A group claiming to represent more than 1,000 professors from across the country met with Education Minister Marietta Yannakou to discuss the government's plans to overhaul higher education. They presented Yannakou with a list of their own proposals.

"We do not represent any particular political interests and we do not have a hidden agenda," Costas Sofoulis, a professor at the University of the Aegean, told a press conference in Athens. "We [the 1,000 professors] have come together because we care about public university education... [which] is on the verge of falling apart and it does not deserve such a fate."

The university system has been in a state of turmoil since June last year, when students, supported by teacher unions and leftwing parties, took to the streets to oppose a series of academic and administrative reforms.

The new, rival proposals place autonomy in the disbursement of funds and academic decisions at the top of the agenda. State officials argue that public universities cannot become self-governing institutions while they are entirely taxpayer-funded.

Athens University Professor Antonis Liakos blamed the government for the unrest.

"During our meeting with the minister today, I stressed that the government is responsible because it started without any plan," he said. "We put across our own proposals."

According to Liakos, the academics are calling on the government to delineate exactly how it intends to amend article 16 of the constitution, which is currently interpreted as excluding anyone but the state from the business of higher education. They want the socialist opposition, Pasok, to do the same.

The 1,000-odd professors want Yannakou to embody their proposals into the draft legislation that her ministry is currently hammering out (see article below). "We want the ministry to take our proposals as a base," said Liakos. "We also want [the government] to commit funding for the universities."

"I stressed to the minister that we are amidst a crisis," said Lefteris Papayannakis, professor at the Athens Polytechnic. "A closed university, is a dead university."

Minister at work

According to Yannakou, her ministry is currently "putting the finishing touches" to the proposed university education overhaul and will take the professors' proposals into "serious consideration". The proposed reforms will reportedly be tabled before May.

Athens University Professor Thanos Veremis, chairman of the National Education Council (ESYP) that drew up the proposals, has threatened to resign if the government doesn't meet that deadline.

"I wish to thank them for all their proposals," Yannakou told reporters after her three-hour meeting with the professors. "[My] door is always open. We are here and we will listen to all proposals... The ministry is pleased that it has managed, through this dialogue, to bring together the views of so many professors."

Yannakou is to discuss the proposals at a meeting of the council of Greek university rectors on February 3-4.

Veremis says the initiative is welcome. "I think that this initiative is valuable because, despite the differences in the details, all these people agree that reform is absolutely necessary, as opposed to POSDEP [Hellenic Federation of University Teachers' Association] and the students - the political parties in the university, who think that we don't need to do anything," Veremis told this newspaper.

"[The professors] used to be the silent majority. Now the silent majority has ceased to be silent. They have a voice and they are being heard."

Veremis played down the differences between the ESYP proposals and the new ones. "Everyone agrees on the principles. It's a very good sign. Things are looking up."

ESYP unveiled its proposals in April 2006, amid strong reactions from academics and students. The measures included limits on the numbers of years allowed for the completion of undergraduate degrees and changes to the asylum law, which bans police from entering university grounds. Many of ESYP's reforms were adopted by the government, but some were softened.

Not all university professors agree that higher education should be overhauled. They joined several thousand students and marched to the parliament building in downtown Athens on January 31 to protest against the government's plans to overhaul public university education and to revise the constitution to legalise private universities. A similar protest was held in Thessaloniki, northern Greece.

Meanwhile, students are currently occupying hundreds of university faculties across the country. They too are protesting against the government's proposed reforms.

The proposals backed by more than 1,000 professors nationwide

General

* Universities should be allowed to draft their own internal rules and regulations (if they haven't done so already)

* The election of administrative bodies (rectors, vice-rectors, department heads) should be based on universal suffrage. Everyone (professors, students, administrative staff etc) should vote, but voting powers should be proportionate and based on turnout

* The current system of professors assigning only one course textbook should be gradually eliminated and university libraries should be improved. Each department should have a special fund for textbooks. There should also be greater use of electronic sources like the internet

Financial affairs

* Universities should publish their own financial reports/statements

* Each university shall submit a four-year financial plan and strategic development plan

* Universities should be exempt from paying taxes, and donations to universities should be tax-deductible

Professors

* Election of professors: the selection process should be undertaken by each department and should also involve one or more external judges

* Faculty should be ranked into a) part-time, b) full-time and c) full-time and exclusive employment, or they should be ranked into a) part-time and b) full-time and exclusive employment

* Mobility: professors should be allowed to spend between six months and one year instructing or conducting research at other universities

Students

* Financial support: extend scholarships to more students and offer students part-time employment on campus

* Perpetual students: each university should be allowed to decide how long their students may spend earning a degree

* New student services: establish academic advisors

* Create new academic programmes and allow students enrolled in one programme/department to take classes in another. Universities should also be allowed to hold classes in a language other than Greek

Relationship with the state

* The number of new enrolments each year should be based on each university's four-year strategic development plan

* Asylum: the rector's council should vote by an increased majority whether or not to allow police to enter the university grounds

* Each university should establish its own ombudsman or some kind of independent body to mediate between the university and the education ministry

* Internal and external assessment of teaching, research and administrative affairs. The external assessment should be undertaken by independent bodies