1. English-language textbooks in Greece
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English-language textbooks
in Greece
Joerg Sixt
5 October 2017

2. The questions The Situation:
Government subsidises free print textbooks (mainly in Greek) via Eudoxus
Very few Greek publishers do e-books
HEAL-Link & Libraries buy e-books (mainly in English) e.g. Springer Nature ebook collections
Questions:
Are English books and e-books used for teaching right now?
What are the attitudes towards English-language and e-books in general?
Do students and lecturers actually want them?
Can Greece save money by switching some Greek print textbooks to English e-textbooks?
(How) can librarians help students and lecturers with purchasing textbooks?

3. Greek print vs English e-textbooks: General observations
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Greek print vs English e-textbooks: General observations

4. The status quo: Why Greek print textbooks?
Preserve Greek as a language of science and teaching
Many countries use native language for undergraduate teaching
Japan, China, France: science publishing in their native languages still popular
In some humanities: non-English languages are important in scholarly publication
Protect domestic publishers
Economic benefits in using native-language textbooks
Foreign language as an additional barrier
Teaching difficult subjects in a non-native language can make learning harder
Students like Eudoxus
80% of Greek students prefer print textbooks
Eudoxus has a high satisfaction rate
(Source: 2011 student survey of 5k Greek students)

5. Moving into the future: Why English e-textbooks?
Students expect more eBooks
63% of students believe ebooks are the future
(Source: previous survey)
English is the language of science
Overwhelming number of scientific publications is in English
Success in research requires excellent (specialist’s) English
You can still teach in Greek and use English books
Graduate courses world-wide: most texts are in English even if teaching is not
Making Greek universities attractive for international students and lecturers
Growing number of English-language undergraduate courses across the globe
Encourage more international students to come
Attract international researchers and lecturers

6. (Continued)
Get students ready for an international science and job market
Ca. 350k jobs in Greece depend on export =ca. 7% of employment
Largest Greek employers are banks and oil
Checking Greek job sites suggests 50% of jobs require English language skills
Future growth in Greece (McKinsey): medical tourism, advanced food processing
Interesting: Greek students criticise obsolete curriculum

7. Case Study: Teaching and Textbooks @ Aristotle University
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Section breaks are available in each palette colour and in a neutral blue grey.
In most cases one section break colour should be used consistently throughout the deck – ideally following the colour of the Advancing Discovery bookmark on the cover page.
Case Study: Teaching and Aristotle University

8. Example: Aristotle University
Analysis of ca. 1,800 undergraduate and graduate courses and 6,000 reading list items at the Aristotle University
Our questions:
How many courses use English-language textbooks?
How many are Springer Nature books
=> students & lecturers have already “free” access to many of them
How many of them are in Eudoxus?
Challenges:
Difficult to get and analyse data
Is the data correct? (Are lecturers always updating it?)
Identifying books correctly – who are the publishers, are they translations, etc.?
Please take these numbers with a pinch of salt!!
Interesting note:
Ca. 500 courses appear have some options for English study & exams
Mainly as an option to help Erasmus students.

9. Use of English-language textbooks
Ca. 1,800 English-language books recommended for 445 courses
Ca. 100 Springer Nature books recommended for 70 courses
Around 1000 translations of English- language books recommended for nearly 500 courses*
Eudoxus:
30% of all items in the reading list in Eudoxus
6% English textbooks
25% probably translations*
(*)Assumption: if a book reference is in Greek with non-Greek authors it is a translation
Springer Nature books
Other English books
Architecture 6 92
Biology 14
Education 66
Engineering 32
548
Chemistry 9 34
Geology 4 41
Informatics 18 76
Mathematics 20 70
Theology 7
630
Physics 5 57
Other 48
Total
102
1,733

10. Attitudes towards English textbooks

11. Our Survey We are asking about attitudes towards English textbooks:
20 physics professors in Thessaloniki
all Greek visitors of springer.com
Survey started 6 November - preliminary results:
39 out of 50 recommend English textbooks to their students
20 out of 35 likely to use it as the main textbook
Main motivation:
quality of books,
teach students English language skills
For others the main obstacle against English textbooks is
lack of English skills of students,
department forces
40 out of 47 would recommend more English texts if freely available via HEAL-Link
25 out of 46 think students are fine with using English texts

12. What next?

13. More analysis
Can you get data on courses and textbooks from your university?
Aristotle has a quality assurance unit to get this data – what about you?
Can we get data on English and Greek language textbooks from Eudoxus e.g. with print runs and pricing?
Spend more time and effort on better analysis of this data
What about running a survey at your university’s lecturers and students?
For which courses and subjects are Greek or English, print or e-books better?
Who can do this?
You can try yourself or bundle activities under HEAL-Link or other associations of university libraries
You may need support with data analysis
Do you have researchers who are interested in these topics?
We are happy to assist as well

14. Possible lines of action
Are there cost benefits?
I did a (non-representative) spot-check of 55 Eudoxus books priced €15 to €150 with average €45
Springer Nature and other publishers:
e-book deals, collections (which do not only include textbooks)
Springer’s MyCopy for €25
Other publishers may offer similar or other e+print deals
How can libraries and HEAL-Link support students and lecturers?
Not only Eudoxus but also supplementary reading
Does your acquisition strategy take teaching into account?
Does your university want to become more international and attract international talent?
How does teaching and textbooks support this?
How can your university support you?