Education in Greece

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Education in Greece

Educational oversight

Minister for National Education
and Religious Affairs

Ministry for National Education
and Religious Affairs
Marietta Giannakou

National education budget

676 million € (public)

2.7% of GDP¹ (2001)

Primary languages

Greek

system

Literacy (2003)
• Men
• Women

97.5%
98.6%
96.5%

Enrollment
• Primary
• Secondary
• Post-secondary

1,426,175
786,025 ²
360,248 ³
276,902 ⁴

Attainment
• Secondary diploma
• Post-secondary diploma

¹Gianouridis & Bagley, p. 6² 2000-2001 schoolyear (Επαιδευτικό Ελληνικό πίνακας 6.2, σ. 24) ³2000-2001; loc. cit. ⁴1999-200; ibid., 53

The Greek educational system has undergone significant changes and modernisations during the 1990's.

1 Primary Education
2 Secondary Education
3 Tertiary Education
4 Private Education
5 Vocational Education
6 Obsolete Institutions
7 Current issues
8 References
9 See also
10 External links

[edit] Primary Education

Δημοτικό Σχολείο (Demotic School or Primary School)
- Year 1, age 6 to 7
- Year 2, age 7 to 8
- Year 3, age 8 to 9
- Year 4, age 9 to 10
- Year 5, age 10 to 11
- Year 6, age 11 to 12

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[edit] Secondary Education

Γυμνάσιο (Gymnasium - Middle / Secondary School)
- Year 1, age 12 to 13
- Year 2, age 13 to 14
- Year 3, age 14 to 15 (end of compulsory education)

Λύκειο (Lyceum - High School)
- Year 1, age 15 to 16
- Year 2, age 16 to 17
- Year 3, age 17 to 18

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[edit] Tertiary Education

Tertiary education in Greece takes one of two forms:

Technological Education Institute (Technologiko Ekpaideftiko Idryma - TEI Τεχνολογικό Εκπαιδευτικό Ίδρυμα)
University - Highest education institute (Anotato Ekpaideftiko Idryma - AEI Ανώτατο Εκπαιδευτικό Ίδρυμα).
- Polytechnic (Πολυτεχνείο), equal to a University. The most notable example is the National Technical University of Athens, which is also famous because of the students' uprising in November 17, 1973 against the Greek military junta.

[edit] Private Education

There are public and private dimotika (primary education), gymnasia (middle school; secondary education), lykeia (high school; secondary education). Some of them are for foreigners, usually children of British or American families. For example see American Community Schools.
Public and private IEK.
Private universities and colleges (Laboratories of Free Studies, Ergastiria Eleutheron Spoudon), often franchises of foreign universities, sometimes non-profit organizations. For example see the ALBA Graduate Business School, University of Wales, Bangor, Mediterranean College, Deree College, etc.

[edit] Vocational Education

Technical Vocational Educational School (Techniko Epagelmatiko Ekpaideftirio - TEE)
Vocational Training Institute (Institouto Epagelmatikis Katartisis - IEK). OEEK is the government organisation which oversees these institutes.
Private EES schools often offer seminars and 1-year vocational programmes, usually for Computing or Business studies. Young Greeks can seek private vocational education using the computer software products Eurofasma and Kefaleo (Capital).

[edit] Obsolete Institutions

Technical Vocational Lyceum (Techniko Epagelmatiko Lykeio - TEL)
Technical Vocational School (Techniki Epagelmatiki Scholi - TES)
Unified Multidisciplinary Lyceum (Eniaio Polykladiko Lykeio - EPL)

[edit] Current issues

The foremost topic of debate in recent years has been anagnorisi (αναγνώριση "recognition"): Private universities are forbidden by the 1975 constitution. Numerous private institutions, often franchises of European and American universities such as the University of Indianapolis and the State University of New York, are operating as EES schools (also known as Laboratories of Free Studies).

Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy), the Greek conservative right political party, claimed in the most recent elections that it will change the law so that private universities will be recognized, a move opposed by the then-ruling PASOK. Without official recognition, students who have an EES degree are unable to work in the public sector. PASOK did take some action after EU intervention, such as the creation of a special government agency which certifies the vocational status of certain EES degree holders, but not the academic status. The issue of full recognition is still a debate among Greek politicians. A new constitutional amendment proposed in December 2005 is expected to end this debate by allowing the function of non-profit private universities.

Greek Universities have yet to meet the ever-growing demands of enrolling most willing and able students to their rosters. As a result, a shortage in University-level education that is recognized in Greece, leads families and students to often look outside of Greece for a higher education. Countries such as France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States are priority choices for students who failed to be accepted to faculties, such as medicine, engineering or computer science, in Greece. In recent years, due to an increase and shift in the economy of Greece, students are less willing to study for an overinflated Medical or Legal occupation. Instead, popular choices are now Business, Information Technology, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering have attracted Greek Students to universities in India, primarily (ISB), (IITs), (IISc), and the National Law School of India University to which in recent years, students from Greece have been blamed for unfairly receiving the Rhodes Scholarship due to being a racial minority.

Greece does not recognize three-year university degrees. Students who completed a Bachelor's degree in a foreign country find it difficult to find employment in the public sector, unless they next obtain a Master's degree. Doctors and Lawyers that come into Greece from degrees from abroad, must also go through an additional 6-9 months of testing and qualification before they are allowed to practice in Greece.

[edit] References

Anastasios Giamouridis and Carl Bagley, Journal of Modern Greek Studies, vol. 24, No. 1, "Policy, Politics and Social Inequality in the Educational System", May 2006, pp. 1-21.
Education Research Centre - Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, The Greek Education System. Facts and Figures (Supervision: Prof. V. Koulaidis. Compiled by C. Papakyriakopoulos, A. Patouna, A. Katsis & S. Georgiadou), Athens, 2003. (ISBN 960-541-106-7)
- (Greek) Κέντρο Εκπαιδευτικής Έρευνας, Το Ελληνικό Εκπαιδευτικό Σύστημαˑ Συνοπτική εικόνα σε αριθμούς, Αθήνα, 2003. (ISBN 960-541-108-3) [1] (accessed June 1, 2006)
Greek Educational System: The Implementation of the ICT in the Greek Curriculum in Compulsory Education, IACM/FORTH, November 2003 [2]