital for the gov-ernance of Hellenic HEIs.

The main source of funding is thestate budget and the Europeanfunds. The Ministry of EconomyandFinance, theMinistryofNationalEducationandReligiousAffairs anduniversitiesandTEIsare involved inthe process of allocating funds. Atfirst there isageneralagreementbe-tween the Ministries and the Con-ference of the Rectors’ and thePresidents’ ofTEIson theamountoffunds, the type of expenses (infra-structure, equipmentetc), the stan-dards and guidelines on the basisof the four year planning of HEIs inaccordancewith the recentlypassedlegislation (L.3549/2007). Then,each individualHEI cooperateswiththeMinistryof Education inorder todefine theannualamountbasedonanalgorithm,which takes into con-sideration the number of studentsand theacademicstaff, thenumberand the location of the depart-ments, etc.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARYEDUCATIONBrief Overview (Relevant informa-tion is drawn from Education Re-search Centre of Greece, The Greek

Education System: Facts and Fig-ures, Athens: 2006).

Pre-school, primary and lower sec-ondary education, is compulsory forall children6 to 15yearsold. Primaryeducation (Demotiko) lastssixyearsand begins at the age of six. Lowersecondary (Gymnasio) schoolingis based on a wide curriculumwhich aims to provide subject-spe-cific knowledge and to preparepupils for the role of citizens in so-ciety.Upper secondaryeducation in-cludes two types of schools inwhich schooling lasts three years:theUnifiedUpperSecondarySchool(Eniaio Lykeio) and theTechnicalVo-cational School (TEE). Alongsidemainstreamschoolsof primaryandsecondary education, there arealso special education, music, ec-clesiastical and athletic lower andupper secondary schools.

In addition, programmes of inter-cultural education are provided torepatriated students of Greek ori-gin and to students of foreign orgipsy origin, whileminority schoolsare established for the educationof the Muslim minority of Thrace.

School UnitsThere are public and private schoolunits of all levels and types of pri-mary and secondary education.School units are characterized byautonomous operation, regardlessof their size in terms of studentpopulation. Special-orientationschools (i.e. athletic,music and ec-clesiastical) exist in parallel withmainstream lower and upper sec-ondary schools. There are alsoexperimental schools functioningunder the supervision of Universi-ties applying experimental meth-ods of teaching.

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Special education is providedthrough:

• Separate education schools,

• Schools or classes operatingseparately or as part of otherschools in hospitals, rehabil-itation centers, adult-traininginstitutions for persons suffer-ing from chronic diseases,

• At home, in extremely specialconditionswhere a tele-educa-tion system may be in use.

• The Diagnostic Evaluation andSupport Centres (KDAY) areresponsible for the diagnosticevaluation and scientific de-scription of the children as“special needs”.

School InfrastructureThe School Building Infrastructure(OSK) has implemented a greatamount of projects in the periodMarch 2004 - December 2006. Inparticular, OSK:

• implements building projectsthatamountto660,923,396.70€,

• constructed 274 new schoolunits and improved 112 exist-ing ones,

• decreased the two-shift schoolunits Attica to 3.2% (compared

to 8.2% in March 2004),

• constructed 30multi-use class-es and gyms,

• conducted pro-earthquakechecks in 3,660 school unitsbuilt before 1960,

• constructs University and TEIbuildings in 32 Greek cities,

• is constructing 286 school li-braries,

Teacher TrainingThe Pedagogical Institute conductsa significant programme for teachertraining in the period 2004-2007.In particular, 8,000 newly appoint-ed teacher were trained during2005-07 and also, various teachertraining programmes are beingconducted concerning new schoolbooks, dealing with problems inclasses, European integration is-sues, second foreign language inprimary education, school admin-istration, modern teaching ap-proaches and in the use of Informa-tion andCommunication Technolo-gies in education.

LIBRARIES• National Library:

the National Library is fundedthrough EU and InformationSociety funds in order to im-

Table Publicandprivateschoolunitsofprimaryandsecondaryeducation (2004-05)

Level of education Number of publicschools

Number of privateschools

Other

Kindergarten 5,640 112 5,752

Primary 5,564 161 5,725

Lower Secondary 1,919 105 2,024

Unified Upper Secondary 1,267 107 1,374

TEE 475 74 549

Total 14,865 559 15,424

prove the management of itsresources. In addition, theStavros Niarchos foundationannounced its offer for fundingthe newbuilding of the Nation-al Library.

• School Libraries:There are 765 libraries in sec-ondary education (266 estab-lished since March 2004)

• Public libraries:There are 45 public librariespart the content of which is be-coming digital and will beavailable online, while theyprovide userswith access to in-ternet and online catalogues.In addition, digital and otherequipment facilitate accessfor personswith special needs

• Mobile libraries:There are 29 mobile librarieswhich visit about 2,000 loancentres.

• Child libraries:the network of 29 child li-braries is being improved.

ADULT AND LIFELONGEDUCATIONThe Secretariat General for AdultEducation (GSAE) has achieved asharp increase in the participationof population (of age 18-67) inadult education programmes(79,4% increase in 2004-05 and219% in 2005-06). Moreover, theparticipation of special groups ofpopulation (prisoners, immi-grants, repatriated,muslims, Rom)has significantly increased since2004.

GSAEhasstrengthenedadulteduca-tion infrastructureand inparticular:

• established 30 second chanceschools (18 existed in March2004),

• established 46 Adult Educa-tion Centres (KEE) (10 existedin March 2004),

• established 40 ParentSchools( 14 existed in march 2004),

• established theDistance-Adult-Learning Centres (KEEENAP),

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• operates the education pro-grammes HERON (training innew technologies), HESIODOS(farmers’ entrepreneurship ed-ucation), Voluntarism (dealingwith crises and physical catas-trophes), learning Greek assecond language, Health Edu-cation (preventing AIDS), Coun-selling Support for families ofRom, Repatriated and Immi-grants.

1 For a more extended overview of theGreek Education System in English seeEducation Research Centre of Greece TheGreek Education System: Facts and Fig-ures (Athens: 2006) andM. Defigou “Ed-ucation in Greece” in A-J.D.Metaxas(ed.) About Greece (Athens: Ministry ofPress and Mass Media, 2004).

USEFUL LINKS

National School Networkwww.sch.gr

“Look Digital” actionwww.destinpsifiaka.gr

Deliberation on Educationwww.forum-paideia.gr

“Diodos”actionhttps://diodos.gsrt.gr/).

Ministry of National Educationand Religious Affairswww.ypepth.gr

The University of Athens