National Technical University of Athens (Greece) On promoting cooperation between UK and Greek Universities
On 21 November 2022, a Greek delegation – the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs N. Kerameus and the Rectors A. Boudouvis of NTUA, A.-M. Dimopoulos of University of Athens, N. Papaioannou of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and T. Theodoulidis of the University of Western Macedonia– visited London in a coordinated effort to promote academic cooperation between Greek and United Kingdom universities.
The bilateral cooperation faces significant difficulties due to Brexit and the consequent obstacles to student mobility, mainly through Erasmus, the particularly increased cost of tuition fees for students outside the UK but also that which concerns the funding of new researchers, such as PhD candidates, who do not come from UK. As far as European research programs are concerned, the possibilities of UK Universities to participate under a special status of cooperating member in Horizon 2020 favored their cooperation with European Universities, among them NTUA. But the prospects for the Horizon Europe program are not promising.
In the meetings held during the visit, one in the morning and another in the evening, all aspects of the academic cooperation between Greek and UK universities were discussed realistically and to the point, with UK academic authorities and with the participation of the UK Ambassador to Greece, Mr. M. Lodge and the Greek Ambassador to UK Mr I. Raptakis. In the evening meeting, hosted by the Greek Embassy in London, over 100 Greek professors in UK were present. A strong desire to launch collaborations and develop relevant initiatives was expressed from both sides. Among the “windows of opportunity” that are opened are those connected with the new legal framework concerning the possibilities for interaction of professors from abroad with Greek universities.
In the evening meeting, Rector A. Boudouvis addressed the audience of the Greek academics. The video clip is an excerpt from the event at the Embassy.
In the morning meeting, he presented NTUA activities in extroversion and internationalization and their coupling with research and educational priorities, as they pertain to the UK-Greek academic cooperation.