At the Annual Conference on Vocational Training, Dodecanese MP and Chair of the Parliament’s Committee on Regions, Manos Konsolas, emphasized that regional universities must be directly linked to the broader goal of regional development and function as engines of growth for their areas.
He highlighted the need for institutional reforms, stronger cooperation between universities, central government, local authorities, and regional stakeholders, as well as upgrading universities based on academic—not geographical—criteria. Konsolas also stressed that regional universities should play an active role in designing local and tourism development strategies.
Regional development, he noted, requires long-term national and regional planning and a new framework of cooperation with universities at its core.
