This thesis is a historical study of the growth and development of Athens College, a primary/secondary educational institution in Greece, during the period 1940-1990. Athens College, a private, non-profit institution, was founded in 1925 as a boys' school aiming to offer education for the whole person. The research explores critically the ways in which historical, political, socio-economic and cultural factors affected the evolution of Athens College during the period 1940-1990 and its impact on students' further studies and careers. This case study seeks to unfold aspects of education in a Greek school, and reach a better understanding of education and factors that affect it and interact with it. A mixed methods approach is used: document analysis, interviews with Athens College alumni and former teachers, analysis of student records providing data related to students' achievements, their family socio-economic 'origins' and their post-Athens College 'destinations'. The study focuses in particular on the learners at the School, and the kinds of learning that took place within this institution over half a century. Athens College, although under the control of a centralised educational system, has resisted the weaknesses of Greek schooling. Seeking to establish educational ideals associated with education of the whole person, excellence, meritocracy and equality of opportunity and embracing progressive curricula and pedagogies, it has been successful in taking its students towards university studies and careers. Alumni's records and their memories of community life at Athens College revealed their learning experiences and their points of view on the impact Athens College had on their lives. The achievements of Athens College students have shown that school does matter and can - to a certain extent - counterbalance social inequalities.

This thesis is a study of resistance to the changes in Greek higher education that were implemented within the framework of the 1999 Bologna Agreement of the European Union in the period 2007-2008. The changes that occurred were of great significance for Greece’s education system as they introduced important changes in the structure and function of Greek higher education. This thesis argues that the organisational culture that had been created throughout the history of Greek higher education was a powerful factor that provoked resistance to the new policies. Methodologically, the thesis argues that discourse, change and institutional culture are closely tied together, and that this is of crucial importance in creating, modifying, and sustaining change within higher education institutions. The process of resistance is examined through the theoretical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Fairclough, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2009; Chouliaraki and Fairclough, 1999), and within this framework by applying the empirical-analytical method of the Discourse Historical Approach (Wodak and Meyer, 2009; Reisigl and Wodak, 2009). The framework and method for the study are also complemented by the discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe (1985). The narrative of the thesis includes a critical examination of the hegemonic struggles that occurred in the 2007-2008 period, the perceptions and ideologies of the key stakeholders (politicians, university faculty, and student groups), and the ways in which the discourses about Greek higher education have been influenced by social, political, and institutional factors. Finally, the implications of the findings for adding to the existing knowledge about management and change in higher education institutions are discussed.

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Στην παρούσα εργασία εστιάζουμε το ενδιαφέρον μας στα δημοσιεύματα τεσσάρων εφημερίδων του τύπου των Πατρών, σχετικά με το Πανεπιστήμιο Πατρών από την ίδρυση μέχρι τη θεμελίωσή του, κατά τη χρονική περίοδο 1964 μέχρι το 1968. Οι εφημερίδες που μελετώνται είναι ο Νεολόγος, η Πελοπόννησος, η Ημέρα και ο Εθνικός Κήρυκας. Μέσα σε μία περίοδο έντονων πολιτικών, οικονομικών και κοινωνικών εξελίξεων και συγκρούσεων και με βάση τις πολιτικές και ιδεολογικές πεποιθήσεις των παραπάνω εφημερίδων, προσπαθήσαμε να αναδείξουμε τη θέση και την αντιμετώπιση του τοπικού τύπου απέναντι στο νέο Πανεπιστήμιο κατά τη διάρκεια των πέντε ετών. Το υλικό μας αποτελείται κατά κύριο λόγο από πρωτογενείς πηγές (τα άρθρα των εφημερίδων), που για την επεξεργασία τους χρησιμοποιήσαμε το μεθοδολογικό εργαλείο της ποιοτικής ανάλυσης περιεχομένου και την ερευνητική - ιστορική μέθοδο. Η θεωρητική κατάταξη στηρίζεται στην αναζήτηση και τον εντοπισμό θεωριών που αφορούν τα ΜΜΕ, το δημοσιογραφικό λόγο και τις κορπορατιστικές θεωρίες, ως σύστημα αντιπροσώπευσης συμφερόντων. Το παραπάνω θεωρητικό πλαίσιο σε συνδυασμό με το συγκείμενο της εποχής και την ιδεολογική, πολιτική γραμμή της κάθε εφημερίδας μας βοήθησαν να αναλύσουμε και να ερμηνεύσουμε τα δεδομένα μας. / In this paper we focus on four newspaper reports of Patras, about the University of Patras from its establishing to its foundation during the time period 1964 to 1968. The newspapers studied are "Neologos", "Peloponnesos", "Imera" and "National Herald". Within a period of intense political, economic and social changes and conflicts and based on political and ideological beliefs of these newspapers we have tried to highlight the conditions and confrontation of the local press against the new University during these five years. Our material consists mainly of primary sources (newspaper articles) that for their processing we used the methodological tool of qualitative content analysis and research - historical method. The theoretical classification based on search and detection theory about the media, the journalistic speech and corporatist theories, as a system of representation of interests. The above theoretical framework combined on the context of the era and the ideological, political line of each newspaper helped us analyze and interpret our data.