By Ann M. Koenig, AACRAO International Education Services
As the 2013-14 academic year begins, the University of Athens has become the eighth university in Greece to suspend operations as a response to government-mandated cuts that require higher education institutions to eliminate nearly half of their administrative personnel. All higher education institutions in Greece are public and their administrative staff are civil servants. The eight institutions have closed in protest of the funding cuts, stating that they cannot operate with a reduced administration, which affects everything from student services such as matriculation and registration, and academic services such as examination administration, to library and information technology staff and security guards on campuses.
The cuts are part of a huge reduction in the overall civil servant workforce in Greece. Civil servants from many sectors, including secondary school teachers, have been staging massive protests in recent weeks. Significant closures of preschools and schools have already taken place in the last two years. Higher education is now being targeted.
The universities that have suspended operations to date are listed below. Some of the institutions have news items about the situation on their Web sites in Greek.
National and Capodistrian University of Athens (http://en.uoa.gr/)
National Technical University of Athens (http://www.ntua.gr/index_en.html)
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (http://www.auth.gr/en)
University of Patras (http://www.upatras.gr/index/index/lang/en)
University of Crete (http://www.en.uoc.gr/)
University of Ioannina (http://www.uoi.gr/en/)
University of Thessaly (http://www.uth.gr/en/)
Athens University of Economics and Business (http://www.aueb.gr/index_en.php)
Sources:
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/09/23/university-of-athens-ntua-suspend-operations/
http://chronicle.com/article/In-Greece-Major-Universities/142181/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/austerity-measures-push-greek-universities-collapse