American Ambassador Extols New US-Greece College Exchange Program

“I can’t think of a better place than Greece where American students could gain international experience and complete their studies,” said US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt after a teleconference on International Academic Partnership Program between Greece and the US on Monday.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Minister of Education and Religious Affairs Niki Kerameus and other ministry officials, along with representatives of all the Greek universities, discussed the program with the president of the Institute of International Education (IIE) Allan Goodman, Ambassador Pyatt, and representatives of the 27 American universities and colleges which collaborate on the program.

The decision to launch the program was taken in September between the Greek Education Ministry and IIE. The ambitious program includes the establishment of joint study programs between Greek and US universities, exchanges of professors as well as students, the facilitation of the participation of US students in a foreign language and summer programs in Greece.

The conference had originally been scheduled for late March with the US university representatives already planning on attending in Greece. However, the event was postponed and rescheduled as a teleconference due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In our public universities there is an amazing number of talented people with great potential that have not been able to show it… we want to open the world to them, and essentially give them the opportunity to build partnerships with foreign (higher education) institutions.” the Greek Prime Minister stated during the conference.

Greek Education Minister Niki Kerameus underlined the commitment of the Greek government to improve the country’s education system and she expanded on the new bill that has just passed in parliament which “opens” Greek universities to the world.

She also highlighted the nation’s commitment to the new Greece-US collaboration.

Kerameus also said that there is no better place than Greece for international students to study the ancient Greek language, archaeology, history or foreign languages.

For his part, US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt said that he cannot think of a better place for American students to learn than Greece, adding that Greece is a safe country in which to live and study.

The twenty-seven US universities that will participate in the program are the following institutions:

California Polytechnic State University, Columbia University, George Mason University,
Harvard University – Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington, Johns Hopkins, Joliet Junior College, Lehigh University, New York University, Ohio Northern University, Princeton University, Rutgers University, Stockton University.

Tufts University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, UMass Amherst, UC Berkeley, University of Alabama, University of Cincinnati, University of Delaware, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Kentucky, University of South Alabama, University of Southern California – Viterbi School of Engineering, Wayne State University, College of William & Mary, York College of Pennsylvania.

PHOTO: American students from Lafayette College visiting the Acropolis. File Photo

S: greece.greekreporter.com