University education reforms on the table | Athens News Forgot your password? Register now 8 Jan 2013 NEWSPOLITICSARTSCOMMUNITYLIVING IN ATHENSINTERACTIVE BUSINESSECONOMYSPORTSTRAVELMEDIAPRINT EDITION University education reforms on the table by Kathy Tzilivakis Uploaded 12 Apr 2011 10:10 am UNIVERSITY students would see more homework, research papers and class discussions under new proposals presented to the government by the National Council for Education (ESYP). The proposals, which will be included in a university education reform bill the government is preparing to table in parliament later this month, would also see students choosing their major after their first year of university. Αlexis Lykourgiotis, the recently appointed president of ESYP - which advises the government on education policy - tells the Athens News the proposals are aimed at making the current system more efficient and at training students who are better prepared for the job market. Greek university students currently rank near the bottom of Europe in achievement rates and teaching standards, according to recent reports published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The findings of recent research conducted at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki suggest university students don’t know how to take notes during class. According to researcher Zoi Georganta, an economics professor at the University of Macedonia, students generally start university “without any learning skills”. She says they do not know how to conduct research and express themselves either verbally or on paper. According to Lykourgiotis, the ESYP council spent the past three months discussing five reforms ranging from the election of rectors and the creation of a board of trustees at each university to how undergraduate students are admitted. “I wouldn’t say that it would be catastrophic if these reforms are not implemented,” he says. “But I do believe that there is room for improvement.” Lykourgiotis, who personally delivered the proposals to the prime minister, is now scheduling meetings with opposition party leaders. On April 4, he met with Greek Communist Party leader Aleka Papariga and Yiorgos Karatzaferis, leader of the ultra-nationalist Laos party. He hopes to meet with main opposition New Democracy and the leftwing Syriza in the coming days. “I want to meet with all of them,” Lykourgiotis says, though he doesn’t expect a unanimous consensus. A new secondary school EDUCATION Minister Anna Diamantopoulou appears determined to proceed with the overhaul of the public school system despite controversy. The new measures she proposes will directly affect the country’s 1.3 million students and some 160,000 public school teachers. Last week, the minister finally unveiled the basic principles of the government’s much-touted “New Lyceum” (the last three years of secondary school). The proposals have not completed the parliamentary process yet, but the government hopes to start implementing them gradually this September. The announcement was made exactly one year after Diamantopoulou, a former European Union commissioner, presented a 37-page report titled The New School - Students Come First, in which she announced the government’s plans to discourage learning by rote and raise standards at public schools by getting computers into classrooms and reduce homework and the number of tests by increasing critical thinking exercises. At last week’s press conference, Diamantopoulou reiterated ruling Pasok’s “top priority” to change rote learning, drive private tutoring and exam-prep schools, known in Greek as frondistiria, out of business and make extra-curricular activities accessible to all public school students. If all goes according to the government’s plan, the new measures will please Greek parents who spend hundreds of euros each month on private lessons for each child. A study conducted by the research firm Icap Group showed parents in Greece spent a whopping 1.6 billion euros in tuition to send their children to after-school frondistiria in 2008. How does Diamantopoulou propose eliminating this multibillion-euro industry of private tutoring? By extending the schoolday to give teachers more time to better explain the material to students. Changes to the curriculum will also reduce the number of lessons at the middle and secondary school level in order to devote more classroom time to lessons. The government wants the schoolday to start at 8am and end at 3pm for primary school students and at 4pm for middle school students. This will include a lunch break and a recess. The additional teaching hours will be covered by foreign language classes. Another controversial proposal is to completely overhaul the university entrance system. According to Diamantopoulou, admittance will be based on a student’s mark in all three grade levels at the Lyceum. It’s currently based solely on the results of the nationwide university entrance examination (panellinies). Last month, Diamantopoulou announced plans to shut down and merge more than 1,000 public schools nationwide, in the government’s wider effort to curb spending. The announcement sparked a series of sit-ins at secondary schools across the country. In response, the minister warned students that every lost lesson will be made up during the Easter and summer holidays. Opposition The proposed changes unveiled by Diamantopoulou were harshly criticised as “superficial” by the Greek Union of Secondary School Teachers (OLME) and representatives of opposition parties. Main opposition New Democracy spokesman, Aris Spiliotopoulos, also the shadow education minister, told reporters last week his main concern is that the government’s proposed measures will not succeed in shedding the Lyceum’s role in preparing students to sit the university entrance exam. “My basic reservation about the changes is that the Lyceum, under the new changes, will only increase the amount of stress on the students and the number of exams they have to sit,” he said. “And when this happens, it increases the need for private tutoring.” Meanwhile, teachers feel threatened because the changes could mean job positions will be lost. Not all teachers are willing to undergo retraining, as the government will require, in order for them to be educated about the new methods and new curriculum. OLME has repeatedly called on the government - both past and present - to adopt the following three measures: A 12-year compulsory school system. It is currently a period of nine years, six in primary school and three in secondary school An upgrade to the quality of the curriculum of the primary and secondary school system National measures aimed at decreasing educational inequalities and reducing the dropout rate (currently about 12 percent, based on education ministry data) Five proposals 1 On the board According to ESYP president Alexis Lykourgiotis, a chemistry professor at the University of Patra, one of the main proposals is to establish a board of trustees at each university. The board would be responsible for managing the day-to-day operation and finances of the school. As regards the election of rectors, the council discussed various possibilities: set up a special committee to appoint a rector, hold elections but allow fewer members of staff and students to vote or altogether eliminate student participation in the process. Under rules passed in 2008 by the former New Democracy government, rectors are directly elected by faculty and students. 2 University entrance One of the most controversial proposals is for students to have one year to decide what they want to study and in which department they will enrol. This would mean university students will take core subjects during the first year of their studies before deciding on their major in their second year. Under the current system, students starting university are admitted straight into a university department, forcing them to make career decisions very early in their studies. “Despite criticism that if the government adopts our proposal students will be under even greater pressure to pass another round of examinations to get into the department of their choice, I think it will be to the students’ advantage,” Lykourgiotis says. “It’s something that exists at most universities abroad. There is currently too much pressure on students to decide what they want to major in. They should have a year to decide.” Changing the admission and the university entrance examination policy was one of Pasok government’s signature campaign promises during the 2009 general elections. 3 Graduate schools and faculty According to Lykourgiotis, there is also a proposal to create a graduate school at each university. “Members of ESYP were pretty much divided on this issue,” he says. “A third agreed with it, another third disagreed and the rest weren’t sure.” There are no independent graduate schools under the current system. As regards faculty, Lykourgiotis says there is a need to “internationalise” it through the exchange of professors. 4 In class A consensus was reached within ESYP to improve the method of teaching by moving away from lectures in large auditoriums. According to Lykourgiotis, professors should start assigning homework and group projects and conducting in-class discussions. The internet and new technologies should also be put to greater use, Lykourgiotis added. 5 Departments “We discovered that universities have spread out a lot with many departments located around the country and sometimes the subjects are not very clear,” Lykourgiotis said. There was wide agreement within ESYP that this matter needs to be addressed in collaboration with the universities. And counting... ... 1.3 million public school students ... 160,000 public school teachers ... 1.6 billion euros spent on private tutoring tuition Milestones 1964 New law extends basic mandatory education to nine years from six. Primary school becomes six years, middle school and secondary school three years each 1982 New tertiary education law governing the organisation and operation of state universities is passed, officially establishing academic asylum 1986 National dialogue on public school education is launched by then education minister Antonis Tritsis. One year later, he announces that mandatory lessons in Ancient Greek would be reintroduced to middle school 1995 Creation of National Education Council (ESYP), an advisory body for the education ministry. Although the council was initially dormant, it has in recent years been requested to create policy proposals for every level of education in Greece 2005 Establishment of the Hellenic Quality Assurance Agency for higher education (state universities and colleges). Internal and external assessment of universities and technical colleges has never been conducted 2008 The highly controversial law on tertiary education law is passed, changing the academic asylum rules and putting an end to the so-called eternal-student phenomenon Athens News 12 Apr 2011 3:03 am page 16-33 PRINT ARTICLE | SEND ARTICLE TO A FRIEND Average: 0 Your rating: None Log in Athens News Portal Community or Become a registered user to comment and rate articles. Login or register to post comments 11 Apr 2011, 9 36 pm In brief 11 Apr 2011, 7 49 pm In brief 11 Apr 2011, 7 43 pm Expats challenge the system 11 Apr 2011, 2 19 pm The private purse 11 Apr 2011, 1 18 pm Degrees of bureaucracy Click here Travel | Humour | History | Guides | Gardening | Economy and Finance |  FORUMCONTACT USABOUT USSUBSCRIBEADVERTISEINTERNSHIPS Sitemap Νews Business Arts Politics Travel Community Sports Letters to the editor Past issues Bookshop Classifieds Opinions Polls Weather Print Edition Social Media Athens News RSS feedWatch us on Youtube Find us on FacebookRead us on Scribd Follow us on Twitter Athens News | Greece in English, since 1952 Copyright 1995-2010 NEP Publishing Company SA, 181 Doiranis St., Kallithea, Athens 176 73, Greece tel 213-008-7150 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 213-008-7150 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, fax 210-943-1110 Reproduction or modification in whole or part without express written permission is prohibited. Designed, Developed & Hosted