Greek Public Tertiary Education Departments of Agriculture Giannoula Florou1, Sofia Anastasiadou2, Anastasios Karasavvoglou3, Stavros Valsamidis3, Athanasios Mandilas3 1 Department of Accountancing and Finance, EMaTTech Institute of Technology Ag. Loukas, Kavala, Greece, e-mail: gflorou@teikav.edu.gr 2 School of Pre-School Education, University of Western Macedonia, 3o Km Florinas Nikis Florina, Greece, e-mail: sanastasiadou@uowm.gr 3 Department of Accountancing and Finance, EMaTTech Institute of Technology Ag. Loukas, Kavala, Greece Abstract. In this paper, we analyze the students’ preferences regarding the institution (university or technological institute) for studying agriculture. Our focus is on the departments of higher or lower preferences and our aim is to study the influence on these preferences of factors as department’s geographical position or its age. Using descriptive statistic and multivariate data analysis methods, we comment on the distribution of preferences of high school graduates for the year 2007 until 2014 and the correlations with the variables mentioned. Our goal is to record the most popular university department as well as the department which failed to attract sufficient number of students. We hope our conclusions will be useful for planning the future of these departments. Keywords: agriculture department, education, students’ preference. 1 Introduction The agriculture sector is an important part of Greek economy (Drakopoulos and Theodossiou, 1991; Camagni, 1995; OECD, 2010). A percentage of 13,6% of all employed people older than 15 years work in agriculture (Ereuna apasxolisis ergatikou dunamikou, 2015). This is the second high percentage. (The percentage for trade is 17,7% and 9% work in transformation sector). Many years ago, an individual decided to become a farmer because his father was a farmer as well. There was no need for education. He had experience in agriculture and he thought that was enough. In the graph we present how many people over 15 years old were employed in agriculture from 2001 until 2014 in Greece. After 2004, about 100 thousands have left agriculture. In 2014, 480.400 persons older than 15 years were active in agriculture. This number was almost the same in years 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. The percentage of people in agriculture of the total working people has arisen after 2009. In 2014 the percentage was 13,6%. As people in agriculture decreased and 471 unemployment increased in the other sectors, a cause of economic crisis (after 2009), the percentage of people employed in agriculture mounted (Bank of Greece, 2014). Agriculture is a sector almost without unemployment (Ereuna apasxolisis ergatikou dunamikou, 2015). NUMBER OF EMPLOYED (THAOUSANDS) 700 650 600 550 500 450 400 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Fig. 1. Number of employed (thousands) per year In table 1, it becomes evident that only 1 out of 4 workers in agriculture have completed secondary education, while 18% have completed 9 years of primary education and 47,3% have completed the 6 years of primary education. Only a percentage of 4% of workers in agriculture have graduated from tertiary education. Table 1. Education of people in agriculture 2014 Tertiary Completed Completed Complete Complete Have not education post secondary d the d primary completed secondary education third education primary technical- grade education vocational of 6-year education secondary education total 3,7% 2,9% 26,8% 18,1% 47,3% 1,6% men 4,3% 2,6% 28,0% 21,0% 42,4% 1,7% women 1,8% 3,2% 25,1% 13,8% 54,7% 1,5% In recent years a lot of young people have decided to acquire agriculture-related education in order to work in agriculture. Some of them want to be expert in agriculture and help the others by introducing to them new technological methods. In major Greek cities (Athens, Thessaloniki) there are agricultural departments in universities and in technological institutes. There are also agricultural departments in other smaller towns. We use data of candidate students in these departments from year 2007 until 2014. Our objects in this paper are to: 472 • Analyse the demand of such field of education over the last few years. • Present the preferences of first-year students. • Find the most popular Greek agriculture departments. Check if economic crisis has changed candidates’ preference in agriculture education. 2 Greek Agriculture Education The Greek tertiary education is divided in two parallel sectors, Universities and Technological Institutes (DOATAP, 2015). After completing secondary education, candidate students take exams (named “panellinies”) in order to succeed in being admitted in only one department of University or Technological Institute. These exams are the same for all candidates in the country. The government determines the number of students (places) in each department and the questions for the exams (Minedu, 2015). After the exams, candidates submit their preference for faculty. If they have good ranking in the exams, they manage to enter the department of their first preferences, if there are available places in this department. If there are no places available they may be admitted to another department of their next preference. There are 13 agricultural departments at Universities and 20 at Technological Institutes. The candidate numbers are shown in figure 2 (first graph for University departments in other towns and second for University departments in Athens). It becomes evident that the number of candidates has increased after 2011 in every agriculture department. Especially candidate numbers have increased in the department (code 273) of Thessaloniki reaching 8000 candidates. NUMBER OF CANDIDATES NUMBER OF CANDIDATES 9050 273 8050 8050 273 7050 7050 6050 325 273 323 328 325 6050 327 328 273 274 5050 274 275 326 323 326 5050 275 325 327 273 275 4050 323 360 328 327 324 4050 274 324 275 271 353 325 328 326 360 212 3050 323 326 324 3050 275 271 327 323 325 327 328 274 271274 360 271 353 353 324 326 271 353 353 212 2050 324 2050 360 212 360 212 212 1050 1050 50 50 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 Fig. 2. Candidates per year at university departments 473 NUMBER OF CANDIDATES NUMBER OF CANDIDATES 8050 716 717 8050 7050 716 546 757 759 716 717 515550 718 7050 718 739 758 6050 551 739 717 716 717 718 555 532 6050 515 759 759 718 5050 717 716 718 550 5050 757 718 739 739 758 550 515550 551 515 551 759 757 4050 551 718 532 739 758 757 532 555 4050 718 758 550 546 555 546 3050 551 718 532 555 3050 718 758 757 546 532 2050 515 2050 1050 1050 50 50 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 Fig. 3. Candidates per year in departments of Technological Education Institutes 3 Number of First-year Student The number of first-year students is determined by the government. In figures 4 and 5 the numbers of first- year students in University departments and Technology Institute departments are depicted. The great increase in all departments in 2014 is clearly perceived. NUMBER OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS NUMBER OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS 300 250 273 250 273 200 323 273 273 273 353 200 353 271 150 323 323 323 323 324 325 326 328 327 360 353 212 274 150 353 100 327 327 327 327 271 212 275 275 326 326 326 271 353 360 324 325 328 324 325 326 324 325 324 325 100 212 271 212 271 212 50 328 328 328 275 275 275 274 360 274 274 50 0 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 Fig. 4. Number of first- year students per year in university departments. NUMBER OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS NUMBER OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS 250 698 250 515 739 721 718 200 200 757 739 546 758 551532 759 758 150 551 550 150 721 757 550555 546 555 739 739 515 515 532 759 515 759 739 100 100 759 721 721 718 718 717 551532 716 698 716718 717 718 759 716718 717 532 716 717 698717 758 758 716 718 551 698 718 550555 718 50 50 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 Fig. 5. Number of first-year students per year in Technological Education Institute departments. 4 Percentage of Successful Candidates and Preferences The percentage of candidates, who succeed in the exams and enter agriculture university departments, is about 5% (Figures 6 and 7). 474 SUCCESS PERCENTAGE OF CANDIDATES SUCCESS PERCENTAGE OF CANDIDATES 15,0% 10,0% 353 353 212 10,0% 212 323 353 323 271 353 5,0% 212 212 271 323 271 212 327 327 323 324 273 273 360 353 324 5,0% 360 324 326 327 271 326 275360 274 271 273 360 273 326 325 327 324 326 323 325 328 275 274 275 325 328 328 327 273 274 275360 274 275 325 328 324 326 274 325 328 0,0% 0,0% 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 Fig. 6. Percentage of candidates, who succeed in university departments per year. SUCCESS PERCENTAGE OF CANDIDATES SUCCESS PERCENTAGE OF CANDIDATES 10,0% 10,0% 698 739 546 532 758 757 5,0% 5,0% 515 555 551 759 739 718 739 758 739 758 757 759 718 759 718 758759 739 718 550 758 759 757718 532 515 532 532 515 551 550532 757 757718 698 555698 515 551 555 698 717 718 546 716 551 718 546 550 550 546 717 716 716 717 718 717 698718 716 515551 550 716 717 0,0% 555 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 0,0% 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 Fig. 7. Percentage of candidates per year, who succeed in Technological Education Institute departments. FIRST PREFERENCES PERCENTAGE OF CANDIDATES FIRST PREFERENCES PERCENTAGE OF CANDIDATES 25,0% 20,0% 323 273 323 274 328 273 323 328 274 273 328 325 323 325 327 323 328 328 325 327 353 324 326 325 15,0% 212 273 274 10,0% 325 324 327 324 326 273 353 212 271 275 327 271274 274 353 324 326 327 326 324 326 353 275 275 275 353 275360 360 212 271 360 360 360 212 212 5,0% 0,0% 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 Fig. 8. Percentage of first preference of University departments of candidates per year. FIRST PREFERENCES PERCENTAGE OF FIRST PREFERENCES PERCENTAGE OF CANDIDATES CANDIDATES 15,0% 15,0% 10,0% 10,0% 716 717 718 718 759 718 716 716 718 717 716 718 717 716 718 759 739 759 759 718 717 718550 717 758 758 5,0% 718 515 515 532 551698 551 759 739 5,0% 718 757 739 757 758 739 757 739 698 550 515 532 515 758 757 550532 551 550532 555 551 550 551698 546 555 698 532 758 757 515 546555 698 546 546555 0,0% 0,0% 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 Fig. 9. Percentage of first preference of Technological Education Institute departments of candidates per year 475 The percentage of candidates who select university departments in first, second or third order of preference is from 10% to 15%. FIRST PREFERENCES PERCENTAGE OF FIRST YEAR FIRST PREFERENCES PERCENTAGE OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS STUDENTS 274 85,0% 328 75,0% 325 325 353 328 326 323 75,0% 328 325 325 65,0% 275 323 323 324 327 274 65,0% 323 323 274 275 275 274 325 324 327 55,0% 324 326 353 353 360 55,0% 327 326 274 212 271 327 324 326 45,0% 353 271 212 275 212 275 45,0% 360 271 353 360 324 35,0% 212 271 212 326 327 35,0% 273 25,0% 271 273 360 273 360 25,0% 273 273 15,0% 15,0% 5,0% 5,0% 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 Fig. 10. Percentage of preference for University departments of first year students per year. However, for the successful first year students, the percentage of those who expressed preference (first until sixth) was from 60% to 80% in 2014. Only three university departments (code 273-Thessaloniki, code 212-Orestiada, code 271- Agrinio) have a percentage of 25%-35% satisfaction of first year students. The percentage of first - year students who had expressed preference (first until sixth) for the departments of Technological Education Institutes is about 30%-50% in 2014. Only three departments (code 716-Athens, code 717- Thessaloniki, code 758- Crete) have a percentage of 60%-80% satisfaction of first year students. FIRST PREFERENCES PERCENTAGE OF FIRST YEAR FIRST PREFERENCES PERCENTAGE OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS STUDENTS 758 70,0% 65,0% 70,0% 717 60,0% 718 65,0% 716 718 55,0% 718 758 758 759 757 60,0% 716 555 717 759 55,0% 532 50,0% 718 758 757 758 739 550 718 717 50,0% 717 718 45,0% 739 759 759 555 532 40,0% 759 757 45,0% 551 698 716 721757 718 739 718 40,0% 546551 550 718 532 532 718 550 35,0% 739 35,0% 546 515 698 30,0% 739 757 30,0% 532 515 515551 555 551 721 550 698 698 546 25,0% 721 721 25,0% 515 20,0% 721 20,0% 515 698 550 551 555 15,0% 15,0% 546 10,0% 10,0% 5,0% 5,0% 0,0% 0,0% 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 Fig. 11. Percentage of preference for Technological Education Institutes of first year students per year. 5 Influence of Economic Crisis in Agriculture Education The ratio (percentage) of first preferences (1st,2nd,3rd,4th,5th,6th) of first year students divided by the total number of first year students gives us the “satisfaction” percentage of first year students. This average “satisfaction” is shown in the table 2 per year. There is significant difference among years as we can conclude by analysis of variance (table 3). 476 Table 2. Percentage of satisfaction per year YEAR 2007 2010 2011 2012 2014 total Satisfaction % 37,5% 43,2% 47,0% 35,0% 51,0% 42,7% In 2014 and 2007 the departments with the greatest satisfaction percentages are shown in the table 4. In 2014, the satisfaction is higher in more departments than 2007. In 2014 and 2007, the departments with the highest candidate numbers are shown in table 5. In 2014, the numbers are almost double than 2007. The departments with the highest candidate numbers are departments of Technology Education Institutes. The only exception is the Agriculture University Department of Thessaloniki. Table 3. Results of Anova for successful percentage Sum of Mean Squares df Square F Sig. Between Groups 0,557 4 0,139 5,018 0,001 Within Groups 4,218 152 0,028 Total 4,775 156 successful Subset for alpha = 0.05 percentage year N 1 2 Duncan 2012 32 34,96% 2007 32 37,48% 2010 33 43,23% 43,23% 2011 27 46,99% 2014 33 51,01% Sig. 0,065 0,083 477 Table 4. Higher satisfaction percentages in 2014 and 2007 2014 2007 Code name satisfaction Code name satisfaction 328 Food Science and Human 325 80% Biotechnology Athens 80% (univ) Nutrition Athens (univ) 716 Food Technology 328 Food Science and Human 72% 70% (tei) Athens (univ) Nutrition Athens 717 323 Crop Production Science Food Technology Thessaloniki 71% 60% (tei) (univ) Athens 273 School of Agriculture 716 70% Food Technology Athens 55% (univ) Thessaloniki (tei) Agriculture Crop Production 274 324 Animal Production and Rural Environment Volos 70% 50% (univ) (univ) Science Athens Thessaly Natural Resources 323 327 Crop Production Athens 70% Management-Agricultural 50% (univ) (univ) Engineering Athens 325 Biotechnology Athens 70% (univ) 353 Argotic Development Orestiada 70% (univ) Thrace Table 5.The highest candidate numbers in 2014 and 2007 2014 2007 Code name candidates Code name candidates 759 Agricultural technology 273 School of Agriculture 8180 4835 (tei) Thessaloniki (univ) Thessaloniki 761 Agricultural technology Larisa 717 Food Technology 7828 4339 (tei) Thessaly (tei) Thessaloniki 273 School of Agriculture 716 7474 Food Technology Athens 4134 (univ) Thessaloniki (tei) 762 Agricultural technology Florina 759 Agricultural technology 7025 3898 (tei) Macedonia (tei) Thessaloniki 717 739 Food Technology Karditsa Food Technology Thessaloniki 6843 3715 (tei) (tei) Thessaly 716 Food Technology Athens 6829 (tei) 757 Agricultural technology Arta 6822 (tei) Ipiros 557 Agricultural technology 6749 (tei) Amaliada Patra 478 6 Conclusions In Greece, the agriculture sector is a big part of economy. A percentage 13,6% of all employed people older than 15 years old work in agriculture. The percentage of people in agriculture of all employed people has increased after 2009 when economic crisis began. In recent years, many young people decided to study in schools relevant to agriculture in order to work in agriculture. We have concluded that the candidates’ numbers have doubled for some agriculture departments of tertiary education. The departments with the highest candidate numbers are the departments of Technological Education Institutes. The number of first year students is decided by the government. There was a great increase in 2014 in all departments. The percentage of candidates who succeed in the exams and enter agriculture university departments is about 5%. The percentage of candidates who have chosen the university departments in first, second or third order of preference is about 10% -15%. For the successful first year students, the percentage of those who had stated preference (first until sixth) was from 60% to 80% in 2014 for University departments. For the departments of Technological Education Institutes this percentage was from 30% to 50% in 2014. The departments with the greatest satisfaction percentages have changed from 2007 until 2014. References 1. Bank of Greece, (2014), Working Paper, Available at: http://www.bankofgreece.gr/BogEkdoseis/Paper2014174.pdf. [Accessed 16 March 2015]. 2. Camagni, R. P. (1995) The Concept of Innovative Milieu and its Relevance for Public Policies in European Lagging Regions. Papers in Regional Science, 74: 317–340. doi: 10.1111/j.1435-5597.1995.tb00644.x 3. DOATAP, (2015) Available at: http://www.doatap.gr/en/tertiary.php [Accessed 14 March 2015]. 4. Drakopoulos S.A. and Theodossiou, I. (1991) Kaldorian approach to Greek economic growth p.p. 1683-1689, DOI:10.1080/00036849100000133 5. Ereuna apasxolisis ergatikou dunamikou, (2015) Available at: http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/PAGE- themes?p_param=A0101&r_param=SJO01&y_param=2014_04&mytabs=0. [Accessed 12 March 2015]. 6. Minedu, (2015) Available at: http://www.minedu.gr.[Accessed 12 March 2015]. 7. OECD, (2010) Available at: http://www.oecd.org/greengrowth/sustainable- agriculture/2739771.pdf. [Accessed 10 March 2015]. 479