Editorial Ta Nea: Dysfunctions

In Greece linking university education with the labour market has long been considered a heinous crime.

Much has been said and written to argue that the orientation of university studies should not be linked to professional orientation.

Proponents of this view claim that such a linkage distorts the spirit of university education because it supposedly ceases to serve the quest for knowledge and instead serves the interests of the market.

The annual report of the Independent Authority for the Ensurance and Certification of the quality of Tertiary Education (ADIP) which was published today in Ta Nea demonstrates that this is the predominant view.

The data indicate that Greece has the worst record of unemployed university degree holders in Europe.

One in five university degree holders are unemployed whereas the average in Europe is one in 20.

The difference is mind boggling.

Even though this phenomenon is due to other factors as well, it is clear that all sorts of ideological fixations have played an important role.
Those who experience unemployment are living a personal drama.

Society and the state have a duty to abandon these dysfunctions so that tertiary education may be linked to the labour market as it is in many European countries.

We owe this to the families who spend much to educate their children so that they might find a place under the sun in terms of employment.