Universities: 308,605 Inactive Students Deregistered

On 31 December 2025, the first phase of the process to clean up student registers at Greek higher education institutions was completed, with the deregistration of inactive students who had been admitted to four-year undergraduate programmes before 2017 and did not meet the statutory requirements for an extension of their period of study.

The process was carried out in the framework of the implementation of Law 4957/2022, as amended by Law 5224/2025. According to data provided by the institutions, the total number of inactive students who failed to meet the legal criteria and were deregistered amounted to 308,605.

The Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, Sofia Zacharaki, commented as follows:

“For decades, the status of inactive students was unfair to everyone: to institutions that were unable to plan effectively, to active students who were making a genuine effort, and above all to our young people themselves, who remained trapped without any real connection to their studies.

The new framework is not rigid. It explicitly provides for exceptions and flexibility for those who work, those with health issues, or those facing serious family and social obligations. We do not treat everyone the same, but each person fairly. Thousands of our students made use of the ‘second chance’ we introduced, and that speaks volumes about how necessary this intervention was.

Student status does not last for life in any modern European university. We want degrees with real value, reflecting effort, ability and commitment. Our goal is a public university that is modern, outward-looking and inclusive. A university that supports students, builds their future and does not leave them indefinitely on the sidelines. We are not closing doors; we are opening pathways to studies with prospects, credibility and institutional consistency.

In the coming days, detailed data will be released on those who made use of the second chance.”
The Deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports responsible for Higher Education, Professor Nikos Papaioannou, stated:

“The clean-up of student registers at Greek universities constitutes a necessary and substantive step towards rationalising our academic system. It is a process implemented within the framework of the law and with respect for the academic community, contributing to more rational policy planning for active students, university funding, and the overall upgrading of the public university system.

With updated student registers, universities are able to plan more accurately their needs in human resources, infrastructure and funding. This planning is a prerequisite for improving the quality of studies and day-to-day academic operations, as well as for enhancing the qualitative criteria taken into account when Greek universities are assessed in international rankings.

Through planning, organisation and coordinated action, we are implementing the goal of the New Democracy government and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to make the Greek public university even more modern, functional and high-quality. By relying on reliable data, we are shaping a system of higher education that truly serves active students and the smooth academic functioning of the country’s higher education institutions.”