Greek universities suffer from “violent minorities and extra-university groups,” while “cheating is rampant in exams”, says New Democracy deputy, and former University of Athens rector, Theodoros Fortsakis.



Speaking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency in an interview published on Tuesday, Fortsakis said “the universities have unfortunately descended into a mess beyond description. They are infested with violent minorities, some departments of theirs are occupied by extra-university groups, heavy violations of law take place in their spaces, occupations systematically hamper classes, the organization of tuition and mainly of the students’ assessment system has serious problems, a large number of students remains stagnant and cheating is rampant in examinations.”



Fortsakis voiced his strong support to the proposal by New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis for the foundation of private universities, adding that a new category of legal entity, that of the university entity should be provided for by the constitution.



“The law should dictate the conditions for the creation and operation of those universities. Whoever – the state or a private party – fulfills these conditions should be able to found and operate a university, always under state supervision. This way we would not neither have any phony universities without tutors and students, or any fake private universities in blocks of flats,” Fortsakis said.