Process for recognizing foreign degrees arduous

Greek students with degrees from foreign universities face a long and arduous process to get their certificates recognized, according to a report by the Ombudsman that was made public on Monday amid rising fears that Britain's possible exit from the eurozone will complicate matters further.

The standard waiting list at DOATAP, the agency responsible for the recognition of degrees from foreign institutions, and SAEP, the body for the recognition of professional qualifications, is eight months. It does not help that Greece has only 155 officially listed professions while there are 800 Europe-wide.

The Education Ministry last week submitted legislation to speed up the process of recognizing professional qualifications from other countries.

But processes are as slow at DOATAP as at SAEP, the report notes. The head of DOATAP, Eleni Papadopoulou, blamed understaffing...