Primitive conditions at museum studies school

A university department in southern Greece operates under woefully inadequate conditions, students complain.

The Department of Museum Studies in Pyrgos, a former post-secondary technical school elevated to university status and attached to the University of Patra, lacks a library, computers and printers, as well as dormitories and a dining hall, 80 university students say in a letter. It also lacks personnel, and the existing ones are temporary appointees, they say, leading to canceled classes. Moreover, it is housed in a former school with rudimentary plumbing and its only usable classroom is a 70-seat amphitheater, they say.

The government has decided to move the department to Patra, about 90 kilometers from Pyrgos, raising the ire of a local ruling party veteran lawmaker.

A total of 1,500 students have been accepted to the department, but only 450 registered this year.