Modern Greek could be seeing higher student numbers as universities open up programs, both online and outside the humanities area.
La Trobe University, the only Victorian university that still holds a modern Greek department, is moving to change their degree structure to open up language courses to all students, not just those enrolled in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Head of the Department of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Chris Mackie tells Neos Kosmos the changes will hopefully come into affect next year.
“The University is moving to a new kind of degree structure, and that will make the study of language more accessible to people outside of the faculty,” he said.
“We have hopes that our small language areas will grow.”
Many universities are pressured to keep profits high with many unpopular programs constantly under the risk of being cut. In some cases, a University feels the costs outweigh the social or academic benefit. Greek language classes have diminished significantly over the years, with many universities not offering classes in Greek anymore thanks to a low uptake.
After Melbourne University changed their course structure and introduced a more broad degree for undergraduates, electives were opened up to any type of student, meaning smaller classes could be picked up.
Although, it was too late for their Modern Greek classes. The subject has not been offered for years, rather choosing to promote classical and ancient Greek classes instead. There are basic provisions for students wanting to study a subject that isn’t offered, where they can apply to take it up at another university and get credit, but not all universities offer that and it’s a very laborious process filled with red tape.
Relying on other universities to fill gaps might have been a death sentence for subjects with low numbers, but now more students could start taking up a beloved subject outside their university walls if the process becomes easier.
“One of the essentials as they call it is global engagement,” La Trobe’s Professor Mackie says.
“This has happened to some degree in the University of Western Australia and it’s happened at the University of Melbourne, and it has resulted in larger numbers doing language studies.”
La Trobe itself recently laid off many of its modern Greek staff, leaving only one lecturer for the 40 to 50 students enrolled in the class.
Asking Professor Mackie if the new measures results in an increase in student numbers, he believed the university would look at hiring more to the Modern Greek department.
“If we can justify the staff, that is always a possibility,” he said.
Many universities have been trying to address the issue of unpopular subjects by turning to online sources. It means less overheads for universities with the same quality of teaching materials available more widely.
Queensland’s Griffith University just recently implemented an online modern Greek course to start in 2014, something the Queensland Greek community have been campaigning to achieve for years.
Many universities are trying to tap into the resources of the Greek community to keep modern Greek alive.
La Trobe has been a strong collaborator with the Greek community, now housing the Greek archives project in their Library and are optimistic with their further collaboration that changes can be made to the Greek course to entice more students.
“We’re also very keen to work with the Greek community and we have good relations now with most parts of the community. And we have a little of support from the Greek government but one couldn’t anticipate much from that for obvious reasons,” Professor Chris Mackie tells Neos Kosmos.
In an earlier interview, Professor for Modern Greek at Adelaide’s Flinders University says a lack of numbers shouldn’t be an excuse not to offer the course.
“It is important to keep our institution alive, for example, if three students want to learn the language, this possibility should be available to them,” he told Neos Kosmos.