Mobility scheme transfers leave universities understaffed
The impact of the government’s mobility scheme on eight of the country’s universities is already clear, according to unionists, who said on Tuesday that the inclusion of 1,349 administrative employees in a wave of transfers and layoffs has left buildings and university grounds unguarded and has left the remaining workers unable to keep up with paperwork.
The staff at the eight universities has been reduced by an estimated 40 percent as a result of the mobility scheme, spurring fears that the institutions will be forced to close. Already, the senates of Athens University and the National Technical University of Athens announced on Monday that they were shutting down the institutions as they were unable to function following the mass departure of staff.
The head of the Hellenic Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (POSDEP), Stathis Efstathopoulos, on Tuesday warned in a letter to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras that the universities were at risk of collapsing. He asked to meet the premier “to outline in detail the tragic state of our universities.”
University staff inducted into the mobility scheme include archivists, treasury employees and night guards.
