Harvard interested in offering course on refugee crisis

Harvard University has expressed interest in organizing a course of studies on the refugee crisis and has already made a proposal to Athens University for a possible cooperation, Kathimerini has learned.

The project in the making comes amid a push by the government to make Greek universities more outward-looking and to attract more foreign students to the country by promoting cooperation with foreign universities.

The Education and Foreign ministries on Friday co-hosted a seminar at the Foreign Ministry in Athens about this initiative, drawing a large number of attendees from foreign embassies and media as well as prominent Greek academics.

In comments to Kathimerini meanwhile, Education Minister Niki Kerameus noted that she had first learned of Harvard’s interest in organizing a study program about the refugee crisis in cooperation with a Greek university during her recent visit to the US with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

According to Kerameus, Athens University has, for its part, expressed interest in putting together such a study program. And the university’s rector Thanos Dimopoulos told Kathimerini that the institution has experience in organizing English-language program on similar topics. For instance, its Media Studies and Communications Faculty and its Sociology of the Aegean Department already offer postgraduate courses in media and refugee/migration flows.

A delegation of representatives from 12 American universities is expected to visit Greece at the end of March to explore the prospect for cooperation with Greek educational institutions in greater depth.