The title is slightly misleading, as I realize there’s many ways perpetual students—somewhat derogatorily referred to as “αιώνιοι φοιτητές” by Greeks—harm the Greek economy. I’ll discuss just one of them, which has a measurable short-term impact. I’d even go as far as saying it’s an important factor most Greeks should be concerned with, but I admittedly have insufficient evidence to back that claim up. I’m going with a slight gut feeling on this one.
This is the kind of idea Greeks get when you mention students
The basic idea stems from the fact that, most Greek students pursuing a tertiary education, remain financial black holes for an extended period of time. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying people should work more and study less. I am, however, saying that young Greeks take too long to graduate. I know it sounds like I’m suggesting Greeks should invest less in higher education, but I do have a point to make. I just need to ease you into it, because it’s subtle. In a way, this reflects the fragility of the subject.
If you party instead of study, imagine your money trickling down this hole
The first point I have to bring up, is that Greek students are notorious for personifying the perpetual student stereotype: multiple evaluations—such as this one—reveal that it takes the average Greek student about 6 years to graduate once enrolled in an institute of higher learning (“ΑΕΙ” and “ΤΕΙ” in Greek). Compare that to most other European nations, where graduation time is typically 3 to 4 years maximum. In (most) private European universities—none of which are, by law, allowed to exist in Greece—the failures are literally thrown out, an act considered unspeakable by most Greeks.
This is how Greek parents will always see their children
So Greek students have no income for like 3 more years. Big deal. Well, not so fast. Let’s look at some ballpark numbers to get a feeling of the economic impact this has. Because, quite frankly, there’s no argument against the statement that Greek students take way more time to study than necessary. Right now middle- to lower-class Greeks have an average income of around 10,000 € per annum. Let’s say that, instead of just spending 3 extra years studying, all Greek students decided to work part-time and earn on the order of 5,000 € a year, so 15,000 € in total.
Every Greek student could afford two of these with some part-time work
Remember, this is basically wasted potential. And this is true for every new wave of Greek students, year in and year out. So to measure the economic impact on a yearly basis, we need to estimate how many students finish highschool and continue their studies. The first number is easier to estimate, if we assume a population of 10 million and a uniform age distribution ranging from 0 to 80 (the average life expectancy): it comes out to about 125,000 highschool graduates per year.
Final year of Greek highschool: Staring into a the abyss over a pile of books
But how many of them continue their studies? From experience, I’d put it somewhere around 40%. It’s pretty high even for European standards, but it’s somewhere between 30 and 50%. This puts the number of students entering Greece’s higher learning institutions at an estimated 50,000 per year. If all of them decided to work part-time for 3 out of the 6 years of their education, they’d make a combined 250 million €. This is about a quarter of all the money spent annually by the Greek government on all of tertiary education. (Almost a third of total expenditures on education; if you’re Greek, take a look at this excellent report for more info.)
Greeks (myself included) typically don’t see anything like this until their mid 20’s
Just think of the untapped potential Greek students are sitting on; think of how the much the quality of their studies can increase, even by tapping into as little as 1% of all that potential capital. Students don’t even need to work part-time for 3 years; they can spread it over the entire duration of their studies, which comes out to roughly 200 € per month. So what, you may wonder. After all, all I’ve demonstrated is that Greek students can collectively amass a capital that’s a good fraction of what their government spends on their education.
Would you invest in digging if you knew you were standing on top of this?
But this realization is precisely what I’m trying to demonstrate: Instead of bitching about how badly (their) government handles (their) education, or how the Greek society forces them to seek a better future abroad, they could try adjusting their individual attitudes, band together, and be the change they want to see. The numbers add up: Every one of them can, in principle, do it. It’s not easy, but it boils down to a simple philosophy: If the government won’t fix your problems, you have to do at least some of it yourself. It doesn’t have to be the absolute best (what’s that, anyway?), as long as it’s in the right direction.
This is how Greek parents interpret my suggestions
So, any recommendations? As a matter of fact, I have. It’s pretty simple, actually: Finish your studies within a normal time frame, and set aside anything from 2 to 20 € per month. Spend that money on things that will benefit your studies: A new phone, books, new office equipment, a new laptop or tablet, etc. Spend it on things you believe the government should spend; excluding, of course, your professor’s salary. And who knows: Maybe you’ll join forces with like-minded individuals and do something that’ll benefit more than just yourselves, leaving behind a legacy you can be proud of.
Very interesting in-depth post! I would like to share some thoughts regarding your post if that's ok:
Regarding the high number of students pursuing higher degrees (you mention 40%). You are mentioning that this number is much higher than most other European countries. I am guessing that this might simply be attributed to the lack of job opportunities for graduate students in Greece.
As a matter of fact, as a Ph.D. student working in Germany (I'm Dutch myself), I've met quite a large number of Greek students that are pursuing a second, or even third masters degree abroad, simply because there is a lack of well paid jobs in their home country.
A good amount of these Greek students I've met are not planning to go back to Greece anytime soon. Typically their first choice is to find a job abroad with a good salary and other benefits. I think this is where a lot of potential is lost for Greece itself.
First, the Greek government invests in their students' bachelor degree, followed by a large number of these student leaving the country due to the lack of jobs and study abroad opportunities. As a result, the invested government money is flowing away into foreign economies by a drain of human capital into other countries.
Such mechanisms I think are really challenging to break by a government that is in the position similar to that of the Greek government.
These are just some thoughts that came up while reading your post. I'm curious about your opinion about what I've written.
Thanks
Thanks, michelmake! Any thoughts and criticism are welcome.
Well, I didn’t say it’s much higher. You can see some of the relevant statistics here, but the figure is indeed around 40%. I don’t know how much higher that is compared to the EU average, but it shouldn't significantly change any of my conclusions, since it's a broad-stroke analysis. But I suppose you’re right: Any difference might be driven by the limited job opportunities in Greece.
That’s true. However, only a small fraction of Greeks pursue a Master’s or Doctorate (either in Greece or abroad). Most either don’t have the skills, or they lack the necessary capital. It’s mostly smart students with multiple nationalities and/or well-off parents that can do it. From my own experience, I’d say only between 10 and 20% of Greek students fall into the category you’ve encountered. This is supported by several Greek university department evaluations, such as this one.
Interestingly enough, the aforementioned percentage happens to more-or-less coincide with the fraction of people with an IQ that’s at least 1 sigma above the mean. In hindsight I don’t think that’s really surprising, given how tightly IQ correlates with things like education level, income, and job performance. But of course it’s taboo to talk about human intelligence.
Ah yes, the infamous brain drain. I happen to belong to the same category of people, and I share the same sentiments for the reasons you mentioned. There’s two more personal reasons I’d like to add: political instability and outdated social structure. The 80–90% that stay behind are the perpetual students, which have to be eliminated. They’re worse than a brain drain in the short term, plus their effect is rather easily quantifiable.
I’m fully with you on this one: Brain drains suck for the economy, for the reason you mentioned. However, the capital lost by a brain drain is harder to estimate and is only felt at least half a decade later (when students finish their studies and start a job abroad). It seems to me that dealing with perpetual students is easier than preventing bright students from leaving.
I hope I adequately covered most of your points, and would love to hear any further thoughts you might have on the subject.
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