“There is not a single one of our graduates who is out looking for a job,” says a professor of Computer Science at Aristoteleio University of Thessaloniki. The statement sounds strangely optimistic in a city where unemployment reaches upwards of 30 percent. Ioannis Vlahavas, dean of Computer Science Department at Aristoteleio University, said that students who are dilligent and finish their studies have at least two or three job offers from tech companies before they even complete their degrees. He cited other instances of the university posting well-paying jobs in research projects and being unable to find available candidates, according to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency report. “We invest in knowledge, we support enterpreneurship and I could say that we don’t have enough people to send to Greek or foreign computer companies who are looking for qualified programmers,” Vlahavas said. He also noted that the computer industry in Greece produces 4 percent of the GDP and is a 20-million euros per year industry, employing 230,000 people. He also said that Europe will need about one million computer experts in the coming years. Praising Greek computer science graduates of Aristoteleio University, Vlahavas said that many graduates excel abroad while working for major companies. He used the example of Stelios Petrakis and Petros Douvantzis, two graduates who created horizon.camera, an application for Apple that allows smart phone users to shoot horizontal video regardless of how they hold the phone. He also cited Theodosis Sapounidis, who was awarded for his doctoral thesis on teaching first-grade students to program the movements of a robot using blocks. Every year, 80-90 students graduate from Aristoteleio with computer science degrees. Vlahavas said that he is not worried about the “brain drain” of Greek scientists who prefer to move abroad: “Greece has always been a country of immigrants. When the situation changes, those who have left, they will come back.”
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
