A regulation by the Ministry of Education will define the procedure through which more than 400,000 graduates of the former Technological Educational Institutes (TEI) will be able to obtain degrees equivalent to those of corresponding university departments. The measure will be incorporated into a bill for the establishment of a Higher School of Performing Arts, which is expected to be presented to the Greek Parliament on Monday, March 16, 2026.

More specifically, the regulation will concern those who graduated after 2001, when TEIs were upgraded to higher education institutions under Law 2916/2001, but whose degrees have not yet been matched with equivalent university qualifications.

The Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, Sofia Zacharaki, described the initiative as an effort to “close a decades-long pending issue” and “restore an injustice,” speaking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA).

As she noted, the regulation provides the possibility of equating TEI degrees with those of corresponding university departments “through a clear and transparent evaluation process.”

“The process is based on objective criteria such as the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), the content of study programs, and any postgraduate or doctoral studies in related fields,” the minister explained.

“We are providing a clear solution to a real problem while safeguarding the quality and reliability of higher education,” she concluded.

What the regulation will include

The Ministry of Education’s regulation will precisely define the procedure for recognizing TEI graduates from 2001 onward as equivalent to graduates of university departments that emerged after the abolition of TEIs and their transformation into universities.

According to sources close to the leadership of the Ministry of Education, the regulation will establish a procedure with academic guarantees and institutional safeguards. A prerequisite for its implementation will be the completion of the certification of the undergraduate study program of the relevant university department (or single-department school) by the Hellenic Authority for Higher Education (ETHAAE), ensuring that the equivalence is based on certified and high-quality study programs.

There are expected to be specific categories of graduates, based on factors such as:

• the duration of their studies
• the total number of ECTS credits
• the content of their study programs

Depending on the category, some degrees may be automatically recognized as equivalent, while others may require attendance and examinations in specific courses.

The same sources stated that the regulation will establish “a clear, unified and transparent method” for matching degrees from former TEIs with the corresponding university degrees that resulted from the merger or integration of these institutions into the current Greek academic system.

They also noted that this initiative by Sofia Zacharaki aims to fill a long-standing institutional gap, which they say became more evident after the higher education reform carried out by the SYRIZA–ANEL government, a reform they described as “hasty” and which, in their view, created more problems and injustices than it solved.

Finally, the Ministry of Education estimates that the regulation will affect a very large number of citizens, since the number of graduates from former Technological Sector Higher Education Institutions is believed to exceed 400,000, while the request for such recognition has been supported over time by dozens of organizations and professional bodies.