After December 31st, Greece is removing 280,000 long-term Greek university students from school records for being inactive in their studies for years while enjoying student benefits.
This is the second phase of the plan to resolve a problem that haunts Greece’s higher-education system for decades. Greek university students who have been enrolled and remain inactive for years – some for decades – have been given the ministry’s so-called “second chance” to finish their studies and finish the courses needed to get their degrees.
Since the restoration of democracy in Greece, universities have traditionally allowed students to remain enrolled for many years beyond the nominal duration of their degree. This policy was originally established based on the ideals of equality and open access, but gradually revealed deep structural, social, and economic problems.
Politically motivated school occupations, professor strikes, premise vandalisms, and other anomalies have not allowed for proper operation, disrupting normal education processes. At the same time, many long-term students took advantage of their student status benefits such as half-price fare in public transportation, reduced prices for movies and theaters, free dorm rooms and so on.
The so-called eternal university students amount to 280,000 while 35,000 students who remained enrolled will have the “second chance” to remain or return to school and complete requirements for their degrees.
Education minister and the ‘second chance’
Education Minister Sofia Zacharaki spoke to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) on the issue of long-term students and the deadline from their removal.
“I fully understand that any change in such a sensitive issue raises concerns. But I want to be clear: we are not talking about punitive policies, nor about “purges” of students, but about a modern, fair and functional framework, which establishes order without depriving opportunities,” Ms. Zacharaki pointed out to AMNA.
The minister expressed the view that the regime of inactive students for decades “was unfair to everyone: the Institutions that could not plan, the active students who were struggling and especially our young people, who were left trapped, without a substantial connection to their studies.”
Ms. Zacharaki noted that the legislative intervention for long -term Greek university students that was made proved to be “necessary,” while emphasizing that the new framework “is not rigid.” “It explicitly provides for exceptions and flexibility for those who work, for those who have health problems or serious family and social obligations. We don’t treat everyone the same, but everyone fairly. Approximately 280,000 inactive students will be removed from the register in the coming period.
Opponents of the measure, however, warn that rigid limits risk excluding vulnerable students who need flexibility. As one professor cautioned, “Discipline without support is not reform; it is abandonment.”