University streamlining to reduce entrants by a third

A plan to streamline Greece’s higher education system, leaving fewer departments offering courses on the most popular subjects and abolishing those with scant demand, was unveiled on Thursday by Education Minister Constantinos Arvanitopoulos, reports Ekathimerini.

The scheme, dubbed ‘Athina’, foresees four universities shutting down – the University of Central Greece, the University of Western Greece, the International Hellenic University and the University of Western Macedonia – and the closure of dozens of departments at universities and technical colleges that have little demand.

According to Arvanitopoulos, the overhaul will allow a larger number of students to enter popular faculties such as those focusing on economics and business but the abolition of a large number of underperforming departments will still bring down the number of entrants to higher education institutions by about a third. The number of successful applicants this academic year is estimated at between 50,000 and 55,000 – down from 77,000 in the previous academic year.
Full report on the http://Ekathimerini.com site