The Language Centre at the Technical University of Crete is the root of a network of language programmes for all departments of the university; namely, Production Engineering & Management, Mineral Resources Engineering, Electronics  & Computer Engineering, and Environmental Engineering. 

Foreign language courses at the Technical University of Crete are mandatory. Students must successfully complete four semesters of either English or German.

One meeting a week is given to in-class instruction. Students are then at liberty to exploit the resources at the centre, which include web-based activities, paper-based worksheets focused on reading, grammar, and vocabulary refinement, commercial multimedia packages, a video and DVD library, and an opportunity for one-on-one guidance or tutoring by an instructor.

Because it is primarily a self-access working environment, our staff and instructors have, since its establishment in 1997, been developing the quality of its resources. While continuing our own evolution in adaptation to autonomous learning methodology, offering the best expertise we can to students, we have gained a heightened personal interest in our own profession.

In learning about and promoting autonomy and second language learning, we have certainly had the benefit of sharing our ideas and experiences with our colleagues from around Europe. Our centre was introduced to our colleagues in Greece through a presentation entitled "Autonomy and Technology in Language Teaching" at the 13th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics in April 1999 at the Aristotelion University in Thessaloniki. We have had visiting teachers and administrators from the Helsinki University of Technology, The University of Louis Pasteur, and the University of Iceland.

We have both organized and hosted two European events. Respectively, the first was a Regional Workshop in November 2000, entitled "Setting Up a Language Resource Centre: Designing and Building Up Resources" in participation with the European Centre for Modern Languages in Graz. The second was Regional Event 143 in the framework of the project "Preparation of the Second Medium-Term Programme 2004-2007" in March 2003. This was organized by the European Centre for Modern Languages, the Council of Europe and the Greek Ministry of Education. Both events gave rise to the opportunity for exchanges of ideas in language teaching and opportunities for future cooperation with other centres and educators throughout Europe.