Editorial

The fourth issue of the journal ACADEMIA is ready and comes out today.

The interesting factor which seems to emerge is that the electronic form of the journal keeps previous issues topical.  So, the content of the three issues has had close to 30,000 visits, more than half of which pertain to the first volume.  In fact it would appear that the relative majority of our visitors are from countries abroad.

In addition, in a continuous attempt to keep the journal fresh, this issue presents an innovation - the “thematic units” which arise from the  papers that emerge during the academic year in the context of the seminar for doctoral candidates.  Let’s not forget that this particular electronic journal is one of the scientific means of expression of the Interuniversity Network “Higher Education Policy”.

More analytically, the fourth issue comprises four (4) articles, two (2) texts which arise from papers and form a thematic unit and four (4) book reviews.

As far as the articles in the 4^th issue are concerned:

The first article was written by Vincent Hubert, professor at the University of Rouen (France) and is entitled “Didactique universitaire: deux ou trois leçons de Michel Foucault”.  It focuses on Michel Foucault’s last works which centred on how the subject constructed his autonomy in the hellenistic and roman period.  The writer then attempts to show how this construction can can be relevant to students today and, by extension, to university teachers.

The second article was written by the University of Patras PhD, Kavasakalis Aggelos and bears the title “The pendulum of educational reforms in Greek higher education through the example of evaluation and quality assurance policies in universities over the past 40 years”.  His subject matter is an analysis of the difficulties inherent in the institutionalizing of a quality assurance system for the greek higher education system.  These difficulties are analyzed through the concept of “policy transfer” linking the applied policies with the corresponding European ones which are related to the creation of a European higher education area.

 The third article was written by the University of Patras PhD, Pitsou Charikleia and bears the title “Exploration of the specific teaching methodology of faculty members who teach Human Rights Education as an independent academic subject in Greek Pedagogical Departments: a qualitative approach”.  The subject matter of the text concerns human rights education (HRE) and in particular the existence of relevant lessons in the subject in the initial training of Primary Education teachers, as much of primary school teachers as of pre-school teachers.  The research which has been carried out centers on the members of the Pedagogical Departments those teach HRE.

The fourth article has been written by the University of Patras PhD, Christodoulou Michael and is entitled “Ambitious and ambivalent: a biographical approach to adolescents’ transition into Higher Education”.  The article is based on 70 “transition narratives” from adolescents in a city in Western Greece who are in their final year of high school.  These high schools have different social characteristics.  The writer attempts in particular to investigate how the factors that shape each subject are organized into life narratives that ultimately forge the interpretation of self and crystalize his ambitions.

The second part of this issue concerns two texts which come from the Network’s seminars for doctoral candidates and they comprise a thematic unit.  The first text has been written by the professor emeritus of the University of the Peloponnese, Kladis Dionysis and is entitled “Reforms and counter reforms in Greek universities (1974-2014):  Connecting policy with social dynamics”. The writer attempts, on the one hand, to present and analyze certain aspects of the course of history at the greek universities over the last forty years, placing the 1982 Framework Law at the centre of the discussion, and on the other he endeavours to link the 1982 reforms to the social forces of the period.

The second text is by University of Patras professor, Stamelos George and bears the title “The issue of the social legitimization of the Greek university: historical roots, future challenges (1974-today)”.  The text negotiates the social legitimization of the greek university over the same period of time as the previous text.  Using the concept of “legitimization” as an analytical tool, it attempts to analyze the course of the de-legitimization of the university and ponders the terms and conditions of its re-legitimization.

These two texts, while different and with different starting points, endeavor to analyze the same subject matter, the Greek public university, over the same period of time and as such are treated as a unified thematic unit.

Finally, this volume contains four book presentations.

The first was written by the associate professor of the University of Ioannina Karagiannopoulou Evangelia and refers to Noel Entwistle’s book entitled “Teaching for understanding at university: Deep approaches and distinctive ways of thinking”.

The second concerns Emile Durkheim’s book “The Evolution of Educational Thought” which was recently translated into greek, and was written by the doctor and associate of the University of Cyprus, Stavrou Sophia.

 The third book presentation comes from the lecturer at the University of Patras, Aggelopoulos George and refers to Silvia Federici’s book “Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation”.

Finally, the fourth book presentation concerns the book “The nation, Europe and the worlds: textbooks and curricula in transition” by Hanna Schlisser and Yasemin Nuhoglu Soysal and is recommended by the doctoral candidate of the University of Patras and Paris 8, Karachontziti Elena.

Happy reading!

Editorial team