The Mountains University is an initiative by the Cretan University for the creation of an authentic civil society, where the university will study society’s characteristics, it will support the activities, which have been done as a tradition in different regions, and it will take care of the education of people who do not have access to schools.

The initial idea is to create an institution among the Cretan universities, which will coordinate the activities of the different working groups, which will consist of students, researchers and volunteers, in order to achieve the following goals:

-       The economic development of the local municipalities, within the range of their traditional interests.

-       All classes should be mostly practical in real conditions.

-       Improving the health condition of the population

“In order for the Mountains University to work, we will invest in local communities, who live in mountain villages on the island. We are talking about a “university,” which will function outside the school walls and in the heart of every village,” explained Yannis Palikaris – dean of the Cretan University.

“As an idea, the Mountains University is tightly connected with an old education model, according to which older students are teaching younger ones—in other words, the school will support itself,” stressed Classic Philology professor Mihalis Kopidakis.

The program of Mountains University will go in four directions.

First, it will start with open lectures for the public, which will concern the national tradition. Second, lectures, which will deal with traditional professions and skills. The third direction will concern healthcare, the demographic problem and feeding. And the fourth direction will be about agriculture, professional orientation of youngsters, town-planning policies and environment.