The ‘Sorbonne’ That Wasn’t: Greece Rejects Key Private University Application
The Greek government’s grand plan to introduce non-state (private) universities in the country has encountered a significant obstacle. On Saturday, the Hellenic Authority for Higher Education (HAHE) announced that it had rejected the application from Sorbonne Paris Nord.
For those who know the domestic political scene of Greece well, they might remember that this was a move the New Democracy government had touted as a flagship strategic investment and a major improvement for the country’s academia. The verdict, however, is much less pompous. The French university simply did not meet the necessary academic criteria to set up a branch in Greece.
Why the Sorbonne Paris Nord application became so contested in Greece
This particular application was controversial from the start. The government had pushed a narrative that the Sorbonne Paris Nord application was equivalent to the prestigious, legendary “Sorbonne” academic brand, having chosen Greece to create international campuses.
This, obviously, was blatantly misleading and a governmental attempt to justify its decision, despite a constitutional ban on private universities still being in place in Greece. Opposition parties in Greece and various academics were quick to point out the crucial difference during the peak of the public debate earlier in 2025: this was not the world-renowned Sorbonne Université. Despite the government’s best public relations efforts, including the Prime Minister himself meeting with university representatives back in February, HAHE concluded the institution just was not up to standard.
Unsurprisingly, the opposition in Greece is trying to gain political capital following this development. Stefanos Parastatidis, an MP for the centre-left PASOK party, posted on his social media that “just like that, the much-hyped Sorbonne, which was never truly the university of international distinction, has not been granted a licence to operate for the 2025–2026 academic year.” This decision is also seen as a blow to former Education and current Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis, who had claimed that the new law would usher in a wave of “internationally acclaimed” non-profit universities to come and operate in Greece.
Which universities did not make it and which did
It seems Sorbonne Paris Nord was not alone in its failure to secure the country’s green light to operate in Greece. Several other institutions also failed to get permission, including the British universities of East London and Queen Margaret (which would have partnered with Metropolitan College), the University of West London (with BCA college), the University of Essex (with Aegean College) and the University of Greater Manchester (with New York College). Sorbonne Paris Nord, for its part, had planned to collaborate with the Institut d’Etudes Francophones (IdEF).
On the other hand, six universities did make the cut. They include the University of Nicosia from Cyprus, which is building its own facilities and not collaborating with a local college; the University of York, with City College in Thessaloniki; the University of Keele, with Metropolitan College; the British Open University, with Anatolia College in Thessaloniki; London Metropolitan University, with City Unity College in Athens; and the University of Derby, with Mediterranean College.
This rejection is a tough one for the government to swallow, as it invested massive amounts of its political capital to present it as a win, despite the fact that it was obviously more of a publicity stunt rather than a substantive development for Greece’s higher education.
Related: French University Set to Become Greece’s First Private Higher Education Institution
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