Unrest throws students' plans into chaos

Just as Alexandros’ examinations were due to start, a strike by administrative workers – with the support of many students and professors – shut Athens Polytechnic for two weeks. That, in turn, threatens the 24-year-old electrical engineer’s chances of embarking on a graduate course in the United Kingdom in October, writes Kerin Hope for AFP.

“I stayed out of politics and worked hard to get abroad – and now this happens,” said Alexandros, who did not want to give his second name. “Exams have been postponed until August because of the strike, if they happen at all, and I could lose my place at London University.”

The strike – in protest against the planned sacking of 550 administrators – was the latest disruption to Greece’s often unruly higher education sector. Clashes between students affiliated to the main parties and far-left groups are a regular occurrence; professors are routinely intimidated into giving pass grades to student activists; and vandalism and thefts of PCs and laptops from university premises are rampant, say faculty members – some of whom have left in recent years to work abroad.
Full report on the Financial Times site