The first quarter of 2025 is expected to be a period of significant developments for the Education sector. Legislative regulations that bring changes to primary and secondary education, as well as the application process for the establishment and operation of non-state universities make up a very busy first quarter.

In detail, already on January 2, the application period for the establishment and operation of legal entities of university education, the so-called non-state universities, began, a period that will last until March 1, 2025.

A big bet for the leadership of the Ministry of Education and the focus of interest is not only the number of applications, combined with the names of the universities that will take this first step for Greece. It is worth noting that the applications will first have to pass the scrutiny of the National Authority for Higher Education (NTEAE). Those applications that receive the “green light”, will have the possibility of operating from the new academic year, in September 2025.

In addition, within the first months of 2025, announcements are expected for the intensification of the internationalization activities of public HEIs, through synergies with prestigious educational institutions from abroad.

Based on the above, the new academic year that will start in September 2025 will in fact bring a new academic map.

In addition, the Ministry of Education’s bill presented at the last Cabinet meeting in 2024, just before Christmas, which concerns the introduction of the International Baccalaureate in Standard and Experimental High Schools, is awaited with interest. As Kyriakos Pierrakakis, the Minister of Education, reiterated in a radio interview last Friday, it is initially expected to be implemented” in at least five Standard Lyceums in the first year of implementation” and to be implemented on “as large a scale as possible.”

This bill, in addition to the International Baccalaureate, will, according to what has been announced so far, provide for the strengthening of the autonomy of schools, through the strengthening of the role of the headmaster, who will have increased powers, such as, according to what the minister said in the same interview, to select his sub-headmasters, to give priority to the evaluation of a particular colleague, as well as to be able to have a decisive role regarding the timetable.

“Obsessions in 2025 have no place in education because there is no luxury of immobility, for better or worse. The country has to move forward and to move forward it has to do the obvious. Common sense on how our schools should operate and how to empower the teacher, but also how to be able to have supervision at the same time,” Pierrakakis said.

This bill will also provide for the establishment of two sports schools (one in Athens and one in Thessaloniki), the institutionalization of the Open School (with the aim of making school units living and multifunctional spaces, with sports activities, free play, reading clubs, lectures, and parent schools), the regulation of the operation of Study Centers, as well as the digitalization at all levels of the educational community.

It is also recalled that the following applications will be piloted in the first half of 2025:
-e-applications: transfers, transfers, secondments, teacher leaves

-e-teachers: communication channel with their school, the Directorate of Education and the Regional Directorate of Education

-e-parents: additional display of information on the curriculum, calendar of activities, parents’ declarations of responsibility, etc.

Also of particular interest is expected, in January, the announcement of the details of the contract governing the establishment and operation of the Public Onassis Schools.

As indicated by Mr. Pierrakakis, the model of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center will be followed: “This model has innovations. We will take this culture and the assistance of the Onassis Foundation and transfer it to the education system,” he stressed.

The Network will involve 22 existing high schools in 11 vulnerable areas “facing social and economic challenges”, according to the Onassis Foundation. As informally announced by the ministry, the first 6 high schools and 6 lyceums are expected to start operating in September 2025, and the remaining 5 high schools and 5 lyceums in September 2026.

According to the first announcements, the network of these schools is expected to be upgraded not only in terms of structures and infrastructure but also in terms of the educational process, allowing more than 6,000 students to participate in a new model of education that “will combine the content of public education with the innovation, modern knowledge, and skills required by the 21st century.” This synergy, as stated on the Onassis Foundation’s side,” aims to open new horizons in public education, to bring the School of Tomorrow to today, building a future full of opportunities for all children, with a focus on schools open to local communities.”