Language students at Griffith University will soon have the benefit of online Greek language teaching and content from Flinders University.

The Flinders online Modern Greek courses will commence in 2014 at Griffith, where the study of Greek language will have the additional support of scholarships from the local Greek community.

The new courses will be launched at a gala function today (June 4) at The Greek Club in Brisbane. Guests will include Griffith Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Mazerolle and Professor Richard Maltby, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law at Flinders, as well as the Honorary Consul-General of Greece in Queensland, Mr Jim Raptis.

Griffith’s Dean (Learning and Teaching) of Arts, Education and Law, Professor Glenn Finger, said the new courses demonstrated contemporary online learning innovation. He said their introduction had been negotiated between senior members of the local Greek community, Griffith University’s Head of the School of Languages and Linguistics, Professor Cliff Goddard, and Professor Michael Tsianikas from Flinders.

“Flinders will teach and assess students in ten courses constituting a Modern Greek specialisation in the Bachelor of Arts in Languages and Linguistics,” Professor Finger said.

The local Greek community has established a foundation to provide up to six scholarships each year and will assist with the promotion of Modern Greek.

Head of the Greek discipline at Flinders, Professor Tsianikas said that the new courses showed the value of Flinders’ strong investment in the online teaching of Greek, which already allows the language to be offered at Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory.

“We are planning to advertise this program nationally and internationally,” Professor Tsianikas said.

“We want Flinders to show leadership in this important area and provide real solutions for Modern Greek and other languages in a very fast, rapidly changing and extremely challenging world. With similar initiatives we can rally together University programs, politicians and communities in a creative, proactive and positive manner.

“We have a strong base of expertise in Greek language, literature and culture at Flinders, and, as the Griffith University partnership shows, the development of online courses is encouraging access to our resources and knowledge.”