IEK

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

IEK (Greek: Institouto Epagelmatikis Katartisis; Vocational Educational Institute) is a type of vocational education school in Greece. Other European Union countries have similar schools, though they are not called by the Greek name IEK.

IEK schools are post-secondary (meta-deuterovathmio) educational institutes, recognized by the European law, offering two-year programmes in areas such as Computing and Business Marketing. Students who may wish to attend an IEK school must have completed the high school (Lykeio). Some 1-year programmes are also available for young students who completed only the middle school (Gymnasio). They are operated by both the public and the private sector; public schools usually offer courses with lower tuition fees.

The Greek government body which oversees the IEK schools and issues government certificates is OEEK.

Students of IEK schools are eligible for a deferral of mandatory military service (anavoli). A student who completes a 2-year IEK programme is able to travel and work in the European Union, because there are equivalent IEK schools throughout Europe, so its certificate is valid all around the EU.

Other Greek educational institutes are AEI (university) and TEI (technical university).