After an extended strike of administrative employees reacting to the Ministry of Education’s suspension and dismissal plans, teaching at the National Kapodistrian University of Athens may have formally begun on the 16th of December, however there is great uncertainty as to whether the semester will be complete.

With the reopening of the university departments the first problems of the Ministry’s controversial suspension and dismissal plans become apparent, as many administration offices are now understaffed or shut, while there are no porters, cleaners or guards to maintain the university facilities. The hope is that the Ministry’s inter-institutional mobility scheme will cover these critical staff shortages.

Many administrative employees and academics have wondered whether the semester can be saved at all, with many departments struggling to find the necessary hours to cover for the lost time. While the administrative employee strike has essentially ended, some departments have already occupied by students, the problems are far from over.