As a member of the National Higher Education Authority, I agree with the establishment of a minimum basis for university admissions. 2020 was preceded by a shock from extremely low bases in many segments. Here are some examples of the scores of the last entrant of the General Education School: Italian language and philology in AUTH: 6340; Italian language and philology in EKPA: 4440; regional and economic development at the Agricultural University: 4350; agricultural biotechnology and oenology. at the International University: 4,850; Rural Development at the University of Thrace: 3,825; in Forestry and Environment at the International University: 2,550. The sad record belongs to the Environment Departments of the Ionian University (in Zakynthos) with 900 points (the former had only 8525 points) and the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Departments of the University of Patras (in Messolonghi) with 875 points. For comparison, the last applicant of the Faculty of Dietetics and Nutrition in Harokopio in the same year scored 15,700 points.

The minimum enrollment base was not a measure of student promotion to private colleges. Some colleges sell non-professional degrees, and as a general rule, colleges must be subject to rigorous scrutiny for the level of study offered and entry requirements. As long as the pan-Greek examination system is in place, a minimum basis is needed to ensure a high standard of teaching in a public university. It is neither irrational nor immoral.

It is absurd to condemn young people to spend their creative years as perpetual students, to burden their families with the cost of staying in peripheral cities for virtual study, to reduce the level of teaching to meet the needs of students who lack the basic knowledge to study. subject, burden teachers with consecutive exams (until they give free A’s), perpetuate the bad teacher-student ratio (significantly worse in Europe).

It is absurd to condemn young people to spend their creative years as perpetual students in peripheral cities on virtual learning.

If there was a mood for a sober and balanced discussion about education, then in 2023 it would not be about minimum bases, but about gaps in secondary education, the lack of career guidance and the abolition of the problematic university admission system, unique in its kind. Europe. Can you imagine the headlines in Le Monde or The Guardian “Unsolved problems in mathematics” or “Difficult text dropped out in Ancient”? For decades, instead of adopting the university admissions system that works well in comparable countries, ND a PASOK has chosen to reinvent the wheel every time.

They modified versions of the Panhellenic Examinations. They were changing the elevator of the problematic education building. SYRIZA followed suit. Instead of insisting on replacing the Greek exams with university entrance based on a high school diploma, he succumbs to the allure of an easy solution. Attention: It is one thing to successfully obtain a high school diploma with scores above the basic and a special weight in the points of courses relevant to the intended study, and quite another to remove the minimum admission base.

Unfortunately, the sluggish debate about the minimum base is sidetracking two much more important issues: first, the level of education provided in secondary education needs to be improved so that thousands of young people are not deprived of the basic knowledge that will allow them to attend higher education institutions. . Secondly, meaningful career guidance should be introduced so that young people are timely directed to areas that correspond to their knowledge, abilities and interests, and are informed about professional prospects and the needs of the labor market. Otherwise, Greece will continue to rank last among OECD countries in terms of both employment of university graduates aged 25-64 and new graduates aged 25-34, 12 percentage points less than the national average OECD.

These data (and others related to age-old educational issues) can be found in the annual reports of the National Higher Education Authority. I wonder how many deputies bothered to read them.

Mr. Angelos Haniotis is a member of the National Council for Research, Technology and Innovation.