Speaking to SKAI 100.3, Papaioannou, who is also a former rector of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, explained that the measure applies to inactive students in four-year programmes who have exceeded the maximum duration of study. The policy will be extended to five-year programmes in December 2026 and to six-year programmes the following year.
He stated that approximately 35,000 students made use of the “second chance” provision, requesting an extension to retain their student status.
Commenting on the resignation of theatre studies professor Yiannis Leontaris from his post as dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of the Peloponnese, Papaioannou said that although the professor’s stance was “a respected opinion”, it constituted an isolated response.
Earlier, Leontaris had issued a statement announcing his resignation in strong disagreement with what he described as “the authoritarian imposition of a scientifically unsubstantiated, pedagogically unacceptable and socially unjust measure”. He argued that expulsions represent “a political act with a class character, deeply anti-democratic and offensive to the public university”, targeting students from working-class and lower-income backgrounds who are “being punished for exercising their right to knowledge”.
According to reporting by Esos, the process of student removals is already under way across most universities, with numbers particularly high. At the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, more than 25,000 expulsions have taken place. At the University of Western Macedonia, the figure reaches 17,000, the vast majority from former Technological Educational Institutes. The University of Patras reports around 18,000 expulsions, and the University of West Attica around 22,000. At the Ionian University, removals exceed 4,000, while the University of the Aegean reports 5,271.
Institutions with five-year study programmes, including the Agricultural University of Athens, the National Technical University of Athens, and the Technical University of Crete, have not yet proceeded with removals due to their different study structure.
Overall, approximately 280,000 students are expected to be expelled. Around 35,000 have retained their enrolment by using the extension mechanism introduced in the recent amendment.
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