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Over the last decade, Greece has been the dominant receiver of large waves of both migrants and refugees. Taking into consideration that (a) immigration (and the displacement of people from their homes in general) is a social phenomenon, (b) education has a significant influence on the development process and access to education is absolutely a fundamental human right, (c) real development calls for improved educational opportunities and access for all citizens without any discrimination, and (d) the lives of young refugees have been impacted by negative experiences, then the purpose of this paper is to investigate, through qualitative analysis, the access and the opportunities that the Greek higher education system offers to young refugees (if they wish to enter) and to identify possible barriers raised by existing educational policy. A qualitative survey was conducted by analysing the relevant Greek legislative framework and by using structured interviews with key personnel of refugee support organizations and higher education institutions (HEIs), both public and private. This study supports the view that higher education should aim to remove any barriers to accessibility, have a humanitarian orientation, ensure equality and constitute a key step in the whole process of socialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The globalization of education, with its multiple associations with the growth of the knowledge society, the increasing penetration of market forces in higher education and the treatment of education as an exportable good, supplied in different forms and by various providers, exerts the need for systematic quality assurance in higher education. In Europe, the Bologna Process has urged member-states to respond quickly to the impact of globalization by facilitating tertiary assessment mechanisms to make European education attractive to foreign ‘consumers’ and at the same time to prevent academic migration to the USA. At present, Greece is among those member-states lacking some type of formal tertiary evaluation. The paper examines socio-political and economic conditions in which hostility towards quality assurance has developed. It discusses the prospects of Greece's converging towards the quality goals of the European Higher Education Area. This case goes beyond the limits of a strictly technical debate about the implementation of evaluation procedures or what its criteria ought to be, with the purpose of presenting the broader socio-political and economic background that influences the enactment and operation of quality assurance in Greece.Higher Education Policy (2006) 19, 433–445. doi:10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300132 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]