Eugenia Arvanitis

Dr Eugenia Arvanitis is Assistant Professor of Interculturality & Diversity in Education at the University of Patras, Greece (http://www.ecedu.upatras.gr/services/site/prosopiko). She teaches at the Post Graduate Program “Adult Education” of the Hellenic Open University. Dr. Arvanitis has worked for a number of divisions in the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs (2006-2012), namely, the Department of Educational Planning and Intercultural Education, the Office of the Alternate and Deputy Minister for Education. She has also worked as the co-ordinator of the National Quality Assurance & Evaluation Office in the General Secretariat of Adult Education in Greece, where she developed the National Quality Assurance and Assessment Framework for the Greek Adult Educational System. She has been involved in policy development for intercultural, adult and immigrant education (e.g. drafting working papers and expressions of interest for major national programs funded by the European Commission through the National Strategic Framework of Reference).

Dr. Arvanitis lived for a decade in Australia gaining valuable experience in multicultural educational and ethnic language maintenance policies. Her Ph.D. research involved an in depth analysis of teaching practices and educational policies in Australia in the late 1990s with particular emphasis on Greek language classes and after-hours schools in Victoria. During 2001-2004, she was co-ordinator of the Greek Language and Cultural Studies Program (BA International Studies) at the School of International and Community Studies, RMIT University and the Manager of the Australian-Greek Resource and Learning Center at RMIT University, Melbourne (www.rmit.edu.au/greekcentre).

 She is an Associate & Research Partner in several scientific organisations such as PASCAL International Observatory, RMIT Globalism Institute and the University of Illinois (Common Ground & Learning by Design project teams). Most recently, she has helped to establish the web based platform, ‘Nea Mathisi’ (http://neamathisi.com), supporting professional and intercultural learning in school-based teachers’ training. Finally, she is the author of several research papers and the editor/author of four books: Bonegilla: Memories and Recollections of an Insider by Zac Vogiazopoulos (2006); Greek Ethnic Schools in Australia in the late 1990s: Selected Case Studies -http://thelearner.com/2010/09/01/greek-ethnic-schools-in-australia-in-th... (by Eugenia Arvanitis 2010); New Learning: Elements of a Science of Education by Kalantzis & Cope (2013) and Intercultural Mediation in Europe: Narratives of Professional Transformation (co-editor with Achilles Kameas).