Greek undergraduate students: ‘Stagnant’, ‘perpetual’ or simply dropouts?

Since the 1980s, the expansion of the public higher education system in Greece and the increase of student numbers have contributed to the democratisation of higher education. However, the massification of the higher education system in Greece has been accompanied by the issue of the long delay of studies and the phenomenon of students not graduating, i.e., ‘stagnant’ or ‘perpetual’ students. Nowadays, the thorough study of this phenomenon is considered to be important not only for ‘equity’ reasons but also because of the implications it has for the accreditation of higher education institutions, as there are certain indicators calculated each year according to the timely completion of studies. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the students who have significantly exceeded the time limit for completing their studies in the Department of Social Policy at Panteion University. For the first time, we distinguish between active and inactive/dropout students based on whether or not they were making the compulsory course declaration. We analyse the relevant data for the last two decades, setting a framework for such research in Greece, while also taking into consideration the major higher education reforms that took place in the context of the Greek social formation.