GREECE: Bridging the tradition-modernity gap

Most Greek universities, with the exception of the universities of Athens and Thessaloniki and the Technical University of Athens, were established within the last 50 years. This is surprising for a country with such a long tradition and heritage of education. Also surprising is the fact that few universities were established in campuses specifically designed and built for the institutions' needs. Except for universities in Thessaloniki, Patras and Crete, the majority started rather modestly in rented accommodation, eventually moving into a variety of converted premises such as neo-classical buildings, warehouses, former tobacco factories, disused barracks – and a converted monastery.

The University of Athens and the Technological University are the oldest higher education institutions in the country – the first was established in 1884 and was the first of its kind in the Balkans and the East Mediterranean while the second is now celebrating 170 years of continuous operations. Both are based in the centre of Athens in magnificent neo-classical buildings, appropriate to the demands of the last century when universities had only a few departments, but totally inadequate for their present needs. They are preserved now for housing administrations and for functions such as conferring honorary degrees and receiving visiting lecturers.

Both have moved the bulk of their academic activities to new campuses on the east side of the city in the foothills of Mount Hymetus. The University of Athens is housed in a series of huge, bulky, concrete buildings that could easily win a prize for ugliness. They form a charmless, grey, Kafkaesque complex built during the colonels' military junta, between 1967 and1973, not entirely following legal procedures. It is not obvious how learning could be promoted in such a dull and boring environment.

The complex is a maze of rooms and concrete corridors on different levels, both confused and confusing. But if the visitor finds it daunting, the academics working there love it because it provides them with comfortable lecture rooms and office space to carry out their activities.

Not very far away, the Technological University is somewhat more fortunate in its premises, if only because the design and execution of the campus took place in perhaps more democratic times and were supervised by its own team of architects and engineers.

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with nearly 90,000 undergraduates, 10,000 post-graduates, 2,300 teaching and research staff and an army of support and administrative staff, is the largest higher education institution in the country.

A vast beehive of activity, it has a nominal presence in the centre of Thessaloniki and a huge sprawling campus on the fringe of the city in an area of about 172 hectares. This comprises separate buildings for the various faculties, laboratories and libraries, a clinic, a school for modern Greek and separate experimental schools, a sports centre, a seismological centre, museums, archives and collections. A little further out in the countryside, the university owns a farm where the agricultural faculty will be moved in the future and a forest reserve where students can be trained.

The University of Thessaly, the Aegean University and the University of the Peloponnese are three new universities in complete contrast to the more traditional higher education institutions. The University of Thessaly started with just a few departments in 1984 and has been expanding ever since, having now spread to four different towns in central Greece – Volos, Larissa, Karditsa, and Trikala – as well as having offices in Athens.

It is housed in a variety of buildings such as renovated former tobacco warehouses and factories, as well as purpose-built premises. An old monastery covering an area more than 700 square metres just outside Volos at Mount Pelio is currently being converted into a conference centre.

The University of the Aegean is spread over five different islands – Rhodes, Lesvos, Chios, Siros, and Samos – so far apart from each other on a very turbulent archipelago that they are occasionally cut off from each other, especially in the winter months, though they are a delight and tourist paradise in the summer. The university is also housed in individual buildings representative of the local architecture, saved from demolition by their renovation for the use of the university.

A special case is the University of the Peloponnese, the newest university in Greece which was established only in 2002. It is based in five cities in the southern part of the country: Tripolis, Corinth, Kalamata, Nafplio and Sparti. It is currently housed in several buildings including a converted army barracks in Tripolis, but it is the subject of a vast €100 million project for purpose-built facilities in an unprecedented cooperation between the state and private sector.

There are no private universities in Greece and all existing 22 higher education institutions are state-owned and run. Finance for the maintenance and repair of the university buildings comes from the institutions' regular budget. Although the universities are completely autonomous, new projects have to be submitted to the Treasury and agreed on by the services and funds allocated before the work can go ahead.

The government has launched an initiative for building roads, universities, jails and other facilities with the active participation of the private sector, and the first such project is the University of Peloponnese.

Universities may have assets in property or stocks and shares donated by individuals but the extent of their estate is neither known nor easy to estimate. However, the very strong state control over the finance of the universities prevents them from exploiting these assets to their full extent.

Space is always a problem for most of the universities, not because the student population is increasing (on the contrary, the government is taking measures to reduce enrolments in higher education, tacitly encouraging students to seek places abroad and in the so-called Liberal Studies Centres) but as a result of new departments springing up as society's needs change.

Lecture rooms, amphitheatres, halls of residence and laboratories may not be in the best of condition but a great effort has been made to ensure they are respectable, clean, well-appointed and useful. Institutions are making a commendable effort to bridge the gap between tradition and modernity, function and aesthetics, moving with huge strides towards the digital era.

On the whole, students are not unhappy with the facilities provided by the universities, including the canteens, green rooms, concert halls and sports facilities. Where campuses exist they are impressive units; where they do not, the towns and their inhabitants are normally more than welcoming to students because they support the local economy. Provisions for students with special needs leave much to be desired, however, and better academically equipped libraries are long overdue.

Although there is still much to be done, a great deal has already been achieved in the last 20-30 years to improve university facilities. By no means is there room for complacency but, if the current rhythm is maintained, it will not be very long before the majority of universities have the kind of infrastructure worthy of the service they are called upon to provide, for their students in particular and the wider public in general.