[MGSA-L] Fwd: Fw: Petition: Save the foreign language departments of the University of Athens and Thessaloniki in Greece

[Stathis Gourgouris]

Colleagues,

For those of you who don't know already please note the following petition.

SG

*Dearcolleagues,*

*we need your support, please sign our petition at *

https://www.change.org/petitions/professor-konstantinos-arvanitopoulos-greek-minister-of-education-save-the-departments-of-english-french-german-italian-and-spanish

*and spread the word in your departments*

**

**

*SAVE THE DEPARTMENTS OF ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, ITALIAN, AND SPANISH 
LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES IN GREECE*

Based on financial logistics rather than on criteria of academic 
excellence, the  ATHENA scheme of the Greek government regarding 
University Education calls for the merging of the Departments of 
English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish Languages and Literatures, 
into a single ?Department of Foreign Languages and Literature? [sic] at 
the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the Aristotle 
University of Thessaloniki.

The above Departments have a long-standing tradition in teaching and 
research within the framework of autonomous programmes of academic 
studies. Teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level, as well as 
research in these Departments, covers distinct disciplines of literary 
and theoretical/applied linguistic studies, always in fruitful dialogue 
with the sociocultural context in which these disciplines develop. The 
ATHENA scheme will turn our Departments into a huge and 
misleadingly-named new ?Department of Foreign Languages and Literature,? 
with five language-based ?directions?. Inevitably, this will lead to 
language degrees with limited value, lack of educational standards and 
professional training.

Therefore, we the professorial staff of the aforementioned Departments 
are opposed to the proposed merger and request from the Minister of 
Education to respect and preserve each Department?s autonomy, tradition 
and its valuable contributions to society and the European mission.

**



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