THE FINANCIAL AUTONOMY OF GREEK UNIVERSITIES: AN ATTEMPT AT QUANTIFICATION

Abstract

This study aims to assess the degree of financial autonomy of Greek universities, from a qualitative and quantitative perspective. The recent European University Association (EUA) research relating to University Autonomy did not include Greece since no input was provided for a series of years. Therefore, a thorough attempt to produce the necessary data, with special reference to the implementation period of Law 4009/11, will contribute to filling in the gap and provide useful country-specific outcomes. The methodology to be employed in our study complies with the one used by the EUA complemented with our own produced outcomes by studying the relevant literature together with the applicable legislation for the period in question. Thereby, the relevant outcomes produced (as numerical scores) allow for the ranking of Greek Universities as compared with their European counterparts. In specific, they level at a medium position in terms of financial autonomy. Having achieved that, proposals are offered for both the improvement of the EUA methodology for measuring financial autonomy as well as for changes in the Greek legislation and Greek University practices in order to increase their performance and competitiveness in a continually changing and dynamic environment.JEL: H52; H83; I22; I23; I28; P43  Article visualizations: