Search

This paper explores the processes, tensions, opportunities and constraints that migrant youth in Greek higher educational institutions experience at the present time which are characterised by social crises, economic austerity and political instability. In doing so, we also put forward an agenda of critical and feminist pedagogies in developing inclusive spaces of educational citizenship and social justice. Building on a larger collaborative study on youth and migration, this paper draws on a sample of 130 interviews with women and men second generation migrants who are currently, or have been in the past, university students at various institutions in Greece. Migrant youth expanding on their aspirations and capacities harness a developmental pathway of cosmopolitan pedagogies which alter their circumstances and social possibilities. The paper advances alternative discourses in crafting spaces of anti-oppression in the academy through a feminist lens which will cultivate learning communities of equity, justice and reflexivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children from Roma communities are consistently among the lowest academic achievers in many European countries and this holds true in Greece. In Greek schools, Roma students experience high dropout rates and low performance compared to their non-Roma peers. Moreover, in Greece, as elsewhere, Roma experience wide-spread discrimination. Drawing on a set of in-depth interviews with 20 Greek Roma who have entered higher education, this paper examines how these participants account for their educational success. In particular, this article analyses the influence of 'community factors' on the participants' academic progression. This article highlights aspects of the Greek case of Roma's educational success that may contribute towards addressing aspects related to Roma's educational exclusion and promoting educational progression in the European context more widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Higher Education, inclusion and the enhancement of equality of opportunities and practices appeal as imperative, in most Western societies' laws. Inclusive education literature, however, reveals that despite inclusion's strong advocacy, delivery remains problematic, as beyond the surface of institutional policy, the reality of university life for students with disabilities may be one of continued exclusion and barriers to learning. Furthermore, in many countries, including Greece, the voices of students with disabilities appear significantly under-represented, not only in policy-making processes and practices, but also in the area of research. Purpose: In the light of the above, this paper aims to explore the experiences and perspectives of 32 students with disabilities on: education in Higher Education Institutions in Greece, the impending transition to paid employment and future aspirations. Method: The paper is based on a qualitative study where data were collected through semi-structured interviews with university students with disabilities. Data were analysed according to the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: Complex and rich accounts divulged specific issues, such as physical access and access to academic knowledge, quality of available support, interactions with tutors and fellow students, as well as perceived factors that may hinder the transition into the labour market. The results of the study also confirmed that students with disabilities are capable of asserting their needs, challenging institutional discrimination issues and proposing more inclusive alternatives. Conclusion: The findings indicate the need for reconsidering and refining institutional policies and practices in relation to issues of disability and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses alienation from the more-than-human world and the need for nature pedagogies through the experience of nature journaling in an environmental education course in higher education. Students at a University Department of Early Childhood Education in Greece engaged in nature journaling through an assignment that encouraged them to explore their connection with the more-than-human world and reflect on their experience. The research results revealed different ways that the students experienced and connected with the more-than-human world. Nature journaling appeared to be a multilayered pedagogical tool of experience, collaboration, participation, reflection and enjoyment in environmental teaching and learning in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyse the issues and challenges related to university graduates' entrepreneurship and self-employment. An extensive literature review analyses the relevant situation in European Union and Greece. Additionally, an institutional survey has been carried out concerning the career paths of a large number of graduates from Greek higher technological education. A detailed structured questionnaire was designed to collect rigorous data and to obtain deeper understanding of student choices. The randomly selected unbiased sample represented nearly 30% of the total population of recent graduates of five consecutive years. The method of telephone interviews was selected as the most efficient tool for collecting the required information. This paper reports on the analysis of the responses of 197 self-employed graduates regarding the motivation to start a business, the process through which they started their business, and financial issues concerning the start-up. The detection of significant effects towards graduates' entrepreneurship through multivariate statistical analysis revealed that the most important factors are gender, degree grade, acquisition of a postgraduate degree, as well as the faculty and the specialty of the bachelor studies. The original results of the survey provide important insight into graduates' self-employment. The paper also demonstrates the need for a systematic national strategy that will take advantage of innovative potentials, increase competitiveness and enhance the collaboration between government, educational and research institutions, as well as the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to explore the desired wine tourism experience of young adults in Greece. While increased attention has been paid by researchers to age-related differences regarding wine tourism, young wine tourists in Greece have not received academic attention to date. This study addresses this gap in the literature, focusing particularly on the context of the winery visitation experience. More specifically, a list of attributes of the winery visit was adopted for testing and a sample of 156 higher education students participating in a field trip to a winery were asked to rate the importance and performance of each attribute. The study was undertaken within an Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) framework. As indicated from the empirical findings, the core product of the winery experience appears to have limited appeal to young consumers, who have other priorities when visiting a winery. These include enjoying the scenery and food, socialising, and undertaking non-wine related activities. They are also particularly price sensitive. The final section considers the implications of these findings for winery managers and future research into the wine-related experiences of young markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the structure of an undergraduate course entitled ‘programming techniques and the use of specialised software in structural engineering’ which is offered to the fifth (final) year students of the Civil Engineering Department of Aristotle University Thessaloniki in Greece. The aim of this course is to demonstrate the use of new information technologies in the field of structural engineering and to teach modern programming and finite element simulation techniques that the students can in turn apply in both research and everyday design of structures. The course also focuses on the physical interpretation of structural engineering problems, in a way that the students become familiar with the concept of computational tools without losing perspective from the engineering problem studied. For this purpose, a wide variety of structural engineering problems are studied in class, involving structural statics, dynamics, earthquake engineering, design of reinforced concrete and steel structures as well as data and information management. The main novelty of the course is that it is taught and examined solely in the computer laboratory ensuring that each student can accomplish the prescribed ‘hands-on’ training on a dedicated computer, strictly on a 1:1 student over hardware ratio. Significant effort has also been put so that modern educational techniques and tools are utilised to offer the course in an essentially paperless mode. This involves electronic educational material, video tutorials, student information in real time and exams given and assessed electronically through an ad hoc developed, personalised, electronic system. The positive feedback received from the students reveals that the concept of a paperless course is not only applicable in real academic conditions but is also a promising approach that significantly increases student productivity and engagement. The question, however, is whether such an investment in educational technology is indeed timely during economic recession, where the academic priorities are rapidly changing. In the light of this unfavourable and unstable financial environment, a critical overview of the strengths, the weaknesses, the opportunities and the threats of this effort is presented herein, hopefully contributing to the discussion on the future of higher education in the time of crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, 93 Greek university departments were evaluated according to their academics’ h-index. A representative sample from the fields of social sciences and humanities, sciences, engineering, pharmacy and economics was adopted. In the reported study, 3354 (approximately 1 out of 3) academics serving in Greek universities were evaluated. The number of papers, citations and h-index have been collected for each academic, department, school and university using the Google Scholar scientific database and the citations analysis software program Publish or Perish. Analysis revealed that departments of the same academic discipline but located in different universities are characterised by strong differences on the scientific outcome. In addition, in the majority of the evaluated departments, a significant difference in h-index was observed between academics who report scientific activity on the departments’ website and those who do not. The viability of the adopted method for measuring and ranking the scientific performance of higher education departments proved to be quite high. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper focuses on the reasons for enrolment demand in higher education in Greece through data collected from 400 students enrolled in the final year of post-secondary education in the Athens area. Results showed that Greek students choose to follow higher studies for a number of reasons but mainly because higher education offers high-level knowledge that creates career opportunities. Family monthly income appeared to be an influential factor in the demand for higher education in Greece since, among those students from families with a greater monthly income, those who had not passed the entrance exams for Greek universities had more opportunities to pursue higher studies abroad. This paper identifies that a more appropriate response, on the part of higher education, to the needs and demands of the labour market could help prevent employment mismatches and so minimise graduate unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While entrepreneurship has emerged as an important mechanism for the generation of social returns in terms of economic growth and job creation, entrepreneurship education is still something new in Europe and the debate about the need and the way of introduction of specific entrepreneurship courses in higher education is on going. This paper deals with the introduction of entrepreneurship education in engineering curricula. More specific it presents the experience of the National Technical University in Greece, as a case in point for discussing the need of an interdisciplinary approach in designing engineering curricula. The main argument is that the introduction of entrepreneurship education in University curricula should not result as an application of policy initiatives only related to economic imperatives. It should be part of a more general discussion related to educational priorities and of a strategic design of University curricula in order to provide engineers with entrepreneurial and management skills that will enhance their profile in accordance with the new requirements of the knowledge-based economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of the individual attitudes and service quality association. It examines the influence of job satisfaction (JS) on the relationship between the quality of services in higher education (HE) and organisational commitment, in the context of a quality reform at a Higher Education Institution in Greece. Drawing upon a sample of 134 faculty and administration members, partial least squared analysis was conducted to test the proposed model. Findings confirm the full mediating role of JS in the relationship between HE service quality and affective commitment, for both faculty members and administration staff. Management implications, recommendations for future research and limitations are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper explores the ways in which university-based Teacher Education Departments in Greece have operated to promote changes to their undergraduate curricula. Our research approach views these changes as responses to the policies of the European Union and the Bologna Process for the 'modernisation' of higher education systems across Europe. Data are drawn from qualitative analyses of 18 curricula in two periods of their development, the middle of the 1990s and the late 2000s. The analysis of the study is based on Bernstein's theoretical concepts of classification, framing and meaning orientations, and describes basic types of university curricula regarding content organisation, pedagogical practices of teaching and learning, and knowledge evaluation. The findings reveal that, along with the disciplinary and professional criteria for knowledge recontextualisation, which have traditionally been legitimate in the field of Teacher Education, forms of weakly classified knowledge systematically oriented to problem-solving professional practices and school effectiveness are gradually crystallising and tending to become dominant. We argue that the marked shifts in the pedagogical means of teacher education may run the risk of thinning out teachers' knowledge base and de-professionalising their practices and identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main reason for the Greek student migration depends on the exclusion from the Greek university system. But this push factor does not exhaust the explanation for the Greek student mobility. By using the findings of a field study in Italy, this paper highlights that the acquisition of foreign educational credentials is considered as an attempt to obtain a more valuable form of education through mobility. Furthermore, it stresses the relationship between mobility and the accumulation of cultural capital through international education whereby the mobility of Greek students tends to create social reproduction in Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of the study is twofold: first, it presents an extensive review of empirical studies that have examined the relationship between higher education and economic growth. Second, it estimates the effect of higher education on economic growth in Greece over the period 1960–2009. It applies the model introduced by Mankiw, Romer, and Weil (1992) by using the higher enrolment rates as a proxy of human capital. The paper employs cointegration and an error-correction model to test the causal relationship between higher education, physical capital investments and economic growth. The empirical analysis reveals that there is a long-run cointegrating relationship between higher education, physical capital investments and economic growth. The elasticity of economic growth with respect to higher education is 0.52%. The results also suggest that there is evidence of unidirectional long-run and short-run Granger causality running from higher education and physical capital investments to economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents some of the findings that emerged out of a national survey carried out in the school year 2005–2006 in various parts of Greece. The main aim of the study was to explore the effects of various family factors on the student performance in the (national) higher education entrance examinations. From the analysis of data it becomes evident that, despite numerous attempts at educational reform in the Greek education system in the last 30 years, inequalities among students based on family background still exist. The study has shown that the educational level and occupational status of parents represent two of the major factors affecting student performance – directly or indirectly – through their influence on previous achievement. It has also documented that the interplay between economic, cultural and social capital in shaping educational and occupational ‘pathways' is still an immensely important dimension in sociological studies of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the wage returns to qualifications and academic disciplines in the Greek labour market. Exploring wage responsiveness across various degree subjects in Greece is interesting, as it is characterised by high levels of graduate unemployment, which vary considerably with the field of study, and relatively low levels of wage flexibility. Using micro-data from recently available waves (2002-2003) of the Greek Labour Force Survey, the returns to academic disciplines are estimated by gender and public/private sector. Quantile regressions and cohort interactions are also used to capture the heterogeneity in wage returns across the various disciplines. The results show considerable variation in wage premiums across the fields of study, with lower returns for those that have a marginal role to play in an economy with a rising services/shrinking public sector. Educational reforms that pay closer attention to the future prospects of university disciplines are advocated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper portrays the inferences that employers in Greece draw from particular aspects of study programmes, as recorded on educational qualifications. Based on semi-structured interviews with human resource managers in 37 industrial and service organisations and general directors of careers offices in eight higher education institutions, and building from inductive data processing and analysis, a theoretical model of selection strategies has been developed. The study showed that regardless of the selection methods used by organisations to assess candidates for employment, a great stock of information about the applicants is extracted from aspects of their educational experience, information which refers not only to technical expertise but also to capacity, personality and motivation as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An academic legislative reform of the public university sector was recently initiated in Greece (since 2005). It was designed to respond to the requirements of convergence to a common frame of the European Space of Higher Education. This reform found significant resistance from university personnel and students, resulting in a very slow degree of implementation. A careful examination of possible causes for the slow pace of reform usually points to the reluctance of a significant part of the academic and administrative personnel (tenured public service employees), to follow quality assurance procedures and undergo performance evaluation. Engineering schools, on the other hand, are more apt to adopt such principles, since they are taught in engineering curricula and widely applied in industry and services sectors. In this paper, the authors comparatively describe their experience in applying basic quality principles and practices to the university laboratory environment, motivated by cooperation with industry. The comparative discussion adds insight to the reasons for the resistance of the public higher education sector to quality assurance procedures and indicates specific directions to enhance the dissemination of quality culture in engineering faculties. After two decades of experience with the application and introduction of quality structures in the university and industry, the authors believe that engineering laboratories are a valuable tool in initiating and establishing a quality culture in the Greek higher education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to present an overview of current medical education in Greece. Greece has a centuries-long tradition in practising and teaching medicine. Medical training, although rigorous, is particularly humane. All Medical Schools in Modern Greece are currently, undergoing a series of changes in an effort to modernise training. The medical education system is also getting harmonised to European Standards for Higher Education, relating to Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Continuous Medical Education of doctors. A specific strength of the Greek educational system is its ethos that emphasises good working conditions and excellent support and supervision at all levels. The current overhauls in Higher Education occupy students, academics and the society at large. Political issues, such as accountability, regulation and autonomy of academia are generating debate. The two-cycle, Bachelor-Master, Undergraduate Model, as described in the Bologna Declaration is still to be implemented. Quality control measures are currently introduced in all academic sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate, through empirical analysis, whether or not post-graduate students choose information technology or other information sources such as home institution libraries for the purposes of learning, expanding their knowledge and/or completing their studies. A survey was conducted to gather primary source data for the paper. Questionnaires were administered to 211 education post-graduate students. Results showed that Greek post-graduate students from different fields of study chose the Internet as their primary information source for a number of reasons but mainly: for the provision of creditable and up-to-date information, for easy access to information at home, for the time of day they can access the material and for fast information retrieval. Although the Greek post-graduate students believed the Greek information network to be satisfactory up to a degree, this paper identifies that greater access to Internet resources, training programs providing students with tools to effectively use the network''s resources and more online databases, combined with a historical and statistical database of libraries’ online catalogs are key issues in improving both information source performance and the link between strategy and implementation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper uses census data to investigate educational inequality in different types of residential areas in Athens, focusing on drop‐out rates from secondary education, access to higher education and to particular degrees within it. The unequal socio‐spatial distribution of educational attainment is linked to antagonistic middle class education strategies centred on school choice. Different forms of such strategies are identified broadly corresponding to different groups within the middle class hierarchy. Each form of school choice strategy has a particular relation to residential segregation. The latter is growing as a result, but under various forms and spatial scales that sometimes challenge the usual assumptions for the evaluation of neighbourhood effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any attempt to upgrade the status of a profession will focus on the qualification required and acquired by those who practice it. The technical teacher profession is no exception. This paper provides an analysis of trends and concerns associated with the initial training of technical teachers in Greece. The tone for the discussion is set by pointing out the role of higher education in the field and the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the two models in use. The curricular pathways the models aspire to offer are examined with reference to the School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE), the sole higher institution in Greece for the education and training of teachers of technical and vocational subjects. Central to this is how the teaching practice system employed at ASPETE offers a powerful ‘tool’ for the preparation of prospective technical teachers and of the ‘learning’ professionals of the future. Toute tentative de révision à la hausse du statut d'une profession se concentrera sur les qualifications requises et acquises par ceux qui la pratiquent. La profession de professeur de technique ne fait pas exception à la règle. Le texte offre une analyse des orientations et préoccupations associées avec la formation initiale des professeurs de technique en Grèce. Dans un premier temps, le ton de la discussion est fixé en soulignant le rôle que joue le système d'enseignement supérieur au sein du milieu ainsi que les forces et faiblesses des deux modèles utilisés. Les avenues pédagogiques que les modèles aspirent à offrir sont examinées en référence avec l'Ecole Supérieure d'Enseignement Pédagogique et Technologique (ASPETE), la seule institution d'études supérieures qui soit vouée à l'éducation et à la formation d'enseignants spécialisés en matières techniques. Un aspect central de cette étude concerne la façon dont le système de pratique à l'enseignement utilisé à l'ASPETE offre un outil important pour la préparation des futurs enseignants en technique, ou encore pour la préparation des professionnels ‘en apprentissage’ de l'avenir. Todo intento de aumentar de nivel el status de una profesión, se enfoca en las cualidades requeridas y adquiridas por quienes la practican. La profesión del profesor técnico no es una excepción. Este articulo analiza tendencias y preocupaciones asociadas a la educación inicial de profesores técnicos en Grecia. Se establece el panorama para la discusión, puntualizando el papel de la educación superior en el tema, así como las fortalezas y debilidades que se perciben en cada uno de los dos modelos en aplicación. El camino curricular que los modelos intentan ofrecer, son examinados con referencia a la Escuela de Educación Pedagógica y Tecnológica (ASPETE), la única institución superior en Grecia dedicada a la educación y formación de profesores en materias técnicas y vocacionales. Es esencial para esto, cómo el sistema de práctica de la enseñanza aplicado por ASPETE, ofrece una herramienta poderosa para la formación de los futuros profesores técnicos o, en cambio, los profesionales del futuro que ‘aprenden’. Jeder Versuch einen beruflichen Qualitätsstandard zu verbessern, wird sich auf die erforderliche und erworbene Qualifikation derjenigen konzentrieren, die den entsprechenden Beruf ausüben.Der Beruf des Techniklehrers macht da keine Ausnahme. Dieses Papier liefert eine Analyse von wesentlichen Aspekten der Erstausbildung von Techniklehrern in Griechenland und deren aktuellen Trends.Der Tenor der Diskussion wird durch den Hinweis auf die Rolle der Hochschulausbildung in diesem Bereich geprägt und durch die erkannten Stärken und Schwächen der beiden Ausbildungsmodelle, die zur Zeit in diesem Bereich angewandt werden.Die in den Modellen angebotenen curricularen Ausbildungsgänge werden unter Berücksichtigung der Situation an der Schule für Pädagogische und Technologische Ausbildung (ASPETE) untersucht. Die ASPETE ist die einzige Hochschuleinrichtung in Griechenland für die Ausbildung und Schulung von Lehrern von technischen und anderen berufsbildenden Fächern.Von zentraler Bedeutung für diesen Themenkomplex ist die Frage, inwieweit das ‘System der Begleiteten Praktischen Unterrichtserfahrung’, das an der ASPETE zur Anwendung kommt, eine effizientes ‘Instrument’ für die Vorbereitung der angehenden Techniklehrer ist, oder anders gesagt, für die ‘sich ständig selber weiterbildenden’ Ausbilder der Zukunft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is part (and the outcome,) of my research on the inequality of access to Higher Education in Greece. Al) main focus will be the higher education entry National Examinations (`Genikes Exetasis,). Although my main data refer to the case of the metropolitan area of Athens, in this paper I will deal with inequalities of access to higher education at national level. I intend to show the differentiation, not just between, or within, the various higher education establishments and their respective disciplines (`hierarchisation of knowledge), but also between the various occupations in the labour market (`hierarchisation of occupations',). This will be done, after a brief reference to the international debates on the equally of opportunities in schools, the evolution of the Greek school system, and the relation between the structure of the school system and the main characteristics of the Greek job market. By using national statistics, I will construct some `Indices of Educational Opportunities' that show the patterns of `distribution' of students in the various universities and oilier higher education institutes. The students will be categorised according to their parents' occupation and educational level (i.e. father's occupational category, and father's and mother's level of education). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describe Greek life students' perspectives of party culture, safety, and College Sexual Violence (CSV) prevention. 27 US undergraduates: 5 fraternity underclassmen, 6 fraternity upperclassmen, 10 sorority underclassmen, 6 sorority upperclassmen. Students participated in one of four focus groups, separately by gender and academic year. Facilitation guide addressed partying, sexual violence, and safety. Greek life members described partying preferences, perceived safety threats, and actions they took to party safely. University efforts to support safe partying were not universally viewed as helpful. Although Greek life students strive to create safe partying environments, there remain missed opportunities to mitigate risks related to CSV. The responsibility to ensure safe partying falls too heavily on students, resulting in universities missing opportunities to provide measures that promote safety while mitigating risks and potentially serious harms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how dominant discourses disseminated through quality assurance processes in Greek Higher Education (re)define academic work and language use in a globalised HE field. Drawing on Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse, we approach government-led external evaluations of university departments as official policy texts that encode the evaluative criteria of quality institutions and valorise specific forms of knowledge and conduct. Our analysis of empirical material derived from selected HE departments illustrates that performance measurement systems interlink English as a default language with mobility and research activity in a unified discourse of quality constructing a selective understanding of how Higher Education Institutions and academics are expected to attain international visibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating higher education teaching performance is complex as it involves consideration of both objective and subjective criteria. The student evaluation of teaching (SET) is used to improve higher education quality. However, the traditional approaches to considering students' responses to SET questionnaires for improving teaching quality have several shortcomings. This study proposes an integrated approach to higher education teaching evaluation that combines the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). The AHP allows consideration of the varying importance of each criterion of teaching performance, while DEA enables the comparison of tutors on teaching as perceived by students with a view to identifying the scope for improvement by each tutor. The proposed teaching evaluation method is illustrated using data from a higher education institution in Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to train teachers in managing student behaviour and to investigate the impact on teachers and their students. The training was based on adult-learning and group-leading strategies (development/application) as well as Social-Emotional-Learning and School-Wide-Positive-Behaviour-Supports approaches (content). It consisted of training meetings, coaching and distance learning and was implemented at Thessaloniki middle school, using a neighbouring middle school as the control school. The stability of impacts was checked by follow-up tests after four and twelve months accordingly. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used for data analysis. After completion of training and four months later, an effective behaviour-management methodology and corresponding strategies were developed in the intervention school. Teachers reported increased professional self-efficacy, teachers and students evaluated their school climate more positively and students' office discipline referrals decreased, compared with the control school. Benefits had decreased a year later, however, they remained increased compared with the control school. Ways to maintain beneficial results and a sustainable in-service teacher professional development policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines whether the reduction in the timeframe for the completion of university studies in Greece will affect students of different socio-economic background disproportionally. To this intent, it assesses the influence of the status of students, defined as working and non-working, on the duration of studies but the relevance of other variables, notably students' family income, is also examined. Combining administrative and survey data, the study estimates the probability of students' graduating after 4 and 6 years, respectively. The results reveal the existence of strong income discrimination between working and nonworking students. Among the non-working students, those coming from poor families complete studies earlier than wealthier students. For the working students, there is no income effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative education was established in Greek universities in the 1980s, with the creation of pedagogical departments and two laboratories, and the publication of a journal. There was an early emphasis on education policy analysis, in terms of assumptions about the 'semi-peripherality' of Greece within Europe. Later, the emphasis shifted to what was also called 'modernisation' - framed by entry to the European Economic Community. There was an emphasis on education policies in other European countries, and the educational policy of Europe, in contrast with Greece which had not yet absorbed what was becoming 'a European discourse'. There was a continuing motif - reflections on methodology - but the changing concepts of modernisation, the more or less permanent anxiety about reforming Greek education, and the theme of education within the European Union dominated academic work in comparative education in Greece - even after 2010 and the major new economic crisis. An optimistic view is that comparative education will continue to develop in the Greek university through teaching and research. There is, however, a question to be asked about the silences within Greek comparative education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the investigation of gender representation of faculty members of all ranks (professors, associate professors, assistant professors and lecturers) of Computing and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in Greek tertiary education during the decade 2003–2013. To this end, a quantitative study was conducted, taking into account appropriate data derived from the Hellenic Statistical Authority. The data analysis shows that during the said decade, (a) faculty members in Computing and in each discipline of STEM constituted a small part of the total number of Greek faculty members; (b) for every single year of the decade, females were less prevalent than males in all ranks of faculty members in Computing and Engineering; (c) the situation for females in the Computing faculty appears to have been even worse, as the percentage of them in every rank was the lowest among the STEM disciplines studied for all or most of the years of the decade under study; and (d) although females were better represented in the position of lecturer, which constituted the fewest faculty members in the aforementioned disciplines, highly populated ranks of faculty members were dominated by males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This multi-method case study of a Greek vocational school explored teachers’ culture (including beliefs about education, teachers’ role, and students’ nature) using the concept of pupil control ideology to explain problems of disengagement and low morale among staff and students, as well as tensions in relationships. A prominent custodial culture was identified in the school using a functional/apolitical pedagogy to transmit ‘legitimate’ knowledge to students whose working-class background did not produce desired outcomes. This generated deficit views of students, teachers’ sympathy, and a seemingly caring school ethos which was, nevertheless, oppressive. Students’ failings were naturalised and vocational education misinterpreted as merely a streaming device in a system honouring academic achievement and middle-class ways. Teachers were blind to these cultural subtleties, believing they acted ‘rationally’ and altruistically. A humanistic subculture emphasising student empowerment and social transformation consisted of a minority of teachers and was rather marginalised. This disallowed meaningful dialogue and the identification of an alternative rationale for the sector, generating strong feelings of futility. Positive change in this school necessitated the deconstruction and (subsequent) reconstruction of custodial teachers’ world views as embedded in their practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to explore the value priorities of Greek young adults and their orientation towards individualism and collectivism and to investigate for possible relationships between value types and individualism and collectivism. Greek undergraduate students (n = 484) completed the Social Values Survey, the Auckland’s Individualism and Collectivism Scale and a form of demographic information. Benevolence, self-direction and hedonism were found to be the most highly rated value types for both males and females. In the case of individualism and collectivism participants scored higher on collectivism. Males and science and technology students scored higher on value types regarding openness to change and self-enhancement. Females and social and humanities students scored higher on conservation and self-transcendence value types. Religiosity was associated to collectivism and to value types regarding conservation and self-transcendence. Regression analysis revealed a direct association between individualism and openness to change and self-enhancement. Collectivism was found to be associated with conservation and self-transcendence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An ongoing interest in disabled learners’ voices has been reflected in a number of studies that explore students’ experiences of schooling, as part of the quest to understand how inclusive education can be achieved. These studies, however, have been conducted mainly in industrially developed countries, while very few studies exist from industrially developing countries such as Greece in which disabled people’s voices are under-represented not only in political processes but in research as well. The aim of this study was to investigate disabled students’ educational experience, their social interactions with peers and teachers, the choice of school and the support they received for responding to curricular demands and complexities. The results of the study confirmed that disabled students can provide invaluable information on matters involving their education, and showed how personal experiences of disability are influenced by the socio-cultural experiences lived in different social arenas, such as that of education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Is there a need for dance to enter higher education in Greece? Can contemporary dance be viewed as a discipline on its own right? These questions inspired the research conducted in three case study institutions (out of six that exist) in Greece, examining the reality within them as experienced by dance students, lecturers, course leaders and the researcher. An interpretive, predominately qualitative study was undertaken based on a theoretical model. Methods involved interviews with students (9), interviews with lectures and course leaders (6), open-ended questionnaires (50 students) and class observations (approximately 20 in each). The results showed that dance education and training included more transmissionist approaches, producing in that way technical dancers. Dance institutions are not autonomous thus, limiting context. The need for dance to be upgraded was obvious by participants and by the researcher. The place of dance in tertiary education influences the place of dance within society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The primary objective of this research was to compare various groups of Greek university students for their level of knowledge of Evolution by means of Natural Selection (ENS). For the purpose of the study, we used a well known questionnaire the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS) and 352 biology majors and non-majors students from the University of Athens took part in it. A principal components analysis revealed problems with the items designed to assess the concepts ofpopulation stability,differential survivalandvariation inheritable, therefore these items need to be reconsidered. Nonetheless, the results of the CINS for each Greek sub-group showed that the higher the involvement in evolution education, the higher the students' performances on the CINS test. This linear correlation, together with other evidence, supports the CINS authors' claims about the usefulness of the CINS as an assessment of instruction. Unfortunately, Greek university students gave many teleological and proximate answers to many of the CINS items. Comparisons between least and most evolutionary educated university students revealed that the latter gave more evolutionary answers. Oddly, advanced biology majors students did not show an improvement in all the 20 items of the CINS (only in 14 out of the 20 items) compared to novice biology students. They even gave more teleological answers to the conceptnatural resources are limitedthan novice biology majors students. Finally, Greek university students' level of knowledge of ENS seems to be closer to Canadian than US students'. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The management of complex water problems is nowadays being practised through new ways and approaches. Therefore, water engineers, planners and managers should be appropriately educated through modern undergraduate curricula and by well-designed postgraduate specialisation programmes. Within this framework, a study of the specific characteristics of an ensemble of 14 postgraduate programmes in various fields of environmental water resources engineering and management, offered by Greek universities, is presented. Detailed information and data regarding the formats, structures, educational processes and curricula contents of these programmes are analysed and critically discussed. Similarities and differences among them are depicted and synthesised, in order to reveal individual as well as collective qualities and deficiencies in relation with the overall current needs for engineering postgraduate specialisation in water-related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Higher education choice has been a central theme in sociological research in recent decades, especially following the policies for the widening of participation adopted in many countries. Research has shown a relationship between social class and higher education choice, and this is a reason why the expansion of higher education does not reduce social inequalities. This article is based on quantitative and qualitative research on first-year university students, and examines the higher education choice of students from different socio-economic backgrounds, but with similar levels of performance. The findings provide evidence that, even when high performance provides students with a wide range of choices, higher education choice is a different experience for middle-class and working-class students. The authors argue that choice is a multifaceted process, the analysis of which needs to consider the general financial and societal context, and the specific labour market characteristics in each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University studies in Greece are characterised by a symptom usually described as 'prolonged student status'. This refers to students who prolong the period of their studies beyond the expected length for degrees, sometimes by many years. This article, as well as recording the distribution of the duration of studies in a public institution, reveals that a longer period of studies is strongly and negatively associated with academic performance. It then seeks to identify the causes of the symptom by examining two hypotheses. The first attributes prolonged student status to the operation of some objective factors such as differences in students' initial abilities and differences in students' socio-economic background. The second hypothesis associates a long stay at the university with the educational setting. The existing evidence lends support to the second hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of literature focuses on choice of studies in the context of policies on widening participation in higher education and graduates' difficulties in the labour market. Drawing on research findings showing a relationship between social class and choice of studies, we conducted a qualitative study on first-year medical students in a Greek university. The research aim was to examine the seemingly paradoxical choice of medical school, given the contradiction between the great investment in time, effort and money required, and inflation of medical graduates and high unemployment levels. Apart from the impact of social class, findings suggest that choice is also strongly influenced by the broader context of the social and financial relations, and the education system. We argue that any attempts to analyse choice processes need to accommodate the specific national characteristics and peculiarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greece, an EU-member state since 1981, lagged behind other European countries in the development of a national quality assurance system. This article charts the route to the establishment of a quality assurance system in Greece. While national evaluation and accreditation systems were established in most European countries during the mid-1980s and 1990s, any attempt of assessing the quality of education and research or other services provided by Greek higher education institutions and of rendering social accountability for the public resources that they received, was considered a threat to their autonomy. Moreover, while Greece was a signatory state of the Bologna Declaration, the Bologna Process has been 'demonised' and the commitments concerning quality assurance remained a dead letter. However, it was the Bologna Process that led to the national quality assurance system being established by law in 2005, close to the Bergen Ministerial Conference. The stocktaking exercise played a key role in this development not only in the case of Greece but also for some other South East European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This note provides evidence that the equilibrium between supply and demand in higher education in Greece is determined by what is argued to be the substitute for the non-existing market prices; the academic departments" entrance grades. This leads to the investigation of some implications of a policy change in Greek higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates planning education programmes and attempts to re-orient them in the context of both an international 'problematique' in reforming planning education, and European Union directives about the creation of a common European space in higher education. First, the article reviews the international trends in changes and challenges in planning and planning education in the 21st century and proposes an 'integration model' of planning education programmes in a European and international context. Second, the article focuses on the development of planning studies in Greece. It presents their history and development as well as the institutional framework in which planning and planning education operate. It then analyses the Greek educational curricula in two ways: (1) a quantitative analysis classifying courses into different thematic areas and thereby, revealing the basic structure of the curricula; and (2) a qualitative analysis based on interviews with academic staff in charge of educational curricula and examining the content of courses, the adopted pedagogies and possible restrictions (e.g. human capital, institutional framework, etc.) in introducing effective planning curricula. Finally, the article proposes guidelines for re-orienting educational curricula in Greek schools of planning and draws out wider implications for planning studies in the wider European and international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the findings of a study that explored factors affecting the choice to graduate from social work made by active students in one of the three social work departments in Greece. Research focused mainly on structural factors (students' socio-economic background and demographic characteristics, the educational system and the system of admission to higher education). It also touched briefly upon students' prevailing work values. Findings indicate that students' socio-economic background and the educational system's structure play a significant role in their choice to graduate from social work. These structural factors seem to have caused their educational/ occupational choice to be a rather limited one, since approximately 30% of the students decided to graduate as a form of compromise. Students rated intrinsic work values highly, which is consistent with prior research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]