4. Quality education

Data for the indicator 4.1. Research on early years and lifelong learning education (4.1.1 Quality Education: paper views, 4.1.2 Quality Education: CiteScore, and 4.1.3 Quality Education: publications) is being collected via Scopus.

4.2 Proportion of graduates with teaching qualification

4.2.1 Proportion of graduates with relevant qualification for teaching

Graduate only: 537 / 4389 = 12.23% (2,32% increase since 2022)
All levels: 647 / 5254 = 12.31% (1,59% increase since 2022)

Departments counted: Department of Education and Social Work; Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education. It should be noted that other Departments' graduates are able to work on secondary education schools, e.g. teaching biology, physics, etc. All levels include postgraduate and doctoral programmes.

4.3 Lifelong learning measures

4.3.1 Public resources (lifelong learning)

The University has developed and made available several Open Courses aimed towards broader audiences (i.e. beyond students specializing in a particular study area). The audience may include undergraduate students from different Departments of the University of Patras, students from other Institutions, graduates from the same or a different Department as well as the general public. There is no limitation following an Open Course or using its resources. The complete list is available at https://opencourses.gr/results.xhtml?ln=el&uni=Πανεπιστήμιο+Πατρών.

Finally, the University Library is open to the general public for studying. According to its Regulation unemployed citizens are entitled to a waiver for registering to other services, such as circulation of material, etc. A translation of the article 5.1. of the Regulation follows:

Unemployed people, who can obtain an External User Card, without paying the one-off amount, by presenting a valid OAED unemployment card. The duration of the membership card is annual and the validity of the unemployment card is regularly checked.

Many of the Faculty Members of the University publish their Open Textbooks on the digital library Kalippos. This is an open access digital library that every student and citizen of the country can view and download university textbooks. In 2023, 47 textbooks from our members were published as it can be found here.

Furthermore, the Library participates to the AmeLIB digital library that provides access to educational material for print-disabled students. The access though, due to the legislation for the protection of intellectual rights, is controlled and is provided strictly to authorized users. The Library also provides guidance on the digitally accessible content by Faculty Members. Information about these activiites and resources can be found on the website of the Library (in Greek).

4.3.2 Public events (lifelong learning)

The Science and Technology Museum carries out a variety of on-site thematic educational programs for all levels of education with various topics related to the permanent exhibition and temporary exhibitions of the Museum. The educational programs are planned in collaboration with teachers and students from various Departments of the University of Patras. Given the recent developments due to the Covid-19 pandemic Distance Learning Programs are also offered, through WebEx or Zoom platforms. Furthermore, the Museum organizes several other public events, competitions, lectures, seminars etc.

The Museum hold an event to celebrate the European Day of Languages together with the PEKES of Western Greece, the National Organization for Supporting eTwinning and the French Institute of Greece in Patras. School groups from the Primary and Secondary Education Directorates of Achaia participated in this hybrid event in person and remotely to celebrate the importance of language, the most important means of communication and expression of people and peoples and a means of expressing the culture of peoples that can be preserved and developed. Europe includes a large number of languages and dialects, with multilingualism now a point of discussion, especially in the field of Museums, for the preservation and dissemination of the cultural heritage of peoples. The Museum, together with the Department of History and Achaeology co-organized the public event "Selfie Day" on the occasion of the celebration of International Museum Day. The event was open to students and the public. Anyone could visit the MET, take a selfie on the theme of sustainability and quality of life, and share their presence at the Museum.

The University of Patras participates every year in the Researcher's Night. According to the official description, "the European Researchers' Night is a Europe-wide public event, which displays the diversity of science and its impact on citizens' daily lives in fun, inspiring ways. The European Researchers' Night aims to bring research and researchers closer to the public, promote excellent research projects across Europe and beyond, increase the interest of young people in science and research careers, and showcase the impact of researchers’ work on people’s daily lives." The event takes annually place in Patras too. Evidence for the event in 2023 can be found at https://researchersnight.gr/2023-2/.

Other public events are being hosted by the University’s Conference and Cultural Center. Most events are open to the general public, especially those that present project results and/or addressing topics of popular science. A complete list is available at http://www.confer.upatras.gr/events.php.

4.3.3 Vocational training events (lifelong learning)

The University operates the Lifelong Learning Center – University of Patras, which offers several courses for vocational training. The Center was established in 2018 with the main purpose to design, organize and operate lifelong training programs in a wide range of fields such as technology, administration, health, humanities, education, art etc. Distance and blended learning are the main methods for the implementation of the programs and the Center is continuously exploring new attractive methods and approaches to enhance adult education, training and employment. The Center provides both free and paid courses. Indicative courses:

Furthermore, the University operates the Auditor of University Courses. Citizens who wish to do so, have the opportunity to attend university courses of their choice from those offered by Departments. They are eligible to receive a special card from the Secretariat of the Department, which allows them to attend specific courses, for a certain period of time. It should be noted that they do not participate in exams or in laboratory, clinical or tutorial exercises, and they receive a certificate of attendance at the end of each semester.

4.3.4 Education outreach activities beyond campus

This is an indicative list of activities:

The Department of Education and Social Work provided supportive interventions in Roma communities to strengthen access to education and reduce the dropout rate of children and adolescents in the Region of Western Greece. According to the project, intercultural education is a pedagogical approach aiming to tackle social and intra-school problems that arise within a multicultural society and affects socially vulnerable group of citizens, such as the Roma. It is an approach with a holistic character, which concerns, in addition to the members of the Roma group, the social environment in which they live in. The implementation of the project primarily seeks to address the educational inequality and marginalization of this social group by improving the conditions for inclusion and participation of Roma children in the education system. More at https://roma.upatras.gr. The project held a public event, titled "Discourses of Roma and non-Roma writers: From reality to fiction and back again…", at the Archaeological Museum of Patras to present literary texts by Roma and non-Roma authors to talk about the Roma language, Romani, a language that is often not recognized as a language either in the educational community or in the Roma community, intensifying the difficulty of integrating Roma students into school. More can be found here.
The Children's Festival of the Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education of the University is organized by its students in collaboration with the Department's teaching staff. Every year, at the end of spring and for one week, more than 1,500 preschool children visit it, together with their teachers or parents, in order to participate in creative activities and educational workshops, which take place on the Department's premises. In the workshop "Renewable Energy Sources", the students of the course "Introduction to Natural Sciences & Scientific Cultivation II" create an environment of entertainment and non-formal education so that children can approach the issue of renewable energy through pleasant and simple activities. These activities are designed on the initiative of the students who, using their knowledge from the course, aim to actively involve young children in investigations for the replacement of conventional energy sources with Renewable Energy Sources. In these activities, young children learn how to put models of Photovoltaic cells and wind turbines into operation. More specifically, in small groups, they undertake to complete a goal, e.g. to light a light bulb, using the photovoltaic panel as an energy source. Through these investigative activities, children are expected to realize that there are alternative solutions in our everyday lives for clean and cheap energy. Photo by Niki Sissamperi.
As mentioned above the Museum of Science and Technology is offering Distance Learning Programs, through WebEx or Zoom platforms. A description can be found on its website.

4.3.5 Lifelong learning access policy

The University prescribes in the Internal Regulations (latest version published on the Govenrment's Gazette, II, 5468, 14/09/2023) explicitly that all of its activity is governed by the following principles:

2. The operation of the University of Patras is supported to a set of values, which are based on the principles of freedom of teaching and research, free expression and circulation of ideas, respect of the rights of the members of the University Community and of the society as a whole, of justice, of meritocracy, transparency, accountability, equality, as well as on the principle of the cooperation of every institution of the University Community in the context of compliance with the Constitution, the Laws and Regulations. Any discrimination, which is related with color, gender, sexual orientation, racial, national or ethnic origin, age, religion or ideology, is considered impermissible.

(Article 3: Mission and Targets)

4.4 Proportion of first-generation students

4.4.1 Proportion of first-generation students

This information is not available.