Universities in drive to open up English-taught programmes

As part of a government drive to open up more English-taught higher education programmes, the Greek government has approved a new law that will aid the creation of new English taught degrees run by Greek universities in collaboration with overseas higher education institutions.

While these programmes were already legal, the new law clarifies how they should be operated and controlled by administrative and academic staff.

The law will also facilitate the creation of joint research centres run by Greek and foreign universities. The government proposed the law on 29 May and it is subject to public consultation ending on 12 June.

The law will also aid the creation of international exchange programmes and summer schools, while encouraging universities to create branches outside of Greece.



Its drafting was partly inspired by concerns that Britain’s abandoning of the European Union (EU) through Brexit has reduced the number of Greek students in the United Kingdom by 47%, noted an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study.

A focus on strategic academic collaborations between Greek and UK higher education institutions which use English is important, said Maria Vardaki, secretary to the dean of the School of Health Sciences at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA): “It is evident that partnerships with English universities not only help students to interact with foreign educational cultures and programmes but also assist to attract more students to the Greek universities.”

The law will complement proactive and ongoing efforts by Greek universities to increase their English-taught courses, as part of its move to internationalise its higher education sector.

Vasilis Papadakis, vice rector for international cooperation and growth at Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB), stressed that both Greek and international students attending its English-taught masters courses pay the same tuition fees as for Greek-taught programmes. So the fee for the MSc in economics, for instance, is €2,500 (US$2,660) for both the English-taught programme and the Greek-taught one.

These changes were introduced after law 4692/2020, passed by the Greek Parliament in May 2020, authorised Greek universities to offer masters programmes taught in English to Greek or international students. However, for the time being, bachelor degrees in English can only be offered to international (including European) students.

Looking ahead, Apostolos Dimitropoulos, secretary general for higher education at the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, has told Greek language media outlets: “The plan is to see more than 200 bachelor, masters and doctoral degrees taught in English.” That would increase the number from 140 masters and two bachelor degree courses taught in English within Greek higher education institutions today.

Papadakis from AUEB told University World News: “The participation of Greek students in these international courses is significant, as well as the participation of English-speaking students who seem to prefer to study in Greece more in comparison with previous years.”

He said the existence of English-taught masters programmes at AUEB has helped it secure agreements on offering dual degrees taught in English, which the Athens university has struck with various institutions, such as the University of Pavia in Italy, the EDHEC Business School in France and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Germany.

AUEB is also preparing to launch a new bachelor degree programme in international administration and technology, which will be taught in English from 2024.

British higher education institutions, such as Birkbeck, University of London, the University of Reading and Scotland’s Strathclyde University, are already in discussions with AUEB over new academic partnerships, partly as a result.

AUEB already offers eight English language masters degrees in subjects such as business administration and shipping. Applications have included those from Ukrainian students fleeing their country because of the Russian invasion, which, as of 3 June, had killed 4,183 civilians, according to the UN.

In support of their efforts to broaden links between Greek universities and higher education institutions overseas, representatives of the government-funded Study in Greece project, which encourages foreign students and academics to study and work in Greece, were present at the US-based NAFSA Association of International Educators’ 2022 annual conference and expo, at the Colorado Convention Center, Denver from 31 May to 2 June.

An example of how universities using links to develop English-taught programmes can work, can be seen at NKUA which launched an international BA degree in archaeology, history and literature of Ancient Greece, taught in English since its launch in 2020-21.

The course admits students from abroad only (due to the existing legislative restrictions on Greek undergraduates studying in English) and they can receive one year’s free classes of modern Greek language and attend exchange programmes with universities from countries such as China, the US and the UK that collaborate with NKUA, said Eleni Karamalengou, its academic programme manager.

“The state has helped us overcome bureaucratic issues [in operating such a course], but of course, there is still plenty of room for improvement,” Karamalengou added.

Other initiatives involving NKUA include a partnership with Boston University in the US, which offers an English-speaking summer school in Greece, teaching Modern Greek language and culture. Another deal has been struck with the University of Cincinnati, also in the US, which will be urging students to visit NKUA to undertake its English-taught bachelor degree in Greek studies.

Meanwhile, cooperation deals are also being discussed with the University of Leeds and the University of Reading, in England.

The NKUA School of Medicine has also founded an English-taught six-year bachelor degree course in medicine which costs €13,000 (US$13,800) per academic year in fees and will be accepting 40 students for 2022-23. The course has already received applicants from 46 countries worldwide, again being offered to overseas students only.

These students will follow the same syllabus as Greek students and access the same school facilities, including robotic patients and 3D anatomy systems, said Vardaki. She said English-speaking students undertaking the course can practice in 16 hospitals in the Athens metropolitan area.

NKUA already has 7,600 international students in total and has sent medical professors to the US, where they teach in English. Some of them have already expressed their interest in teaching in the NKUA English-language medical programme when they return, said Vardaki.

She said that the university has a strong reputation in the US: “After all, among the university's alumni are Nobel Prize winners,” she said, referring to literature prize winners Odysseas Elytis (1979) and Giorgos Seferis (1963).

Also, senior Greece politicians such as current Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias, former health minister Nikitas Kaklamanis, “and countless notable researchers” are among its alumni.

“Moreover, NKUA appears in the top 100 universities for Google Scholar citations for five consecutive years and most recently, it was ranked 92nd in the world, 18th in Europe and first in Greece,” she added.

While the COVID-19 pandemic impeded the development of this new English-taught course in medicine, the fact that the university succeeded even when the disease reduced the number of available overseas students, has stood it in good stead.

Some higher education institutions closed during the pandemic, while others had to reduce their vacancies for professors and researchers, which has helped successful institutions such as NKUA to attract foreign English-speaking professors.

Moreover, its students can also benefit from the university’s membership of the CIVIS alliance of 10 leading research higher education institutions across Europe, with cooperation work often conducted in English.

Other member universities are Aix-Marseille Université, the University of Bucharest, Université libre de Bruxelles, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Sapienza Università di Roma, Stockholm University, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, the University of Glasgow and the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg.

The move towards English-language teaching in Greek universities has also been evident outside the capital.

For instance, the Democritus University of Thrace, located in Northeastern Greece, offers an English-taught masters programme in quantum computing and quantum technologies; an English taught MSc in food, nutrition and microbiomes; as well as an English-taught masters degree in biomedical and molecular sciences, focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases. There is also an English-taught masters degree in technological and management advances on intelligent transportation electrification systems.

Zoe Gavriilidou, vice rector for academic and student affairs, told University World News that “students from China and Arab countries seem to choose Democritus University more than other nationals”, adding that it also aimed to attract more students from the Balkans and the US.

Also, with Thrace bordering Turkey, and hence the region being home to significant numbers of Muslims, the university has sought to attract students and academics from these communities by adopting a series of protocols and collaboration deals with universities from Turkey and other Muslim countries, in which the use of English as a common language is important, Gavriilidou said.

Meanwhile, in the southernmost region of Greece, the Technical University of Crete currently offers four masters degrees in English with two attracting mostly Greek students (a biomedical engineering MSc and an MA in technology and innovation management).

However, it is notable that an English-language MA in petroleum engineering is being taught to students from nine different Mediterranean and Middle East countries, because of the importance of fossil fuels to these countries.

Michail Lagoudakis, vice rector of academic affairs of the Technical University of Crete, said that in 2022-23 the university will be launching another two English-taught programmes, an MSc in machine learning and data science and an MSc in sustainable engineering and climate change.

However, Lagoudakis said launching such courses brings stresses and challenges, with a dearth of qualified English-speaking administrative staff being one issue. One solution, he said, would be the creation of an international student office in every Greek university.