Chapter 11
Elliniko Anikto Panepistemio
(Hellenic Open University)

Category: Distance teaching university

Country: Greece

Location : Patras

Language of instruction: Greek

Papoflese and Ipsitanti Streets,
Patros 26222.
Telephone: 003061-311048.
There is a project implementation unit at Merlin II, Athens 10671. Telephone 00301 3614333.
 
 

Offical Status

On the 3rd December 1997 the bill establishing the Hellenic Open University passed through the Greek Parliament and it was gazetted as a university a few days later. It is a national public university. Students are already enrolled and the first courses begin on 3 March 1998.

Leonorakis, in the journal Open Learning Nov. 1996:56, describes the planning process:

The HOU is reborn

In February 1995 a committee was formed, this time by the Socialist government, to work out a first draft for the establishment of the Open University that would be different from the one outlined in 1992. Within three months its committee proposed a new university model based on other open universities of Europe and mainly that of Great Britain. In July of the same year, a new bill was voted on, and following this a provisional administrative committee comprised of academic specialists was formed in order to work out the final scheme of the university. After many long intensive meetings the committee completed a 43 page full operation plan for the HOU, which was handed to the Minister of Education in January 1996.

The HOU will be located in Patras. It will offer undergraduate and postgraduate education to large numbers of students by using educational materials especially designed for distance learning and teaching. It will also carry out research programmes with special emphasis on open and distance education.

The HOU students

Student admission at the HOU is planned as follows. Basically all adults between 25 and 50 years of age are eligible. If the number of applicants is larger than the number that the university can cope with, a draw will take place. Applicants over 50 years of age will only be accepted after the agreement of the Senate. The rationale behind it is that they should not be denied a place, because such a thing would be contrary to the social role of the open university, but that their numbers should be restricted. The age limit of 25 for admission was set because of the university admission system currently in use. If 18-year olds were admitted at the HOU the university would automatically compete with the other 18 universities of the country. Such a decision would create serious problems in the university placement system, which is determined by students having to sit difficult examinations, with unpredictable results.

Training Provision : Courses

Students will have to take Modules (Thematikes Enotites) in order to get a degree or certificate. For a first degree they should take a minimum of 12 Modules (each module is about 600 pages and requires about 450 hours of study). When the students take from 1 to 11 Modules, they will receive a Certificate of Graduate Education. For a Masters degree they should take a minimum of 4 Modules plus a dissertation. If they take less than 4 Modules, they will receive a Certificate of Postgraduate Education. For the doctorate they would need to take the masters degree and to do research and a thesis.

The HOU is starting its first courses in 1998 in two subjects:

  1. Open and Distance Learning (Certificate of Postgraduate Ed. - one module)
  2. English Language (Postgraduate Degree, Masters - 6 modules)
During the next 3 years a number of courses will be produced and offered to new graduate and postgraduate students:

School of Human Studies

  1. Studies in Hellenic Civilisation (First Graduate Degree - 12 modules)
  2. Studies in European Civilisation (First Graduate Degree - 12 modules)
  3. Studies in Orthodox Theology (Postgraduate Degree)
  4. Studies in Education (Postgraduate Degree)
  5. Teaching French as a Foreign Language (Postgraduate Degree)
  6. French (First Graduate Degree - 12 modules)
  7. Teaching German as a Foreign Language (Postgraduate Degree)
  8. German (First Graduate Degree - 12 modules)
  9. Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Postgraduate Degree)
  10. English (First Graduate Degree - 12 modules)
  11. Spanish (First Graduate Degree - 12 modules)
  12. Italian (First Graduate Degree - 12 modules)

School of Social Sciences

  1. Business Administration (First Graduate Degree - 12 modules)
  2. Management in Tourism (Postgraduate Degree)
  3. Health Units - Hospitals Management (Postgraduate Degree)
  4. Banking (Postgraduate Degree)
  5. Management of Cultural Units (Postgraduate Degree)

School of Sciences and Technology

  1. Computing - Information Technology (First Graduate Degree - 12 modules)
  2. Studies in Physics (First Graduate Degree - 12 modules)
  3. Environmental Studies - Management of Processing Waste Material Units (Postgraduate Degree - 4 modules)
  4. Environmental Studies - Environmental Design of Cities and Buildings (Postgraduate Degree - 4 modules)
  5. Quality Control (Postgraduate Degree - 4 modules)

School of Applied Arts

Graphic Design - Multimedia (Postgraduate Degree - 4 modules)

Training Provision Certification

The Hellenic Open University has 5 types of degrees:
  1. Certificate of Graduate Education
  2. First Graduate Degree
  3. Certificate of Postgraduate Education
  4. Postgraduate Degree (Masters)
  5. Doctorate
The academic structure by which these university degrees will be awarded is proposed as follows:

Supreme Council of the Hellenic Open University 
Secretary General
Rector
Senate
Department of International and Public Relations Senate Office
Laboratory of educational material and methodology
School of Social Sciences and Human Studies
Department of Finance
Personnel Dept.
School of Economics and Management
Maintenance Dept.
Library - Computer Unit
Evaluation Unit
School of Sciences
Dept. of Academic Matters
Student Records Department
School of Polytechnics (Engineering and Technology)
Dept. of Research and Development
Dept. of Education Matters
School of Applied Arts
Dept. of Legal Affairs
Table : Structure of the HOU

Training Provision : Statistics

In 1998 (February-March) the University accepted 240 students for the Open and Distance Learning course and 200 students for the Masters course in Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

However, the HOU received for the first course about 5,000 applications, and for the second one 580.

Training Provision : Finances

The students choose to take modules. They can take a minimum of 3 modules each year. For each module they have to pay 150,000 drachmas. This is all they pay. With the fees they receive the material, attend some tutorials, they have one tutor in their region who supports them by telephone, corrects their written assignments and is present at the tutorials.

The passing of the Act of Parliament creating the Hellenic Open University in December 1997 was accompanied by an appropriation to the new open university of 3,000,000,000 drachmas (Euro 350,000,000).

This is a special package for the period 97-98-99 to get more than 200 Greek academics, to produce 30 courses and to commence teaching the courses in February 1998.

Course development policies

The HOU bill was passed at the Greek parliament in late 1997. A university in order to employ full time academic staff takes several months (sometimes one year). For the moment there is no full time staff. According to the bill the OU will employ 15 full time academics until the end of 1998 and several other people in the administration. For the moment there are in Patras: one secretary, six teachers from secondary education and one person from the implementation unit. For the ODL courses there are 8 part time academics and for the English course 10 part time academics, some of them are full time in other universities, but none at the HOU yet.

The HOU since November 1997, has formed groups of academics and professionals in different disciplines in order to produce the written material. These people participated in seminars and were given special material in order to write the material and suggest audio-visual material for HOU Educational programmes.

Courses are also purchased, where available, from existing universities. The postgraduate degree in TEFL for instance is franchised from the University of Manchester Masters programme in TEFL.

Student support services

In each course (module) there will be 46 tutorials, an introductory meeting, telephone communication, written assignments and a final Examination. Students will have to be present at the tutorials. There is no electronic link yet between student and tutor.

Both courses are postgraduate and we believe that the dropout number will be very limited. The HOU is introducing for first time in the country the idea of the tutor and the counsellor.

Employment

The HOU is a great opportunity for new (and young) academics in the country. According to the Bill for each module at the university there will be 2 full time academics. The numbers of part time academic staff will be much higher.

The full time university teachers in Greece have 4 levels: Lecturers, Epicurean Teachers, Associate Professors and the Professors. Those who work part time, have no title and they sign a contract of one academic year (Educational Bill 407). The O.U. will follow the same structure for those few who will be full time at the university. The great majority of the part timers (Tutors) will have a one year contract and a number of them will be full time teachers in other universities. In this way, we might help to find jobs for the new 'academic proletariat' who live in the big cities or in remote areas.

For the ODL field in general, there are no standards for employment. The simple reason is that the ODL systems are used for the moment only by Software companies which have their own staff (computer specialists) and produce software on CD-ROM, and by universities (computing departments and multi media laboratories). The O.U. will be the first institution to provide courses by distance education.

Plans for the future of the university

In the very near future there will be 4 Schools at the HOU: The Laboratory of Educational material and Methodology and the Evaluation Unit are also parts of the HOU's structure. The first will produce and organise the written and audio - visual material for the students and the academic staff, and the second will evaluate the processes of the HOU (administration, academic work, material production etc.)

The HOU is already in the processes of producing 18 study programmes and in the next two years will produce 20 more. They believe that in the next 2 or 3 years the HOU will be able to accept 30,000 to 40,000 students.