The Ownership Status of the 4 Non-State Universities

"The ownership status of the 4 non-state universities is directly intertwined with the legal personality attributed to the 4 NPEs."

*Prodromos Giannas is a Professor at the University of West Attica where he teaches in the Postgraduate Program "Administration of Educational Institutions".

Lately, the Greek public sphere is flooded with many articles focusing on the operation of the 4 non-state universities or legal entities of university education (N.P.P.E.) that received on August 29 an operating license from the Ministry after an evaluation and positive recommendation by the National Authority of Higher Education (E.TH.A.E.) and the National Organization for Qualifications Certification and Vocational Guidance (E.O.P.P.E.P.). The public sphere is full of publications that have as a source of information the websites and announcements of these newly established institutions and/or reproduce articles of the law granting them their licensing, accompanied by statements from government officials. On the other hand, there are also negative publications that are critical of the failures and gaps in the “express” evaluation procedures followed by E.TH.A.E. and E.O.P.P.E.P.  

In this article I will focus on the ownership status of the following 4 NPEs. 

The ownership status of the 4 non-state universities is directly intertwined with the legal personality attributed to the 4 NPEs. Law 5094/2024 in article 134 par.1 explicitly states that the annex "constitutes a special purpose legal entity with legal personality, non-profit nature, with the exclusive purpose of providing higher education services". The wording of the non-profit nature of the NPPE was chosen to be consistent with article 28 of the Constitution, the positions of reputable constitutional scholars such as professors Evangelos Venizelos and Antonis Manitakis and EU law with the aim of circumventing the revision of article 16 of the Constitution. Although the plenary session of the Council of State ruled in June 2025 that Law 5094/2024 was constitutional, the ownership status of the NPEs raises serious questions in my opinion for 3 out of 4.

The NPEs are required to implement, with minor adjustments, the curricula of the parent university institutions, of which three are public and one is private, for-profit. The main issue that arises is that the parent universities are required to implement higher education educational services in Greece in a different way compared to the established practice they follow at their headquarters. This is because private colleges and private companies undertake the implementation of the curricula in Greece. The problem does not lie in the fact that the implementing bodies are private but in the fact that they do not operate as non-profit organizations, with the exception of Anatolia College of Thessaloniki. In order to offer higher education educational services as non-governmental organizations, the NPEs must not have as their main objective the maximization of profits. In the event that profits arise, they cannot be distributed to the members of the legal entity nor can excessive increases be paid to the salaries of high-ranking executives. Profits should be reinvested in achieving the social purpose. Reinvestment can take the form of an extensive scholarship program for male and female students, tuition fee reduction for male and female students who fall into special categories, upgrading of building facilities and logistical infrastructure, etc. For for-profit educational organizations, tuition fees are the main source of income, while non-profit educational organizations have developed donations, sponsorships and funded programs from international and national bodies as additional sources of income. In short, the principles governing for-profit educational organizations differ from those of non-profit organizations, and this significant difference affects the operation and quality of the educational services offered.    

ΝΠΕΠ. Anatolia American University

There is no question about Anatolia American University because the affiliated college, the Anatolia College of Thessaloniki, is of a non-profit nature. There is no reason to doubt that an educational organization that has a long-standing presence in Greece as a non-profit organization will not follow the same path in providing educational services as a PEO.

NPPV. City University of York, European Campus

The University of York from the United Kingdom has in recent years entered into a strategic partnership with the private college City College based in Thessaloniki. In addition to the Branch in Greece, the University of York It also has a second branch in Mumbai, India. The fact that the York University website incorporates a hyperlink to its main website Despiteaddition in Greece states that the collaboration between the University and City College has been built on solid foundations.

City, as a private college, offered undergraduate and postgraduate study programs from York University even before the passage of Law 5094/2024. As stated in Annex website "Graduates of CITY College, University of York Europe Campus of all departments obtain professional equivalence in Greece... This recognition concerns undergraduate and postgraduate studies..." Logically, the approval of the licensing of the NPE does not change anything in essence in the way that City will continue to offer the programs of the University of York as a NPE.

The issue that requires special attention, however, is that the higher education services of the National University of Cyprus will be implemented by the private City College, which since its establishment in 1991 has operated with the brand name "City Educational Company Limited". In  Administrator reports of the company Georgios Stratigakis, the ratio that reflects the size of the company's gross profit on sales amounts to 27,56% for 2020, 29,66% for 2021, 18.39% for 2022 and 15,68% for 2023. From the accounting statements it can be concluded that the company operates as a private for-profit company and only the Southeastern European Research Center associated with it (South East European Research Centre) which has been operating since 2004 is a civic non-profit company. The Board of directors of the College is composed of Georgios Stratigakis, Fotini Stratigakis and Ioannis Ververidis, who is the President of City. These three individuals occupy the positions of President, member and member in the capacity of Managing Director respectively in the Board of directors of the National Public Health Agency.

UNIC Athens

As is apparent from the decision of the Competition Commission on April 19, 2024, the parent University of Nicosia, a private for-profit organization, together with the company "Hellenic Healthcare Holding 3 (Cyprus) Limited" control two companies, the company under formation ""University of Nicosia Greece Branch Medical Limited" and the real estate company "Vanes Limited". The private hospitals Hygeia, Mitera, Metropolıtan General, Metropolitan Hospital, in which a large part of the clinical teaching of the Medical School of the Branch in Athens (UNIC Athens) will be conducted, are part of the health services group under the name "Hellenic Healthcare Group (HHG)". The HHG group created the civil non-profit company in 2021 Heal Academy (Healthcare Education and Advanced Learning Academy) – Academy of Advanced Education in Health Sciences-. Panagiotis Skandalakis, serves as Chairman of the Scientific Committee of Heal Academy and was recently appointed and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NPEE. According to publications An agreement has been reached to change the ownership of the HHG group with CVC Capital Partners retaining only 35% of the 90% it held and the Abu Dhabi-based company "Pure Health Holdings" acquiring the majority stake of 60%. From the above, it is clear that in the operation of the Medical School of the Branch in Athens (UNIC Athens) as well as in the realization of the vision for the creation university campus in Hellinikon private for-profit organizations will participate.

The question that arises is how the University of Nicosia, which offers higher education educational services in Cyprus as a for-profit organization, will manage to implement the same services in Athens as a non-governmental organization? Without being able to discount this possibility, it is quite difficult to believe that the University of Nicosia and the collaborating companies will act contrary to their "DNA".

NPEE. The University of Keele, Greece

The Ministry of Education granted permission for the NUPE under the name “The University of Keele, Greece”. The English edition of the newspaper Kathimerini published on 29/8 that Keele University will collaborate with Metropolitan College in the operation of the University's Branch in Greece. Also revealing is the announcement that Metropolitan College posted on August 29th on its website. The announcement states: “The long-standing legacy of the Metropolitan College forms the basis for the establishment of a new educational institution that is at the forefront of the reforms of Greek higher education. By leveraging its extensive experience in British transnational higher education, regional development and academic innovation, the Metropolitan College is leading this strategic initiative.” The Metropolitan College is involved in the implementation of the NPEEP programs in Athens. The involvement of the Metropolitan College, a limited liability company with Board of directors which is formed by Rodopoulos Konstantinos as President, Stathopoulos Nikolaos as Vice President, and members Dupuy Benjamin, Stroumbos Adrian Rafael Georges and Managing Director Paraskevopoulou Christina. Rodopoulos is the former owner of Metropolitan College which passed into the ownership of the investment fund company in 2023 BC PartnersStathopoulos, Dupuy and Stroumbos are senior executives at London-based BC Partners and Paraskevopoulou is its Managing Director. "Alphabet Education Single-member Anonyme Company" to which the "AKMI Single-member Educational Company" and the "METROPOLITAN COLLEGE Educational Company" belong. The same people participate in the new Board of Directors of the National Public Service Commission with the addition of BC Partners executive Blanca Ruiz Prada. Without the latter, the Board of Directors of the National Public Service Commission it's exactly the same as that of Metropolitan College!

 In Conclusion

The above analysis by a person who does not have specialized knowledge in accounting and finance is a first approach to the ownership status of the 4 NPEs. I focused on the ownership status because it is a key element in the identity and mission of NPEs, namely to be, as the law states, “non-profit, with the exclusive purpose of providing higher education services”. To this formulation I would add the phrase “for the development of society as a whole and/or the improvement of the educational level of individual groups of society”.

The question is whether Law 5094/2024 and the licensing decisions mark a new beginning for private education or simply constitute legal and administrative acts for the baptism of “private colleges and companies” into “universities”. A well-intentioned observer could claim that we are still at the beginning and it will take several years to assess whether or not the operation and actions of the NPPEs comply with the requirements of the law. However, as I hinted in this article, only 1 of the 4 NPPEs meets the requirements of a private non-profit educational organization. The cooperating bodies of all the remaining NPPEs are private and for-profit. The only relevance they have to the non-profit character is that 2 of them have created civil non-profit companies.   

One wonders why the assessors of the ETH.AAE. and the EOPPEP. did not investigate in depth the parameter of fulfillment of the non-profit nature by the 4 NPEE. If this issue did not fall within their competence, would it not be appropriate and necessary for the files submitted by the 4 NPEE to be examined by financial auditors appointed by the state? It is never too late.

Source and photo: https://www.alfavita.gr/ekpaideysi/489229_idioktisiako-kathestos-ton-4-mi-kratikon-panepistimion