Evaluation is crucial to progress
Higher education problems were to be placed on the table during the national dialogue which started two weeks ago. The major issue – the most immediate priority – is the evaluation of tertiary education institutes. The process is expected to reveal the intentions of all interested parties toward a real purge of the system. Evaluation is vital if universities want to be able to advance and compete within an integrated European education system instead of bringing up the rear. «All factors in the operation of a university will need to be considered during evaluation,» said ESYP head Thanos Veremis. (ESYP will organize university evaluation.) And he added that «among the basic factors (subject to assessment) will be if there are sufficient teaching materials. We need to do away with the tyranny of the one textbook and adopt multiple book sources – subsidized for the have-nots. Infrastructure is also important: buildings, laboratories, libraries and student halls of residence. «Research is indicative of the dynamism of an institute. Evaluation of teaching is also important, and is something that can be done by students.»
