Vassilis Kostoglou

Higher technological education specialties and graduates’ vocational status and prospects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on a thorough comparison of the broader specialties and subspecialties provided by Greek higher technological education, regarding the employment status and the vocational prospects of the corresponding graduates, and aims to identify and analyze the relevant existing differences.Design/methodology/approach – Original empirical data were collected from 5,183 graduates of Technological Educational Institutes of higher education through a national survey using telephone interviews and a structured questionnaire. The stratified sample consisted of graduates originating from all nine different broader specialties (faculties) and 45 subspecialties (departments). Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis was used for the elaboration of the collected information.Findings – The results showed that there are significant differences among the graduates of different specialties regarding some employment characteristics, such as professional status, t...

Predictors of higher technological education graduates’ labour market entrance success

Abstract Nowadays, the successful transition of graduates from university into the world of work is one of the most important priorities of all involved stakeholders: governments, institutions of higher education, and individuals, as well as researchers. The present study analyzes the employability characteristics of higher technological education graduates, focusing on the determination of the factors which significantly affect the quality of their transition in the labour market. Original empirical data was collected through a national survey from 5183 graduates of 11 technological educational institutes (TEIs) of Greek higher education, corresponding to nine broader specialties and 51 professions. The findings of our study indicate that gender (that is, male) and postgraduate studies positively affect graduates’ employment. The interval between graduation and first employment is inversely affected by the duration of bachelor studies, as well as by having children, and appears to depend significantly on the graduates specialty. Male graduates, parents, postgraduate degree holders, and IT graduates appear to enjoy, on average, higher wages. The match between studies and work is higher for graduates who have children, who have a high or very high bachelor degree mark, for graduates of specialties related to health, as well as for postgraduate degree holders. Relevant suggestions for further research, and the practical implications of this study, are also discussed.

A comparative analysis of Greek universities’ presence on the World Wide Web using an analytical MCDM methodology

Greek universities are currently in a transition state, as a new bill has been voted by the parliament trying to focus on lasting problems tormenting Greek higher level education; the implementation of the new law creating a strong reaction from part of the academic community. What is more, globalisation has increased competition and academia is now called upon to operate in an international environment facing other well established and prestigious institutions. It is in this context that Web 2 technologies widely available today offer a framework that allow academic institutions to increase their extraversion and reach a wider public; wikis, forums and e-learning platforms to name a few of these technologies. This paper attempts to offer a convincing answer to the ability of the Greek universities, operating in an unfavourable environment with many obstacles, to exploit what Web 2 has to offer; to also assess their readiness to integrate the new technologies and face the competition directly. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used for a comparative analysis of the online presence of Greek universities, and the results can prove to be a helpful tool for website creators and academia administration in order to improve their services.

Social Media Networker: A New Profile for a New Market

The emergence of Internet-based social media has enabled social networks for online collaboration, interaction, communication and knowledge sharing between users who have common interests, needs or goals. The social media phenomenon has changed the way people communicate with each other and the way organizations and governments interact with different stakeholders. Consumers are increasingly utilizing Web 2.0 platforms, such as content sharing sites, blogs, social networks, and wikis in order to create, modify, share, and discuss online content. Communities are built from the bottom-up by people who capitalize on the behavior and knowledge of others. Barriers of distance and time are overcome by transparency created by the wisdom of the users. The use of social media has had a significant impact on public relations and the reputation of organizations, not to mention marketing, sales and sustainability. Yet, many organizations eschew or ignore this type of media, mainly because they do not understand the advantages of its use, the various forms it can take, and how to engage in it. In order to address this lack of skills and to support organizations in building competences in the field of social media a lifelong learning course is currently under development within the frame of the European Certification and Qualification Association (ECQA). The ECQA Social Media Networker (SIMS) is a two year long project which started in October 2011 with funding from the EU Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP). The project aims to develop a new skill set and a job role qualification study program, where competencies in social media are customized for the European industry into an online study program complemented with an online training, examination and certification schema for the Social Media Networker job role. A pilot training scheme will take place in the participating organizations/member states (Austria, Greece, Hungary, Ireland and Spain) and the study programme will be refined and improved based on systematic feedback. This chapter describes the joint effort of five organizations in five countries to define and develop the professional role of a Social Media Networker. After developing and testing the modular training material, the profession will be launched to the market. Future work will concentrate on the sustainability of the profession by the creation of a job role committee that will be responsible for updating the training material, as well as for the dissemination and exploitation of the results.

Development of an innovative information system: a fish identification e-key with update capabilities

A dichotomous identification key organizes fishes based on their similarities and differences, and is an essential tool in which ichthyologists, biologists, fishery biologists and others can use for accurate identification of specimens or finding information on correct names, biology and distribution of species. This research work focuses on the development and implementation of a totally new information system that is able to identify correctly fish species names. The developed system is a fully interactive fish identification e-key, which can be used in both forms; locally and remotely via the World Wide Web. This new dichotomous classification e-key provides the capability to identify any species in a compact and easy to use environment, which gives the user excellent operation capabilities and complete information about all included fish species. Moreover, the application provides the capability to search for a random fish species and to show a list which includes all the fish species that currently exist in the applications database. There is an extra attribute that makes the new system novel, and this is its expandability: the information system is fully dynamic having the capability to be extended every time a new species is identified. This attribute is innovative because, until now, there is not any fish identification e-key that gives the user the capability to insert new fish species into the applications database.

Using AHP and VIKOR to evaluate the hotel industry of eight European countries

Abstract The purpose of this work is to provide a ranking of eight European countries concerning their hotel industry. We have drawn data from TripAdvisor with various features, like the location of each hotel, the cleanness, the number of the rooms, the price of each hotel and other similar criteria. The analysis was conducted by using two multicriteria analysis methods, namely AHP and VIKOR. Specifically, the well known AHP method will help us to calculate the weights of the criteria and the ranking of the alternatives is provided by VIKOR. The obtained results provide vital information, more specifically which country has the more attractive hotel industry, compared with the other countries. Based on the obtained results in this research, we can see that there are two countries with the best hotel services and the ranking has a particular interest, as all eight countries are famous for their tourist services.

An Innovative Decision Making e-key Application For the Identification of Fish Species

The most important tool for ichthyologists, as well as biologists, fishery biologists and other relevant scientists is an identification key, that is an information system providing them the capability to identify specimens accurately or to find information on correct names, biology and distribution of species. Dichotomous identification keys organize fishes based on their similarities and differences. This research work focuses on the development and implementation of a new innovative information system which is able to identify correctly fish species. The developed system is a fully interactive fish identification e-key which can be used in both forms; locally and remotely via Internet, and more specifically the Telnet service. This new dichotomous classification e-key provides the capability to identify any species in a compact and easy-to-use environment which gives the user excellent operation capabilities and complete information about all included fish species. Moreover, the application provides the capability to search for a sporadic fish species and to show a list which includes all the fish species that exist to the application’s database until that time.