As Greece is beleaguered by a severe financial crisis, the prospect for young Greeks of studying abroad is no longer just an additional consideration but rather the most plausible way to build strong foundations for a profitable career.
Greece has always been supplying the study abroad market with thousands of students. According to a 2010 survey conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Greece was the country with the largest number of people studying abroad, in proportion to its population.
And it remained the fourth most important EU source country at UK tertiary institutions in 2010/2011 – although its market share declined slightly year on year, HESA stats reveal.
In the current extremely difficult financial climate, traditional destinations such as the UK, Germany and France continue to score highly in the preferences of Greek students. There is also, however, a reported increase in the number of people who are opting instead for a university experience in an Eastern European country.
Alexander Roggenkamp, director of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Athens, points out that more people have started visiting the Goethe Institut in Greece, where DAAD is located, and asking for information about studying in Germany (3,150 in 2011 compared to 2,750 in 2010). An even more substantial increase can be seen, he says, in the number of applications submitted for internships, with a rise of 120% in 2011.
Greece was the country with the largest number of people studying abroad, in proportion to its population
Last year also marked the end of a continuous decline in the number of Greek students in the universities of France. According to statistics collected by Campus France in Greece, 1,870 Greeks studied in France during 2010/2011 compared to 1,851 in 2009/2010.
It should be noted that the biggest hike can be detected in the number of those studying for a licence degree (the equivalent of a Bachelor’s degree). The 540 Greeks who studied in 2010/2011 comprise the highest number of Greek undergraduate students in France in the last five years (in comparison there were 500 in 2008/2009 and 457 in 2006/2007).
“It’s the first time that I have seen parents who wish their children to complete undergraduate studies in France without ever considering the option of a Greek university,” says Patricia Savary, office manager of Campus France in Athens. “This was not something that used to happen in the past,” she continues. “Greek children would choose to study abroad only if they had not scored the required grade in the national exams to be admitted to a Greek university.”
Savary believes that one explanation could be that parents now hope that by acquiring a degree from a French university, “their children will have a better chance of finding a job there”. [more>>]
While there has been an increased interest in German and French degree programmes, enrolment by Greek students in UK institutions declined by 1.3% in the last academic year (11, 630 down from 11,785). With many universities in the UK having decided to substantially increase their tuition fees from September 2012 and with the cost of living in the UK remaining relatively high, a further decline would not be unexpected.
However, according to Eleonora Karaphili, managing director of the education agency Skyline which liaises with universities from various countries, many Greeks are still determined to study in the UK despite their financial troubles.
“It is surprising that even after the increase in fees in Britain, it is still the dream of most youngsters to be accepted by a British university and study in Britain,” she says. “They will try to take a loan if their parents’ income is not enough, while in many cases the parents themselves do not hesitate to deprive themselves of various goods in order to economise and be able to pay their children’s tuition.”
“It is still the dream of most youngsters to be accepted by a British university and study in Britain”
And Katerina Fegarou, education marketing manager of the British Council in Greece, notes an actual increase in interest in undergraduate studies in the UK for the upcoming academic year. “UK universities will continue to be amongst the top choices, since Greek parents will always want for their children to receive the highest standard of education,” she states.
With the majority of Greek families becoming overwhelmed by financial troubles however, the more economical option of studying in an Eastern European country has started to increase in popularity amongst Greek students.
Countries like Romania or Bulgaria offer universities with low tuition fees and in addition to this, the cost of living is substantially lower compared with the UK.
In a recent interview on the Greek radio station Vima FM, Stavros Grigoriou, managing director of Global Education, an agency that offers educational advice and support to those interested in studying in Eastern Europe, pointed out the major financial advantage of taking such a decision.
Grigoriou argued that a student in an Eastern European country would normally spend €700 per month (including tuition fees, rent and other basic expenses). A Greek student in contrast, who would study in a Greek city other than the one he lived in, would have to spend around €1,200, he said.
Overall, it is clear that the financial troubles at home and the cost restraints that burden Greek families have not prevented them from offering their children the opportunity to receive a high level education, even if that means studying abroad. As Karaphili points out: “Despite the crisis, Greeks seek the best education they can afford for their children, because a child’s education will always be a priority for Greek families.”
