11-11-16 President,Education ministers of Greece, Russia inaugurate Russian, Slavic Department

President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Education Minister Kostas Gavroglou, and Russia Education Minister Olga Vasilyeva inaugurated an academic event marking the renaming of Slavic Studies of the University of Athens, which will now be known as Department of Russian Language and Literature and Slavic Studies.

“The new department must make it own contribution to bilateral Greek-Russian ties. We are countries with common roots in both religion and politics. We should adopt common approaches in the future, and develop a humanistic cooperation in science and education, as in other sectors,” said Minister Vasilyeva.

The new department should train professionals and contribute to expanding bilateral relations

Education Minister Gavroglou described the bilateral accord signed as important, particularly on issues of research and innovation.

Gavroglou said Greece has been asked to place representatives on a committee of evaluation of the Greek students studying in Russia, many of whom have scholarships, and that Greece gladly accepted.

Gavroglou made three proposals. The first is to send a delegation of Greek deans to sign specific agreements with Russian counterparts

The deans, technical school heads and research centres must be tools for a course of development  for Greece and its international relations. This inter-university cooperation will bolster the autonomy of our universities, he said

The President of the Greek Language Centre in Thessaloniki said Gavroglou has approved new books for Greek-language training  and a more general cultivation of modern Greek, including translation departments.

The Greek side also requested the digitalisation of the archives of Ioannis Kapodistrias, who  served as a high-ranking court official in czarist Russia before becoming Greece’s first governor.