Six universities in Greece may face immediate closure after the recent bond swap reduced their assets to zero.
Only 33m euros remained of 120m euros that 17 Greek universities had deposited with the Bank of Greece for their operating expenses, heard an emergency meeting of university rectors on Tuesday. Six university accounts were now completely empty meaning they would soon be unable to stay open.
Their accounts hit rock bottom following Bank of Greece’s conversion of their funds into state bonds, which were subsequently subjected to a haircut in the private-sector involvement (PSI) bond-swap deal in March.
The rectors decided to set up a legal committee in an attempt to reclaim the money lost.
In a meeting with the education minister, Yiorgos Babiniotis, the rectors called for emergency funding for the tertiary education sector.
Babiniotis said he understood the problem the universities faced and pledged to do everything in his power to secure, even partially, the continued operation of the universities.
He said he had raised the issue earlier in a meeting with the prime minister.
Source: Athens News
