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)
There exist both public and private IEK schools; the public ones are cheaper.
OEEK is the Greek government body which oversees the IEK schools and issues government certificates.
Students of IEK schools are eligible for a postponement 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 the IEK school is a pan-European "custom", so its certificate is valid all arround the EU.
Other Greek educational institutes are AEI (university) and TEI (technical university).
