The University of Crete is currently modernising its administrative structures supported by external consulting firms. Therefore the Higher Education Information System (HIS) as one of the external partners from Germany initiated a benchmarking project and started to capture the first processes at the university systematically in autumn 2009. Now the process inventory is completed. HIS and its partners Euroconsultants, Eurotec and Gnomon Informatics S.A. (from Thessaloniki, Greece) presented results lately to the rectorate, the departments and the members of the administration.
As a multi?disciplinary university the University of Crete is well known internationally e.g. for its natural scientific research. Almost 14.000 students are studying on the campuses of Rethymnon and Herakleion. The spatial spread of two campuses brings about complications, though: Over the years the administrative structures on both campuses have developed separately and have become increasingly complex. Furthermore, different faculty cultures and a rather great spatial distance between both centres of study form an extra challenge.
The university's executive board has identified different challenges within the administration structures. For a sustainable positioning and a better use of available resources the University of Crete has therefore initiated a broad reorganisation process. This reorganisation process takes the general efforts and legal requirements to reform the administration of public institutions of Greece to the next level.
Besides the named Greek companies the German Higher Education Information System (HIS) operates as another external consulting firm at the University of Crete. HIS contributes its profound experience gathered in consultancy projects in the Germanspeaking and international Higher Education Area. Harald Gilch, head of the project center "Higher Education Management" at HIS, emphasises the relevance of the current project: "On the other hand, we profit a lot from the experiences we gather in Greece. These new experiences will prove beneficial for German universities as well."
The results of the benchmarking project enable the University of Crete to assess its administration processes in comparison to other European universities.On the basis of the results of the process analysis and of the benchmarking, HIS recommends to the university to increase the transparency of their administrative responsibilities, competencies and procedures.
Relating to the benchmarking results HIS suggests creating general service standards.Another task in the course of the administrative reform will be the reduction of parallel structures. The university will have to decide in which way the administrative units on both campuses can be restructured.
Project results can be found at the University of Crete's website(http://147.52.80.32/... Presentation_HIS.pdf).
At present, the project partners of the four consulting firms are developing together proposals for optimisation for the University's executive board.The latter wants to implement first initial measures already in autumn of 2010 with support by all consulting partners.
As a multi?disciplinary university the University of Crete is well known internationally e.g. for its natural scientific research. Almost 14.000 students are studying on the campuses of Rethymnon and Herakleion. The spatial spread of two campuses brings about complications, though: Over the years the administrative structures on both campuses have developed separately and have become increasingly complex. Furthermore, different faculty cultures and a rather great spatial distance between both centres of study form an extra challenge.
The university's executive board has identified different challenges within the administration structures. For a sustainable positioning and a better use of available resources the University of Crete has therefore initiated a broad reorganisation process. This reorganisation process takes the general efforts and legal requirements to reform the administration of public institutions of Greece to the next level.
Besides the named Greek companies the German Higher Education Information System (HIS) operates as another external consulting firm at the University of Crete. HIS contributes its profound experience gathered in consultancy projects in the Germanspeaking and international Higher Education Area. Harald Gilch, head of the project center "Higher Education Management" at HIS, emphasises the relevance of the current project: "On the other hand, we profit a lot from the experiences we gather in Greece. These new experiences will prove beneficial for German universities as well."
The results of the benchmarking project enable the University of Crete to assess its administration processes in comparison to other European universities.On the basis of the results of the process analysis and of the benchmarking, HIS recommends to the university to increase the transparency of their administrative responsibilities, competencies and procedures.
Relating to the benchmarking results HIS suggests creating general service standards.Another task in the course of the administrative reform will be the reduction of parallel structures. The university will have to decide in which way the administrative units on both campuses can be restructured.
Project results can be found at the University of Crete's website(http://147.52.80.32/... Presentation_HIS.pdf).
At present, the project partners of the four consulting firms are developing together proposals for optimisation for the University's executive board.The latter wants to implement first initial measures already in autumn of 2010 with support by all consulting partners.
