E-Learning University of Athens

E-Learning University of Athens is the online course program of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, run as the supplementary distance education program of the university's Center of Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning. It offers short online courses to professionals and adult learners in business and economics, health, Greek language, arts and culture, law, environment and architecture, nanotechnology and nanomedicine, and intangible cultural heritage, with coaching and security sciences listed as further domains. The home page invites learners to work and study with faculty members of the university, which it calls "the oldest Tertiary Education institution in Greece," as well as with "renowned European experts." The program office is at Stadiou 5 in Athens.

How the courses work

The site describes its courses as programs that "combine innovative teaching techniques and interaction with your personal tutor through a friendly online educational platform." They are "offered through flexible and blended learning sessions," designed around the needs of particular industries and professions and around each learner's availability, and the home page promises "the flexibility to study at your own pace, accessing anytime and anywhere learning." The home page frames the whole program around developing competencies and professional skills while following personal interests, which explains why job-focused analytics courses sit next to courses on wine and Minoan art. The academic year is divided into periods of 3-4 months, and the courses offered in each period fall into the program's broad domains.

Some courses come in two support versions. Supply Chain Management is listed once "with personal educational support" and once "with community educational support," and a health course on diet and cardiovascular disease is offered with community educational support. A learner can therefore pick between individual and community-based support for the same subject.

The aim, in the site's words, is to "interconnect academic and applied knowledge in various subjects from archaeology and philosophy to economics." Courses draw on "the expertise of senior academics and experts at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens." Successful completion "leads to a Course Certificate or Certificate of Attendance," depending on the course.

Business and economics

The business list is aimed at working professionals and mixes data skills with management. Data courses include Web Analytics, Introduction to Marketing Analytics, Learning the SQL and NoSQL Language, and Machine Learning and Deep Learning in Python with Financial and Insurance Applications. Management courses include Advanced Project Management, Corporate Innovation & Intrapreneurship, Self-Leadership Skills, Supply Chain Management, Communication and Customer Service Training, Behavioral Science & Digital Nudging, and two Management and Foresight courses, one on scenario planning and methodological tools and one on strategy and uncertainty. For an executive education buyer, this is the part of the catalog that maps most directly onto day-to-day work, from reading web and marketing data to planning projects and thinking through strategic scenarios.

Health, nanomedicine and environment

The health courses lean toward the life sciences: Microbiome in Human Health and Diseases; Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine; Cosmetology: Production of Cosmetics with Natural Raw Materials and Medicinal Plants; and Diet, Mediterranean Diet, Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases and COVID-19. The nanotechnology and nanomedicine line has one course on approaches for targeted drug delivery and advanced nanotherapeutics and another on nanomedicine applications in diagnostics and surgery. In environment and architecture, Design and Optimization of Zero Energy Consumption Buildings covers the design of buildings that use no net energy.

Greek language

For language learners, the Greek line is graded by level. Classical Greek runs at Level A and Level B, Modern Greek for non Greek Speakers starts at a basic level, Oral Greek runs from Level A to Level C, and Writing in Greek runs from Level A to Level C. Because speaking and writing are separate tracks, a learner can work on one without the other, which suits someone who already reads some Greek but needs conversation, or a speaker who wants to write more accurately.

Arts, culture, law and heritage

The arts and culture list is the most distinctive part of the catalog, drawing on the university's strength in archaeology and the classics. It includes Ancient Greek Myths; Ancient Greek Theatre: A Modern Approach; The arts of ancient Greece: the birth of classical taste; Greek Philosophy: The Art of Living; and a set of courses on the city and the theater as an itinerary from the classical past to the future. Several archaeology courses focus on the prehistoric eastern Mediterranean, among them Ritual and daily life in the prehistoric Eastern Mediterranean, Disease and Therapy, Ritual performance in Minoan Crete, Hybrid and monstrous creatures in Minoan iconography, and Modeling everyday life in Crete and Cyprus with reference to Egypt.

Food and landscape courses cover Olive Oil, Wine, Herbs & Honey, and Mediterranean Food and Diet, a multidisciplinary historic, cultural, environmental and dietary overview that also sits under intangible cultural heritage. Religious Tourism looks at art, monuments and routes. Law offers Sports Law and International Sports Law (Lex Sportiva) and a course on the stability quadrangle of Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Egypt in the South-Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Scale and contact

The home page says that over the last twenty four years, more than 195,000 people have joined the program's continuous professional development (CPD) and lifelong learning courses "in a variety of academic and professional fields." The recent programs it highlights are Corporate Innovation & Intrapreneurship, Behavioral Science & Digital Nudging, Ancient Greek Myths, Classical Greek Level B, and Communication and Customer Service Training.

The course pages show no fees. Enquiries go to the program office by email or phone, and learners can subscribe to a newsletter for new course announcements.

Who it suits

E-Learning University of Athens suits a professional who wants a short, university-backed course in analytics, project management, innovation, supply chain or customer service, studied online over one 3-4 month period. It suits health and science professionals curious about the microbiome, regenerative medicine or nanomedicine, learners of Greek at any level from beginner to advanced writing, and anyone drawn to Greek archaeology, theater, philosophy, food and wine taught by people connected to the university.

The caveats are about format and outcome. Courses are offered in the academic year's 3-4 month periods, so a learner plans around that calendar even though study within a course is self-paced. What a learner receives is a Course Certificate or a Certificate of Attendance from the program, and the course pages show no fees, so cost is a question for the program office.