RESOLUTION of the Assembly of the Department of Medicine on the bill of the Ministry of Education and Culture "Strengthening the Public University - Operating Framework of Non-Profit Foreign Universities"
February 23, 2024 2024-02-23 20:00RESOLUTION of the Assembly of the Department of Medicine on the bill of the Ministry of Education and Culture "Strengthening the Public University - Operating Framework of Non-Profit Foreign Universities"

RESOLUTION of the Assembly of the Department of Medicine on the bill of the Ministry of Education and Culture "Strengthening the Public University - Operating Framework of Non-Profit Foreign Universities"
The Assembly of the Department of Medicine during its 10th /19-02-2024 Extraordinary meeting decided:
A) CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE FILED BILL
We express our concern regarding the implementation of a law that contradicts Article 16 of the Constitution and await a possible decision by the competent institutions.
B) UPGRADING THE PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES
General Comments on the Authority
Since we maintain that we support the excellence of Greek universities and the comparative superiority of Greek Education, we propose:
1. Extensive and substantial consultation and co-formulation with the relevant university community of a strategic plan for the development of public universities.
2. Legislation of the level of funding of public universities, as a percentage of GDP, at least on the EU average.
3. Immediate announcement of vacancies for faculty members that resulted from retirement, resignation, etc. and have been lost or not announced, in order to address the alarming understaffing of public universities as well as announcements of new faculty member positions, in order to converge with the European average of student/faculty ratio.
4. Full compliance of the state with the decision of the Council of State to restore the salaries of university employees as public servants to the levels of 2012, and a commitment to the gradual increase of salaries, which will be proportional to their operation, and at least to the levels of the average of the EU, in order to be competitive and help stop the brain drain abroad.
Especially for the Departments of Medicine:
5. Institutionalization of the "clinical hours" of faculty members to 35 - the minimum hours/days of employment at the University, per week, doubling of the special remuneration to reach the levels of 2010 and its independent taxation, as well as harmonization of on-call compensation in the European average. (It should be noted that at the present stage the on-call compensation of faculty members is significantly less than that of the colleagues of the NSS).
6. Possibility of participation in the clinical work of faculty members of laboratories that are not established in the University Hospitals based on Article 50 of Law 4957/2022, in order to strengthen the provided clinical work with specialized medical services.
Special Comments on the Submitted Bill:
• State funding of public universities is further downgraded, since permanent funding based on objective criteria is reduced from 80% to 70%.
• The proportionality of funding of regional universities is not ensured based on existing data and deficiencies in logistical infrastructure and human resources.
• Positive addition of Article 74 on the basis of which the members of the General Assembly have the right to speak in the elections of faculty members.
• The potential assignment of a series of responsibilities to single-person bodies (president, dean, etc.) may facilitate and/or speed up procedures but involves the risk of bypassing participatory bodies (eg General Assembly).
C) POSITIONS RELATED TO THE NPPE & RELATED ISSUES
General Comments on the Authority
It is clear that all of us who serve the public University will enthusiastically support any effort to improve higher education that emerges through honest and fruitful dialogue.
We believe that the bill does not improve higher education.
The bill for the Foundation of the National Higher Education Institution is general and vague and does not set specific conditions and clear obligations for the Private HEIs, rather than a "general" connection with the so-called "Mother Institutions".
Specifically, we consider that certain minimum obligations and criteria are not fulfilled, as follows:
1. Obligation of the NPPE to fulfill specific inviolable conditions (technical infrastructure, ratio of number of students/faculty members, etc.) which may NOT fall short of the average of the corresponding departments of the public universities.
2. Obligation of the NPPE to comply with the current legislation that defines the minimum qualifications of the faculty members of the public universities.
3. Rational geographical distribution of the NPPE Departments.
4. Selection of faculty members with corresponding election procedures applied in public universities.
5. Procedures for the development of faculty members in accordance with what applies in public universities.
6. Salary vesting of the faculty members who will serve in the NPPE at corresponding levels, at least, with the faculty members of the public universities.
7. Ensuring that the nationwide exams are not bypassed, and the withdrawal of the criterion that provides for admission based only on the minimum admission basis of the field and indeed reduced by 20% (multiplied by a factor of 0.8). The nationwide exams are a criterion of excellence and should be a criterion for admission to the universities of the graduates of Greek schools.
Special Comments on the Submitted Bill:
• The establishment and rules of operation of the NPPE do not resemble an academic institution. An operating statute is provided that regulates what concerns the purpose, the name, the headquarters, the management body, the decision-making process, the organizational chart and the capital. Purely academic bodies are envisaged to have an advisory role.
• Research is not a cornerstone: In contrast to public universities where research and the production of new knowledge are intertwined by their nature, the bill only makes a small reference to a research committee that will be established and must be certified by ETHAAE.
• In the case of violation of basic academic rules (e.g. activity of the NPPE without an installation/operation permit or obstruction of control by the competent services of the Ministry of Education) a simple fine is provided.
Special Topics for Departments of Medicine
• Medical education requires clinical practice in hospitals and exposure to the full range of diseases and disorders. This happens in public university hospitals. In the proposed bill there is no provision for ensuring the quality of clinical education in private schools. Education in private clinics - based on the example of other countries - does not ensure quality education as the private health sector by definition has a selective influx of cases (on a mild basis) and will therefore be selective and limited, in terms of its cognitive scope, and the education/research it can provide. This will only be solved by the compulsory provision of clinical training in public university hospitals - possibly through contracts with the private educational investor - which will further burden the provision of free medical services.
• The inflationary production of doctors from private schools will worsen the already serious distortions in the health sector (overinflation in some specialties, shortages in others with the consequent understaffing and shrinking of departments in public hospitals). In addition, it is estimated that 800 doctors per year migrate abroad mainly for livelihood reasons. The production of doctors from private medical practices will not prevent the phenomenon of mass immigration of public hospital doctors but will lead to the staffing of the national health system with health professionals of dubious quality.
Comments on articles
The issue of the operation of higher education providers from "non-profit" branches of foreign universities, the circumvention of Article 16 of the Constitution, the establishment with commercial agreements of certification (validation) or franchising (franchising) are political issues that each of us has a personal opinion on will express it in the dialogue, but it is not appropriate for the institutional body of the Presidents of the Medical Associations of Greece to comment as a whole.
However, what we must point out in the dialogue are the minimum conditions that must apply and govern a possible establishment of Departments of Medicine. In addition to the approval of a file by the ETHAAE, there should be safeguards that ensure their self-governance in analogy to HEIs, the closer supervision by the Ministry of Education especially in matters of an academic nature (cycles of study, doctorates) and academic control, their research activity in contexts similar to those governing HEIs, the minimum number of teachers (one idea is to propose that it be similar to that of the Departments of Medicine in the region or linked to a ratio of teachers/students based on the National or European averages ), the academic specifications for lecturers (doctorate, theses, research) in proportion to those applicable in the existing Departments of Medicine. The method of election and development, as well as the electoral body and the election criteria, although it is foreseen that they will be defined by the parent institution, some specifications (corresponding to those of the HEIs) must be included which must at least be observed. Also the activation of unserved colleagues must exist as a certain small percentage. The scholarship percentage must be significantly greater than 5% with income, social or excellence criteria. The registration basis must be at least linked to the respective School/Department and not to the scientific field (for example, the minimum basis that we propose as Medicine departments could be used) perhaps by a factor. By analogy with HEIs, continuous internal evaluation (by analogy with MODIP) and periodic external evaluation should be provided
evaluation (beyond the initial approval of the file by the ETHAAE).