The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, with various campuses along the Athens agglomeration."''The EEC’s assessment is that University of Athens is worthy of merit. Educate faculty in the need for QA and evaluation. The successful process of self-evaluation can be replicated. An impartial, genuine, honest, open, effective and constructive strategic planning and communication between the Institution and the state needs to be implemented in order to put in place measures for its longer term viability and tradition of excellence. We conclude by pointing out that the recommendations indicated in our report are intended as ways to improve an already excellent Institution. The culture of excellence in research and teaching that the Institution has established for itself was appreciated by every member of the EEC.''" It has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837 and is the oldest higher education institution of the

modern Greek state The history of modern Greece covers the history of Greece from the recognition by the Great Powers — United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the United Kingdom, Kingdom of France, France and Russian Empire, Russia — of its Greek War of ...

and the first contemporary university in both the

Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

and the

Eastern Mediterranean The Eastern Mediterranean is a loosely delimited region comprising the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, and well as the adjoining land—often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It includes the southern half of Turkey ...

. Today it is one of the largest universities by enrollment in Europe, with over 69,000 registered students.

History

Founding and expansion

The University of Athens was founded on 3 May 1837 by King Otto of Greece (in Greek, ''Óthon'') and was named in his honour Othonian University (Οθώνειον Πανεπιστήμιον). It was the first university in the liberated Greek state and in the surrounding area of

Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

as well. It was also the second academic institution after the Ionian Academy. This fledgling university consisted of four faculties; Theology, Law, Medicine and Arts (which included applied sciences and mathematics). During its first year of operation, the institution was staffed by 33 professors, while courses were attended by 52 students and 75 non-matriculated "auditors". It was first housed in the residence of architects Stamatios Kleanthis and Eduard Schaubert, on the north slope of the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

, in Plaka, which now houses the museum of the university. In November 1841, the university relocated to the Central Building of the University of Athens, a building designed by Danish architect Christian Hansen. He followed a neoclassical approach, "combining the monument's magnificence with a human scale simplicity" and gave the building its H-shape. The building was decorated by painter Carl Rahl, forming the famous "architectural trilogy of Athens", together with the building of the

National Library of Greece The National Library of Greece () is the main public library of Greece, located in Athens. Founded by Ioannis Kapodistrias in 1832, its mission is to locate, collect, organize, describe and preserve the perpetual evidence of Greek culture and its ...

(left of the university) and the building of the

Athens Academy The Academy of Athens (, ''Akadimía Athinón'') is Greece's national academy, and the highest research establishment in the country. It was established in 1926, with its founding principle tracing back to the historical Platonic Academy, Acad ...

(right of the university). Construction began in 1839 in a location to the north of the Acropolis. Its front wing, also known as the Propylaea, was completed in 1842–1843. The rest of the wings' construction, that was supervised at first by Greek architect Lysandros Kaftantzoglou and later by his colleague Anastasios Theofilas, was completed in 1864. The building is nowadays part of what is called the "Athenian Neoclassical Trilogy". Paparrigopoulos

The Othonian University was renamed to National University (Εθνικόν Πανεπιστήμιον) in 1862, following events that forced King Otto to leave the country. A major change in the structure of the university came about in 1904, when the faculty of Arts was divided into two separate faculties: that of Arts (Σχολή Τεχνών) and that of Sciences (Σχολή Επιστημών), the latter consisting of the departments of Physics and Mathematics and the School of Pharmacy. In 1919, a department of chemistry was added, and in 1922 the School of Pharmacy was renamed a department. A further change came about when the School of Dentistry was added to the faculty of medicine. Between 1895 and 1911, an average of 1,000 new students matriculated each year, a number which increased to 2,000 at the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. This resulted in the decision to introduce entrance examinations for all the faculties, beginning for the academic year 1927–28. Since 1954 the number of students admitted each year has been fixed by the Ministry of Education and Religion, by proposal of the faculties.

Modern history

The University Club building was founded in 1930. Today the building houses the Health Services Office, the Meals Department, the University Club reading rooms, and the Students Cultural Association (POFPA). From 1911 until 1932 the university was separated into the Kapodistrian University (the humanities departments; named after

Ioannis Kapodistrias Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias (; February 1776 –27 September 1831), sometimes anglicized as John Capodistrias, was a Greek statesman who was one of the most distinguished politicians and diplomats of 19th-century Europe. Kapodistrias's ...

, the first head of state of the independent modern Greek state) and the National University (the science departments). In 1932, the two separate legal entities were merged into the "National and Kapodistrian University of Athens." During the 1960s construction work began on the University Campus in the suburb of Ilissia, which houses the Schools of Philosophy, Theology and Sciences. In 2013, the University Senate made the decision to suspend all operations in the wake of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs cutting 1,655 administrative jobs from universities around the country. In a statement, the University Senate said that "any educational, research and administrative operation of the University of Athens is objectively impossible".

Faculties and departments

The University of Athens is divided into schools, faculties and departments as follows. The naming is nοt consistent in English for historical reasons, but in Greek the largest divisions are generally named "σχολές" (schools) and are divided in "τμήματα" (departments), furthermore subdivided in "τομείς" (faculties). The University of Athens also offers an English-taught 4-year undergraduate programme (with tuition) in Archaeology, History, and Literature of Ancient Greece.

Academic evaluation

In 2015, the external evaluation of the institution cited University of Athens as ''Worthy of merit''. An external evaluation of all academic departments in Greek universities was conducted by the Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (HQA) in 2010–14.

Rankings

The University of Athens is considered one of the leading universities of Greece, a leading European regional university and is present in the top universities annual lists. The most recent is the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities of 2019 that listed it in the 219th place out of 12,000 universities worldwide (1st in Greece, 70th in Europe) with very high perspectives regarding the university's openness. It is ranked 401st–500th in ''

The Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The THES''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

'' (''THE'') annual list. Furthermore, according to the ''

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

'' annual list it is listed 651st–700th with very high research output. The Shanghai Ranking (''

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

'') ranked in 2018 the University 301st–400th globally. In 2018 it was listed by the CWTS Leiden Ranking in the 232nd place globally with great publication output in the Biomedical and Health Sciences field. In 2019 the university was situated in the 73rd place worldwide in the

Webometrics Ranking of World Universities The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, also known as Ranking Web of Universities, is a ranking system for the world's universities based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web content (number of web page ...

by citations in Top

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of Academic publishing, scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in Beta release, beta in November 2004, th ...

Profiles. The U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Ranking (USNWR) lists it 279th in the world and 1st in Greece. In the field of Pharmacy and Pharmacology it is listed 101st–150th in the world by QS and 94th by USNWR. The last situates the University 114th in Immunology and 166th in Clinical Medicine.

Campuses

The main campus is at Ano Ilisia,

Zografou Zografou () is a suburban town of approximately 70,000 inhabitants in the eastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It was named after the Greek politician Ioannis Zografos. To the east of Zografou lies mount Hymettus. The area, being ...

. There the faculties of Science, Theology and Philosophy are situated. The faculty of Life Sciences is located at Goudi and the faculty of Physical Education and Sports Science is located at Dafni. The faculties of Media, Education, Economics, Law and Public Administration are housed in various buildings near the centre of Athens, along with various administration facilities. University administration was housed initially in a historical neoclassical building near the center of Athens on Panepistimiou Street, but was relocated at the main university campus later. ::

Research

Research in the University of Athens includes almost all research interests. Such research in the university is associated with that conducted by the hospitals and research institutes of the metropolitan area, including the National Research Center for Physical Sciences "Demokritos", the National Hellenic Research Foundation (EIE), the

National Observatory of Athens The National Observatory of Athens (NOA; ) is a research institute in Athens, Greece. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest List of research institutes in Greece, research foundation in Greece. The Observatory was the first scientific research insti ...

, the

Hellenic Pasteur Institute Hellenic is a synonym for Greek. It means either: *of or pertaining to the Hellenic Republic (modern Greece) or Greek people (Hellenes, ) and culture *of or pertaining to ancient Greece, ancient Greek people, culture and civilization. It may also ...

, the Biomedical Sciences Research Center (BSRC) "Alexander Fleming", the Athens High Performance Computing Laboratory, the National Centre for Marine Research (NCMR) and the Foundation for Biomedical Research of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA). Research conducted in the institutes of the metropolitan area of

accounted for more than 50% of the ISI-indexed scientific publications coming from

. The Department of Informatics and Telecommunications has been ranked continuously among the 100 most important research institutes in the field of computer science, according to the ''

'' (''ARWU'').

KEDIVIM

The Centre of Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning (KEDIVIM; Greek: ) of the University of Athens (UoA) is a separate continuing and professional adult educational unit within University of Athens, at "non-typical education", although it is fully or partially regulated by the state and lead to officially recognised qualifications being considered non-formal education (NFE). It offers short-term courses on-campus and by Distance e-Learning Mode off-campus mediated via real-time electronic means, certified by the EOPPEP - National Organization for the Certification of Qualifications and Vocational Guidance (Greek: ). In Greece,

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained educating activities in order to gain new knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralph G. ''The Pr ...

continuing education Continuing education is the education undertaken after initial education for either personal or professional reasons. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada. Recognized forms of post-secondary learning activities within the d ...

lifelong learning Lifelong learning is the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated" pursuit of learning for either personal or professional reasons. Lifelong learning is important for an individual's competitiveness and employability, but also enhances social in ...

is offered to students of all adult ages.

Notable alumni

Throughout its history, a sizeable number of University of Athens alumni have become notable in many varied fields, both academic and otherwise. Moreover, two Nobel Prize-winners have studied or taught at Athens, with both their prizes being in

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

Politics

Fifteen Greek prime ministers and three Greek presidents (

Konstantinos Karamanlis Konstantinos G. Karamanlis (, ; 8 March 1907 – 23 April 1998) was a Greek statesman who was the four-time Prime Minister of Greece and two-term president of the Third Hellenic Republic. A towering figure of Greek politics, his political caree ...

served as both) have studied at the University of Athens, including

Charilaos Trikoupis Charilaos Trikoupis (; 11 July 1832 – 30 March 1896) was a Greek politician who served as a Prime Minister of Greece seven times from 1875 until 1895. He is best remembered for introducing the vote of confidence in the Greek constitution, p ...

Eleftherios Venizelos Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos (, ; – 18 March 1936) was a Cretan State, Cretan Greeks, Greek statesman and prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement. As the leader of the Liberal Party (Greece), Liberal Party, Venizelos ser ...

Georgios Papandreou Georgios Papandreou (, ''Geórgios Papandréou''; 13 February 1888 – 1 November 1968) was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as the prime minister of Greece (1944–1945, 1963, 1964 ...

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and served three terms as Prime minister of Greece, prime minister of Third Hellenic Repu ...

, Konstantinos Karamanlis,

Karolos Papoulias Karolos Papoulias ( ; 4 June 1929 – 26 December 2021) was a Greek politician who served as the president of Greece from 2005 to 2015. A member of the PASOK, Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), he previously served as Minister for Foreign ...

, and most recently interim prime minister Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou. Also, Constantine II, the last monarch of Greece, and

Nicos Anastasiades Nicos Anastasiades ( ; born 27 September 1946) is a Cypriot politician and businessperson, who served as the seventh president of Cyprus from 2013 to 2023. Previously, he was the leader of Democratic Rally between 1997 and 2013 and served as Me ...

, the former president of Cyprus, attended the university. The University of Athens has also been home to a large number of other politicians and diplomats, such as

Dora Bakoyannis Theodora "Dora" Bakoyanni (, ; née Mitsotaki, ; born May 6, 1954) is a Greek politician. From 2006 to 2009 she was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, the highest position ever to have been held by a woman in the Cabinet of Greece at the ti ...

, Kyriakos Mavronikolas, Georgios Alogoskoufis, Fofi Gennimata, Frances Lanitou, and

Dimitris Koutsoumpas Dimitrios Koutsoumbas (; born 10 August 1955), known as Dimitris Koutsoumbas (, ) is a Greek communist politician and member of the Hellenic Parliament who has been the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) since 14 April 2013. ...

Science

* Gerasimos Danilatos, physicist, inventor of the ESEM * Sophia Frangou, psychiatrist * John P. A. Ioannidis (DSc, 1996 and MD 1990), professor and medical researcher *

Fotis Kafatos Fotis Constantine Kafatos (; 16 April 1940 – 18 November 2017) was a Greek biologist. Between 2007 and 2010 he was the founding president of the European Research Council, European Research Council (ERC). He chaired the ERC Scientific Council ...

, biologist * Michael N. Katehakis, applied mathematics and operations research * Nikos Logothetis, neuroscientist * Zoi Lygerou, molecular biologist and medical school associate professor * George Michalopoulos, professor and medical researcher * Dimitri Nanopoulos, physicist * Georgios Papanikolaou, doctor, inventor of the

Pap test The Papanicolaou test (abbreviated as Pap test, also known as Pap smear (AE), cervical smear (BE), cervical screening (BE), or smear test (BE)) is a method of cervical screening used to detect potentially precancerous and cancerous processes i ...

* Costas Soukoulis, physicist * Nikos Sypsas, medical doctor and infectious disease expert * Dimitrios Trichopoulos, cancer epidemiologist * Georgina Xanthou, immunologist * Panayotis Varotsos, physicist *

Leonidas Zervas Leonidas Zervas (, ; 21 May 1902 – 10 July 1980) was a Greeks, Greek Organic chemistry, organic chemist who made seminal contributions in Peptide synthesis, peptide chemical synthesis. Together with his mentor Max Bergmann they laid the founda ...

, organic chemist * Zoe Pikramenou, inorganic chemist * Kypros Chrysanthis, medical doctor, writer and educator

Literature and philosophy

* Giorgios Seferis, Nobel laureate (1963), poet *

Odysseas Elytis Odysseas Elytis (; , pen name of Odysseas Alepoudelis, ; 2 November 1911 – 18 March 1996) was a Greek poet, man of letters, essayist and translator, regarded as the definitive exponent of romantic modernism in Greece and the world. He is one ...

, Nobel laureate (1979), poet *

Nikos Kazantzakis Nikos Kazantzakis (; ; 2 March (Old Style and New Style dates, OS 18 February) 188326 October 1957) was a Greeks, Greek writer, journalist, politician, poet and philosopher. Widely considered a giant of modern Greek literature, he was nominate ...

, writer and philosopher, nine times Nobel nominee * Helene Ahrweiler, byzantinologist *

Cornelius Castoriadis Cornelius Castoriadis (; 11 March 1922 – 26 December 1997) was a Greeks in France, Greek-FrenchMemos 2014, p. 18: "he was ... granted full French citizenship in 1970." philosopher, sociologist, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, au ...

, philosopher * Dimitra Fimi, academic and writer * Emmanuel Kriaras, lexicographer and philologist * Vassilis Rotas, author, translator and politician *

Stathis Psillos Stathis Psillos (; ; born 22 June 1965) is a Greek philosopher of science. He is Professor of Philosophy of Science and Metaphysics at the University of Athens, Greece and a member of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy of the University of Wester ...

, philosopher of science * Simos Menardos, philologist, folklorist, rector of the University of Athens

Archaeology

* Stylianos Alexiou, archaeologist and philologist *

Semni Karouzou Semni Papaspyridi-Karouzou (; 1897 8 December 1994) was a Greek classical archaeologist who specialized in the study of pottery from ancient Greece. She was the first woman to join the Greek Archaeological Service; she excavated in Crete, Eub ...

, archaeologist and curator * Yannis Sakellarakis, archaeologist * Evi Touloupa, archaeologist and curator * Ino Nicolaou, archaeologist, epigraphist, numismatist * Porphyrios Dikaios, archaeologist, director of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus (1960–1963) * Vassos Karageorghis, archaeologist, director of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus (1963–1989) * Athanasios Papageorgiou, Byzantine archaeologist, director of the Department of Antiquities (1989-1991) * Demos Christou, archaeologist, director of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus (1991-1997)

Religion

*Saint Nectarios of Aegina * Ieronymos I of Athens, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece *

Anastasios of Albania Archbishop Anastasios, ( Secular name: Anastasios Yannoulatos; ; ; 4 November 1929 – 25 January 2025), was the Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania and as such the primate and Head of the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox C ...

, Archbishop of Albania * Porfirije, Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch * Demetrios Trakatellis, Archbishop of America

Other

* Christos Christou, International President of

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced ), known in some English-speaking settings as Doctors Without Borders, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin known for its projects in conflict zo ...

* Apostolos Santas, Greek veteran of the Resistance against the Axis Occupation of Greece during World War II *

Panagiotis Pikrammenos Panagiotis Pikrammenos (, ; born 1945) is a Greek judge and politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Greece from 2019 to 2023. He briefly served as the Caretaker Cabinet of Panagiotis Pikrammenos, caretaker Prime Minister of Greec ...

, judge, caretaker prime minister (2012), deputy prime minister (2019–2023)

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:National And Kapodistrian University Of Athens

Education in Athens

Athens University The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

Public universities 1837 establishments in Greece Ioannis Kapodistrias Otto of Greece Universities and colleges in Attica