Universities across Greece shut down today as the country’s main union of university faculty members began a weeklong strike to protest the government’s proposed higher-education reforms, the Associated Press reported.

Greek universities have been roiled by sit-ins and demonstrations since last summer, when protests by students and instructors curtailed the end of the academic year and forced the cancellation of examinations. Exams scheduled for January and February have now also been disrupted by the latest action.

The unrest was sparked by government plans to introduce a raft of reforms, including measures that would hold students more accountable for completing their studies within a set period of time. A proposal to amend the country’s Constitution to allow the establishment of private universities has also been a lightning rod for controversy.

Greek universities, all of which are publicly financed, face chronic budget shortfalls, but the government has refused to commit to specific spending increases. The education minister, Marietta Giannakou, met with university deans over the weekend and once again pledged to increase financing but did not provide details, according to Kathimerini, an English-language newspaper in Greece. Some of the more than 1,000 students demonstrating outside that meeting tried to force their way in and were repelled by the riot police.