Earlier this month, almost 2,000 university and technical college students, along with local officials, held a peaceful protest in the streets of Athens outside of the Greek Parliament. The protest was in response to the government’s new higher education reform bill called “Athena,” after the ancient goddess of wisdom.
This bill was submitted by the Education Minister, Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos. He stated that the increase in university departments from 334 in 1993 to 534 currently, is too large to be sustainable. The bill proposes that more than 350 departments should be either closed down or merged together. With such an overhaul and series of spending cuts, Arvanitopoulos believes that universities will be run more effectively.
However, students responded that the bill would only downgrade their education. If their department should be shut down, they would have to change their diploma. If their department merges with another, they might have to relocate to another city to finish their education. Either solution would only delay their graduation and future employment.
“We want our diplomas, not worthless documents,” protestors chanted. They have vowed to continue their protest until the bill is overturned.
Creative Commons Love: davidroethler on Flickr.com
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