NUGAS - National Union of Greek Australian Students Official Site

NUGAS Press Release – UNSW

Greek Department

It has come to the attention of the National Union of Greek Australian Students (NUGAS) that the University of New South Wales is acting to close its long standing Greek Department. As part of NUGAS’ charter to promote and maintain Greek culture and heritage throughout Greek students and youth within Australia, the National Union, and the representative states which form the National organisation offer their full support to the Greek Department of UNSW, and to the UNSW Hellenic Society which seeks to maintain students’ ability to study Modern Greek at UNSW.

Prior to 1995 Modern Greek was taught at UNSW on a non-permanent basis through the financial support of the UNSW Hellenic Society (Hellsoc) and the Greek Orthodox Community of Sydney. In 1995 an amount in excess of $250,000 was raised, which was matched dollar for dollar by the university, to fund the Greek Department, and an agreement was reached with the then Vice-Chancellor John Niland that Greek language was to become a permanent part of the curriculum at UNSW, provided that there was a demand for the course.

More recently in 2007, due to a decline in enrolments, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University decided that Greek will no longer be offered as a Major at the University and only be provided as a Minor. After the resignation of Dr Eleni Amvrazi, as head of the Greek Department at the University (serving for  over 10 years) the Dean of the UNSW Arts Faculty informed students that the department would be closing, and no further enrolments would be excepted for the study of Modern Greek at UNSW as of 2010.

Aside of courses purely teaching Modern Greek language, the UNSW Greek Department also offered courses on Greek Mythology, Modern Greek History and Greek film, theatre and music, which were widely popular amongst students, some having classes with in excess of 100 students. These courses are now either no longer offered, or are offered in a limited capacity by the university, which further adds to the University’s difficulty in maintaining a student interest in Modern Greek Studies.

It appears that the decision to close the Greek Department is not an economic one, as funding still exists from the money raised in 1995, and many of the teachers’ wages are paid by the Greek government, which has consequently offered to send more teachers if the department requires it.

Since the teaching of language and culture is without a doubt one of the most important factors in the continuation of the Greek Australian identity, the National Union of Greek Australian Students feels that it is imperative for the Greek department at the University of New South Wales to remain open. NUGAS will therefore act in any capacity it can to support the Greek department at UNSW, and any students wishing to study Greek at the university.

For more information, or for anyone wishing to offer their support, please feel free to contact the NUGAS executive committee: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

James Calligeros

Media and Public Relations Officer

National Union of Greek Australian Students