A new exchange program envisioning cooperation between tertiary education institutions in Greece and universities in China was formally unveiled on Thursday by the education ministry’s leadership in Athens, in close cooperation with the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE).

The development follows similar agreements between Greece-based universities with noted institutions in the EU, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The inaugural event to kick-off the program came on Wednesday via a teleconference, which included participation, on the Greek side, by Education & Religious Affairs Minister Niki Kerameos, Deputy Minister in charge of tertiary education, Angelos Sirigos, Greece’s ambassador to Beijing, Georgios Iliopoulos, and by CEAIE President Liu Limin, PR China’s ambassador to Athens Xiao Junzheng, as well as university officials from both countries.

An MoC between the Aristotle University of Thessalnoiki and the Universities of Xi’an Jiaotong and Shandong Agricultura, as well as between the University of Patras and Fujian University of Technology kicks off the program.
Since assuming power in July 2019, the pro-reform and pro-business Mitsotakis government has sought to liberalize Greece’s creaky higher education system by promoting cooperation and partnerships with distinguished foreign universities, and by reinstating foreign-language tuition-based degree programs that the previous leftist government abolished.

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