The Rector of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Gerasimos Siasos spoke about significant changes in education, its contribution to economic development, the integration of AI, and the opportunities that have opened up for Greek universities. He participated in a panel alongside Education Minister Sofia Zacharaki at the 5th Thessaloniki Metropolitan Summit co-organized by The Economist and powergame.gr.
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Specifically, Mr. Siasos started with three key assumptions:
- The first is that universities are engines of knowledge and incubators of innovation,
- The second is that they shape social values and the country’s human capital – the new ideas and discoveries produced within universities must return to society and reach citizens
- The third is that universities drive progress.
Siasos on artificial intelligence in higher education
He also added that no one can succeed alone and collaboration is needed between universities, the state, and the economy-market. He noted that in recent years we have had very significant reforms that gave Greek universities the opportunity to develop, for example, to establish spin-off companies. He added that the current minister and her two predecessors provided the opportunity and framework for a public university (University of Athens) to establish a branch abroad.
Regarding artificial intelligence, Mr. Siasos emphasized that it has occupied us greatly in the Rectors’ Conference – how universities will integrate AI into their programs and train their employees. As he said, for about a year now we have had a collaboration with Google to train our employees, but we are also concerned about our students. He noted that we must teach them critical thinking and humanism, which they will not find in AI.
Zacharaki: Improvement across all education levels
It should be noted that Education Minister Sofia Zacharaki emphasized, among other things, that in recent years there has been a tremendous effort to improve all levels of education. There is a great effort by public universities to become more outward-looking, to offer foreign-language undergraduate and graduate programs, to attract students from everywhere. Infrastructure is being upgraded, there is improvement in human resources, and there is now the possibility for non-state universities.
She added that this is a good time to confirm the very important role of Greece and Greek universities as a space that attracts students from all over Europe.
