Petition about Department for the Protection and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Greece

Petition - Greek Conservation Department at stake

Greek Conservation Department at stake. Please sign the petition
below.

The future of the Department for the Protection and Conservation of
Cultural Heritage of the Technological Educational Institute of the
Ionian Islands is currently at stake. The department, located on the
island of Zakynthos (Zante) was founded in 2008 as the second only
tertiary educational institute in Greece offering an undergraduate
conservation course for the much needed attention of our rich
cultural heritage.

The department in its short history has managed to establish a
superbly equipped conservation unit in state-of-the-art facilities,
able to support the training of students in six purpose-built labs
in a recently inaugurated building. The four year program offers
training on the conservation of organic, inorganic and modern
materials.

Our analytical laboratories are better equipped than most
conservation facilities in the country and include XRF, XRD, Raman
Spectroscopy, GC-MS Chromatography, FTIR, Laser Cleaner, etc, able
to conduct high standard conservation research, promoting the
science and conservation of artifacts internationally.

However, the Greek Ministry of Education, has struck our department
unjustly and without reasoning and by the end of the academic year
it will be shut down, leading our staff to immediate unemployment
and hundreds of students without a future to their studies.

The closure of our department is yet another strike towards the
conservation profession. In the last years, courses throughout
Europe are being shut, the level of training is compromised and jobs
in museums, libraries and institutions are being cut down fiercely,
jeopardizing the future of our cultural heritage.

We need your help and hopefully through this petition to prevent the
closure of this important academic institution and to help the
future of conservation training in Greece.

If you support our cause please sign the petition

    <URL:http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/greek-conservation-department-at-stake/>

Thank you for your help,

Nikolas Sarris, PhD
Book and Paper Conservation, Scientific Associate - Assistant
    Professor
Technological Educational Institute of the Ionian Islands
Department for the Protection and Conservation of Cultural Heritage
Zakynthos 29100 Greece


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:41
                  Distributed: Friday, March 15, 2013
                       Message Id: cdl-26-41-014
                                  ***