Development and enlargement of Greek higher education, 1998-2004: An analysis of strategic and regional planning. Myths and realities(full text in Greek)

Abstract

In what was for me one of the important, discussions that I had with Dionysis Kladis during the preparation of my PhD thesis at Christmas 2008 he said to me that, in his opinion, there are three notable outcomes of his activity at the Ministry of Education: the Law 1268/82, the enlargement processes in Greek higher education during 1998-2004 and the entry of Greek universities into the Bologna process in 1999. In this paper, I choose to address the second one, since for the first there are many, more specialized than me, who have already contributed to, or are equipped to contribute to the discussion, while the third was indirectly related to the research conducted as part of my PhD. This paper primarily deals with the presentation and analysis of the design and implementation of policies on development and enlargement processes in Greek higher education during the period 1998-2004. It also deals with the criticism that this policy program received in a process where ‘myths’ are intertwined with ‘realities’. The wider developments of that time at an European and national level in the field of higher education (the creation of EHEA, EPEAEK I-II) and the reports of the Group of Strategic and Regional Planning constitute the ‘field’ data of this paper.