In December 2019, the Greek government made an important effort. The Ministry of Education, together with the Institute for International Education (IIE) of the United States, launched the Program for International Academic Cooperation between the two countries. The goal of the program is to institutionally promote sustainable bilateral cooperation between American and Greek universities through structured and comprehensive strategic planning under the guidance of experts. Of course, the pandemic brought everything back. Three years later, these days Greece welcomes representatives from 30 renowned American universities – Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, Stockton, Johns Hopkins and many more – to explore collaboration with Greek universities. The visit was named “Synodos Pharos 2022 – Pharos Summit 2022” by the Hellenic Ministry of Education. As competently stated, the goal of the Greek government is the overall promotion of Greece and the universities of the country as a leading academic destination on a global scale.

“Representatives of American universities will have the opportunity to see firsthand the country’s universities after landmark reforms that encourage international cooperation in higher education, and Greece’s readiness to function as an international educational center after the pandemic. The visit will lead to increased student mobility in both directions and deeper institutional relationships. International cooperation should serve the mutual interests of universities and their communities, for the benefit of students and society as a whole,” said IIE President Alan Goodman in an interview with K.

“The presence in Greece of 30 leading American universities is very important. The degree of success depends on the scope and content of the cooperation agreements between Greek and American universities that will be concluded in the coming months. An important parameter is also the size of the benefit for students, for faculty and universities themselves. Joint programs, dual degrees, joint degrees, free tuition for Greek students, joint research programs, joint publications are just some of the opportunities that will soon become part of the academic reality,” notes Education Minister Niki Kerameos in K. .

“The first signs are extremely encouraging. There are already 18 new or strengthened partnerships between Greek and American universities participating in the program. These days we are waiting for the announcement of further important cooperation,” he adds.

Representatives of Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, Stockton, Johns Hopkins University and others are in our country.

The American delegation consists of about 80 people, and representatives of 30 universities, divided into four groups, will visit the universities of our country within one week. During their stay, they will participate in specialized seminars and meetings with university staff, not missing official receptions in their honor.

Already during the previous period, preliminary work was carried out by officials from the US Embassy and the Greek Ministry of Education visiting Greek universities, as well as scientists from Greek universities who are collaborating with colleagues from American universities, included among the 30. Moreover, according to Mr. Goodman, “more than half of the US universities participating in the visit have already strengthened existing partnerships, signed new ones, or started serious discussions with potential Greek partners.”

In fact, as the US Ambassador to our country, George Tsunis, notes in “K”, “within the framework of the Pharos summit, we finance the trips of an American expert to regional universities with specific consultations on the internationalization process. Through her visit, we hope to help Greek institutions understand how to attract students from the United States, as well as how to help their students traveling to the US to study.” And the ambassador of Greek origin emphasizes: “The United States is proud to be Greece’s number one partner in academic cooperation. Education is an integral part of the strategic dialogue between the US and Greece. This is an area where President Biden and his administration are committed to further deepening the strategic relationship between our two countries. We truly see this historic visit as an opportunity to create added value and growth in both Greece and the United States, as well as their respective student and academic communities, who will have the opportunity to get to know each other, as well as each other’s countries, with clear benefits for bilateral relations between the United States and Greece.

“I am aware of the cooperation between American and Greek universities. But this is a unique opportunity to institutionally establish contact with our Greek colleagues, to expand the scope of our relations,” says Nicholas Prevelakis, professor at Harvard University. The list of representatives of 30 universities includes many Greeks or Greeks by origin, which indicates the value of Greek scientists and the importance of their assistance in the project. “We have collaborations with AUTH and Univ. Western Macedonia. Now we have the opportunity to see the work of universities that we do not know, ”notes Nikiforos Stamatiadis, a professor at the University of Kentucky, in K. The Fulbright Foundation, which has been operating in Greece for 75 years, has also made a major contribution to this project. Before the pandemic, Greece was ranked 12th in the world by preference for American students, drawing an estimated 6,000 people, Fulbright Country Managing Director Artemis Zenetou tells K. Now their number is expected to increase. “I would like to go back to the US and say, ‘Something good is happening in Greece,’” Mr. Prevelakis notes.

Kozani Invites Kentucky and Other Academic Collaboration Opportunities

Kentucky is a region of the United States that has features of Western Macedonia. That is, it is focused on the production of electricity from fossil fuels. Well, as the rector of the University of Western Macedonia Theodoros Theodoulidis explains to K, “due to the checkpoint in Kozani and brown coal, we have a field for cooperation with the University of Kentucky, whose representatives will come to visit us.” According to K, most of the heads of Greek universities have prepared proposals for areas of cooperation with the universities whose representatives will visit them, “fermenting” the existing cooperation with some of the 30 universities. Based on information from the Ministry of Education, it is estimated that there may be many – more than 50 – exchange agreements for students in postgraduate programs and the organization of summer schools. Obviously, first of all, cooperation will be sought in “light” areas, such as the arrival of American students in Greece for an internship or for a semester of study. In addition, American universities seek to ensure that their students study abroad for a short period of time, “gathering” a diverse academic and cultural experience. The reverse, that is, teaching Greeks in undergraduate studies at American universities, is more difficult due to the rather high tuition fees at US universities, as Secretary General of Higher Education Odysseas Zoras points out.

In particular, in preparation for the visit, most of the Greek universities have developed proposals. It is indicative, as Thanos Dimopoulos, rector of the University of Athens, told K, the Americans will be provided with a list of scientific areas in which they can cooperate. Among them are online courses, the use of a visiting professor institute, the organization of summer academies (up to three weeks) and research programs in Greece, student and university exchanges, joint postgraduate and doctoral programs and, finally, joint undergraduate programs. . Of course, as Mr. Dimopoulos says, this will happen in stages. In addition, the pilot collaboration for American and Greek universities could represent, as a senior ED official told K, EKPA’s pending agreement with Yale to purchase free courses that will count towards the degree for masters and doctoral students. AUTH has similar partnerships with the universities of Princeton, Stockton, and Texas, according to AUTH’s president, Nikos Papaioannou.

“NTUA has forged important partnerships both at the undergraduate level, which is a challenging area, and at the graduate level with American universities such as Michigan, Kentucky and Columbia. The NTUA dual degree agreement with Columbia is an illustrative case and a pilot for others like it,” the rector of the university, Andreas Butuvis, told K, emphasizing that “an important factor supporting partnerships is the strong presence and willingness to participate in the Greek academic diaspora in the United States “.

“Closer to the Polytechnic Institute of Crete is the University of Southern California, which has a well-known polytechnic school. In the academic field, we could organize joint master’s degrees,” adds Michalis Lagoudakis, rector of the Technical University of Crete, for his part. “Of course, there are opportunities for joint programs with American universities, but for now we are focusing on the development of the European university EU-CONEXUS, with which we aim to go beyond Western Europe,” emphasizes the rector of the Agricultural University of Athens. , Spyros Kintsios.

The leaders of Greek universities have scheduled brief presentations of their schools to their visitors during the two hours of the visit, which they consider too short to present their work. Finally, an important task of universities is to show Americans their face away from graffiti and dirty places. “As Rector ‘K’ pointed out, ‘I made arrangements for a route with trees, not walls.’

The collaboration between Greece and the US gives scientists on both sides the opportunity to re-understand why the lessons of the past are important and how they can be used in the future. Universities are based on the past, present and future at the same time. By reinforcing their extroversion and internationalization, we also increase the chances that universities will be able to make our world a better place, regardless of borders.

Our Universities win at all levels, in prestige and international renown, taking their rightful place on the international academic map, as well as in a significant influx of income from international students. It is tentatively assumed that the income from tuition fees for only one English-taught undergraduate program in medicine reaches 4 million euros per study cycle. For our country, the advantages are numerous both in geopolitical and economic terms.

It is important to recognize that education, as a driver of economic development, can create many jobs and significant income. Consolidation of Greece as a leading regional educational center will make the greatest contribution to the Greek economy. In the United States, education is our sixth largest service in terms of exports.