Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (abbr. AUTh; Greek: Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης (ΑΠΘ), romanized: Aristotéleio Panepistī́mio Thessaloníkīs, lit. 'Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki'), often called the University of Thessaloniki, is the fifth oldest tertiary education institution in Greece. Named after the philosopher Aristotle, who was born in Stageira, about 55 kilometres (34 mi) east of Thessaloniki, it is the largest university in Greece and its campus covers 230,000 square metres (2,500,000 sq ft) in the centre of Thessaloniki, with additional educational and administrative facilities elsewhere.

As of 2023, it has approximately 88,283 active students enrolled at the university (77,198 at the undergraduate level and 6,588 in postgraduate programmes of which 3,952 at doctoral level) and 2,366 faculty members. There are additionally 248 members of the Laboratory Teaching Staff and 213 members of the Special Technical Laboratory Staff. The administrative staff consists of 400 permanent employees and 528 subcontractor employees that are contracted by the university.

The language of instruction is Greek, although there are programs in foreign languages and courses for international students, which are carried out in English, French, German and Italian.

History

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was founded in 1925 during the premiership of Alexandros Papanastassiou and was legislated under Law 3341/14-6-25. It was the first Greek university to be founded outside of Athens. The university was built on top of the remains of what had once been the Jewish cemetery in Thessaloniki, until the cemetery's destruction during the Nazi occupation. Gravestones from the Jewish cemetery were used as building materials in the construction of the university.

According to Eleftherios Venizelos' plans following the end of the World War I, Smyrna was intended to be the seat of the second Greek university, while the third university was to be established in Thessaloniki. However, Smyrna was not part of Greece at the time and the plans fell through after the outcome of the Greco-Turkish War in Asia Minor. Nevertheless, in 1924, Alexandros Papanastassiou decided to found a university in Thessaloniki in order to boost the local economy and culture.

The chronological development of the university, which was renamed the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1954, can be divided into three stages, each covering a period of approximately 25 years.

First stage (1926–1950)

During the first stage of its operation (1926–1950), the development focused on those schools which were generally accepted as constituting one educational institute, namely the Faculty of Philosophy, the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, the Faculty of Law and Economics, the School of Theology and the Medical School. The first stage of development ended with the foundation of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 1950, which was the only faculty of veterinary medicine in Greece for many years. After this period, some of the aforementioned faculties were extended by integrating more departments. In more detail, the Departments of Pharmacy and Dentistry were founded in 1955 and 1959 respectively and they were incorporated into the Medical School. Moreover, the Faculty of Philosophy was expanded by integrating the Institutes of Foreign Languages (English, French, German and Italian).

Second stage (1951–1975)

During the second stage (1951–1975) the focal point of development was the Faculty of Engineering, also known as the Polytechnic Faculty. At the beginning, this faculty constituted an independent institute also called the Polytechnic or Technical University. Therefore, for the first fifty years of its operation the Aristotle University consisted of two distinct institutes which operated independently. Subsequently, these two educational institutes were unified. The various schools within the Faculty of Engineering were founded in the following order: School of Civil Engineering (1955–56), School of Architecture (1956–57), School of Rural and Surveying Engineering (1962–63), School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (1972–73), School of Chemical Engineering (1972–73), School of Mathematics, Physics and Computational Sciences (1982–83) and School of Urban-Regional Planning and Development Engineering (2004). The School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering was split in two independent schools (School of Mechanical Engineering and School of Electrical and Computer Engineering) in 1976.

Emblem

The emblem of the Aristotle University is St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki.

Departments and faculties

The university consists of eleven faculties, consisting of 41 schools.

History and affiliations of schools

The School of Urban-Regional Planning and Development Engineering is located in Veria.

Part of the School of Physical Education and Sports Sciences is located in Serres.

The School of Medicine is strongly associated with the AHEPA University Hospital.

Philosophy is typically taught in conjunction with Pedagogy on Greek Universities, unlike foreign counterparts.

Research

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki performs a great deal of research in a variety of scientific fields. It is in constant and close cooperation with universities, organizations and research centres both in Greece and abroad. The large number of its faculties and its approximately 250 laboratories enable scientists of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki to carry out a variety of research projects with great success. During the past 12 years, 4500 research programs were undertaken and realized with the participation of more than 10,000 members of the academic community and several external collaborators.

During the past three years, 985 researchers – distinguished scientists – have provided educational and research services in collaboration with a total of 7,263 external scientific associates for the implementation of 3,151 International, European and National Research and Technological Development (RTD) projects. 1,436 of these partners were universities, research centers and organizations, while 405 were businesses.

Based on recent data from international ranking lists, of 20,372 higher institutions in the world, AUTh moved from the 407th position in 2011 to the 158th in 2012, ranking first among 23 Greek universities. As of 2011, Greece ranks first in the lists for the expenditure per publication per capita as a percentage of GNP, and second (following Ireland) in regard to the amount invested in scientific publications per country (Nature "Top Countries 2011: Scientific Publications").

In terms of promoting innovation, 32 Patents have been granted during the last 3 years on a national, European and international level.

Finally, AUTh is currently involved in establishing new infrastructure, setting up technology transfer systems, and creating an Interdisciplinary Research Center, in order to facilitate the selection process, as well as the implementation, placement and financing of research projects.

The A.U.TH. Research Committee is a university body which coordinates the research done at the university. It was established in order to satisfy the special needs of research activity and to administer the "Special Account of Research Funds", allocating funding resources to different research programs.

Rankings and academic evaluation

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is among the most prestigious universities in Greece.

An external evaluation of all academic departments in Greek universities was conducted by the Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (HQA), giving it the "Worthy of merit" final overall evaluation.

Despite the university's good reputation within Greece, internationally the university currently performs averagely on major international rankings. Once best university in Greece, it is currently ranked 650-700th in the latest (2023) QS rankings, further progressing to the 530th place for the year 2024, and 801-1000th in Times Higher Education. Also, the university is placed amongst the universities with the best graduate employability in Greece, being placed only in the 501+ range in the world in world graduate employability rankings. Finally, CWTS Leiden ranking places AUTh as the 299th best university in the world for the year 2023.

Organization and administration

The Aristotle University is one of Greece's public universities and therefore it is a legal entity with full self governance. It is primarily state-funded and functions under the supervision of the Greek Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs. Other financial resources for the university are donations from individuals, participation in various EU research programmes and profits generated through management of the university assets. No fees are charged to the students of the university, except for international students studying medicine in English. With tuition fees reaching up to €6000 per semester.

The university administration consists of departments that make decisions within the framework of Greek law. The main objectives of the administration are to ensure the proper function of the university and to benefit the academic community as a whole.

Hierarchy

Every Greek public university comprises the faculties and the faculties comprise the schools. A school covers a basic scientific area and thus is considered to be the basic academic unit. Every school is subdivided into departments, which are responsible for the teaching of a specific part of the school's scientific area. Moreover, schools have substantial autonomy in educational matters and therefore they are mainly responsible for planning and implementing educational programs and granting degrees.

University Senate

The highest administrative authority is the University Senate. It consists of the following members (senators):

The rector and the three vice-rectors.

The deans of the various faculties.

The chairmen of the various schools.

Representatives of the associate professors, assistant professors and lecturers.

Representatives of the special laboratory teaching staff and the administrative staff.

Representatives of the undergraduate and postgraduate students of every faculty.

Rector's Council

The second highest administrative authority is the Rector's Council, which comprises the rector, the three vice-rectors, one student representative and one representative of the administration staff. Each member of the Rector's Council is elected every five years.

Rector

The rector is the president of the University Senate and the main representative of the university in various national and international bodies. Moreover, he or she is responsible for developing an overall strategy for the development of the university and for implementing the decisions taken by the Senate and the Rector's Council. Both the rector and the three vice-rectors are elected every three years in university-wide elections where all faculty, staff and student representatives vote. Each vice-rector has different administrative responsibilities, among which are: staff management, financial planning and development, academic affairs.

Staff

The university staff is divided into five main categories:

Teaching research staff: The staff in this category undertakes the majority of the teaching and research work done in the university. It comprises professors, associate professors, and assistant professors. Lecturers (rank abolished) also belong in this category. These four levels were established under law 1268/1982 and to advance to a higher level, one must show significant teaching and research work.

Laboratory teaching staff: The members of this category are administering the university laboratories and they undertake special applied and laboratory teaching work. Holders of a doctoral degree who are members of this rank can independently teach courses and supervise undergraduate and post-graduate theses, in the same way as the Teaching research staff members do.

Special teaching staff: Members of this category carry out special educational-teaching work, e.g., teaching foreign languages or Greek as a foreign language, physical education, design as well as other fine and applied arts.

Special technical laboratory staff: They are responsible for keeping the laboratory equipment in good condition. They also provide specific technical laboratory services and help with the teaching laboratory.

Administrative staff: This category comprises all employees working in administrative positions.

The educational work is also exercised by people who do not belong to the university staff, such as guest professors and generally scientists who are invited to teach specific courses.

University units

The campus of the Aristotle University covers 230,000 square metres and is located near the centre of the city of Thessaloniki. The majority of the university units is found inside the campus, but there are also various institutions, laboratories, and facilities of the university which are located outside the campus such as the Centre of Byzantine Researches, veterinary clinics, the university farm, and forest reserves. The following are some of the most important university units of the Aristotle University:

Library

The Aristotle University Library was founded in 1927 and is constituted of two main elements: The Central Library is housed in a separate building at the centre of the university campus; "departmental libraries" are owned by a university department. These two elements comprise the A.U.Th. library system, where more than 800,000 book titles and 300,000 volumes of periodicals can be found. The A.U.Th. library subscribes to 3,500 periodicals from all over the world.

The Central Library has a reading room for students and a reading room for university researchers and teaching personnel. The students' reading room has a capacity of approximately 1,300 students and can be used by any student who brings and reads his own books.

Every department of the university has its own departmental library where students can find books, periodicals, and information concerning the specific subjects their department deals with. Every departmental library has a reading room whose opening hours are determined according to the needs of the department's students and staff.

The Aristotle University Library is nowadays the second largest library in Greece, after the National Library. Since 1976 the library has been a member of International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), which enables it to lend and borrow books from libraries all over the world.

Student Club

The University Student Club is housed in a private building located on the eastern side of the campus and plays a very important role in student life. Inside the Student Club is a restaurant, a reading room, a medical service, a snack bar, and a hairdresser's shop. There is also a musical department and a photography club.

The Student Club is responsible for the catering and medical care of the students of A.U.Th. and University of Macedonia. Every day it caters for approximately 12,000 students. Among its other responsibilities, it also organizes artistic, cultural and athletic events and maintains a chorus and a musical department.

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