tion, they will also have to meet any additional criteria imposed by the parent foreign university, he said.
On Wednesday, the minister presented the draft bill allowing the founding of non-state, non-profit universities in the country, which is to be posted for public consultation as of layer today, in the evening.
Pierrakakis explained that prospective students must also meet the minimum pass mark for the subject they intend to study, which will be calculated by multiplying the average exam mark for the particular subject by 0.8.
The minister said that the minimum cost for founding such a branch of a foreign university in Greece will be 2.0 million euros, with 500,000 euros allocated to each of the three departments it is required to have and another 500,000 for buildings.
- For the operating license, an amount of 500,000 euros will be required as a letter of guarantee.
- Requirement to be a university recognized in his country.
- Degrees will be stamped by the Ministry of Education.
- Applications should be approved or not by Greece within 120 days
An exception will be made for the top 20 universities in the world rankings, which will have the option of founding a branch with a single department.
He said that the criteria for founding non-state universities will be the strictest in Europe and supervised by the National Authority for Higher Education, while the branches will be legal entities of university education linked to the parent university, which will be responsible for the curriculum.
They will not be permitted to employ faculty members who also teach in the state universities.
The minister stated that “some of the best universities in the world, and only these, will be able to establish if only one school wants it and not three as will be the case for the rest.”
According to Pierrakakis, anyone with a school leaving certificate from another country that is equivalent to that of Greece, or an international baccalaureate can enroll in a non-state university without sitting exams.
The Minister stressed that the first branches of foreign universities in Greece will start operating as of September 2025.
Daily ethnos.gr noted that the minister may have set “national exams” as criteria to attend “the private universities”, however, regarding the admission of students will be determined by the foreign branches of universities themselves and the Ministry of Education will have no say.
The minister stated that some of the best universities in the world, and only these, will be able to establish if only one school wants it and not three as will be the case for the rest.
PS Why should the “best universities in the world” that have no foreign branches will decide to come to Greece is a mystery Pierrakakis did not bother to explain.
According to recent media reports, the first private university branch will be from Cyprus in the land of whatever called Greece.
