The gradual application of the Department's new, revised Curriculum started in the academic year 1988-89. This curriculum is designed in a way that guarantees general philological trainning, while at the same time it offers the possibility of elementary specialization in one of the four Divisions of the Department.
Moreover, since the academic year 1993-94 the Department has begun the New Graduate Program. The aims of this program are twofold: the advancement of knowledge in the areas of the Department's specializations, viz. Classics, Byzantine and Modern Greek Philology, Linguistics, and Theater-Cinema studies and Musicology; and the successful graduation of new Philologists who will become members of Research Institutes and Departments, some of which experience serious difficulties in their searches for qualified teaching and research personel.
The budget of the department comes exclusively from, and therefore depends on the general budget of the University of Crete and the budget of the Ministry of Education, and so each year fluctuates.
The Department participates in 4 University Programs of Cooperation of the European Community's Erasmus and Lingua through which it is associated with 15 departments of European Universities
The Department has conferred honorary doctorates upon outstanding individuals: Pantelis Prevelakis (1984), Jorge Luis Borges (1984), Phoibos Anogeianakis (1990), Menelaos Parlamas (1990), Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and New Rome Bartholomaios the 1st ([gm1]1992).
Successful organization of Conferences, such as the 4th Panhellenic Conferrence of Latin Philology in 1990.
Participation of faculty members in Seminars for the High School Teachers in collaboration with all the local Philological Associations and the local governmental educational officers of the island of Crete.
Invitations of scholars from abroad and from Greece for lectures: W. Wyatt, W. Kullmann, H. Schwabl, �. Andersen.
Organization and support of musical and theatrical performances by the Division of Theater Studies and Musicology.
Awards conferred by the Department that were instituted by the late professor I. Kambitsis:
The Louis Robert Award, in memory of this illustrious scholar of Classical Studies, professor at the College of France and member of the Academy of Inscriptions, is awarded annually by the Division of Classical Studies to the best undergraduate or graduate seminar paper every year and is accompanied by a monetary prize of 2.500 French francs
The Christina Agrafioti Award, in memory of this student of the Division of Byzantine and Modern Greek Philology, is awarded annually by this Division to the best undergraduate seminar paper and is accompanied by a monetary prize of 200.000 drachmas offered by Mr. Agrafiotis.
The Stella Panagopoulos Award, in memory of this exceptional student and daughter of the Department's faculty member Ioanna Giatromanolaki, was awarded last year for the first time to the best Ph.D. candidate of the Division of Classical Studies and was accompanied by a monetary prize of 400.000 drachmas offered by her mother.
