Event titled: ‘Building International Bridges: Opening Greek Universities to the World’ (Athens, 24 January 2020)

On the occasion of the International Day of Education, the Secretariat General for Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Secretariat General for Higher Education of the Ministry of Education organised an event titled: ‘Building International Bridges: Opening Greek Universities to the World’.

The event, held at Kranidiotis Amphitheatre, aimed at highlighting and promoting the foreign-language programmes of Greek Higher Education Foundations and bolstering their position on the world education map.

Deans and representatives of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), the University of Macedonia, the University of the Aegean, the University of Patras, the University of Crete, the University of the Peloponnese, the University of Thessaloniki, the Athens University of Economics and Business, the University of Piraeus, the Open University, as well as representatives of the State Scholarships Foundation and Study in Greece presented the opportunities arising in the field of Greek Higher Education to an international audience for the first time.

The Minister of Education and Religious Affairs, Mrs Niki Kerameos, and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Kostas Vlasis, delivered welcome addresses.

Opening the event, the Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, Religious and Consular Affairs, Mr Konstantinos Alexandris, called upon any students enrolling in foreign-language programmes to benefit from and contribute to the wealth of Greek culture, which, as he stressed, has always been open and outward-looking: “During your stay in Greece, let your mind converse with Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Let your imagination roam among ancient myths and the stories of Homer, Herodotus and Thucydides. Allow the comedies of Aristophanes and the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides speak to your heart. Let the spirit of Dionysus make you giddy. Let your spirit explore the wealth of a monastic library. Travel through time at an excavation site. Breathe in the sea breeze that carried Odysseus away. Let your mind sink into the complex rules of a refined language that has been spoken ceaselessly for over 5,000 years”.