Universities and schools
The media explosion in Greece in the ‘90s has had two positive effects concerning media and communication research and theory. The first was that a number of students went (and still go) abroad (mainly to the US, Britain and France) to continue their studies on a postgraduate level, specializing in media and communication. This, in turn, has led some of them to start conducting research on Greek media. The second was the realization of an old dream by academics, professionals and journalists, i.e. the foundation of university departments in communication and mass media. Thus, in the early ‘90s three new university departments were created in Greece. These are: 1) the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens 2) the Department of Communication, Culture and the Media of Panteion University of Athens, and 3) the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication of Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki. Courses are also offered by the Technological Higher Education Institutions (Athens, Patras, Macedonia, Ionian Islands) plus a number of colleges and liberal arts laboratories, located mainly in Athens and Thessaloniki. A range of foundations, organisations and other bodies support the media field: Lilian Voudouris’ Foundation, the Institution of Promotion of Journalism Athanassios Botsis, Lambrakis Foundation. The Regional Press Institute (RPI) is located in Chania, Crete and it aims to meet the needs for further education and training of journalists and other professionals in the media with emphasis on the regional press. It is the only non-for-profit institute of continuing education on journalism in Greece, which has been created by a professional union of journalists, the Daily Regional Newspapers Association.