The University of the Aegean (UAegean; , Π.ΑΙΓ.) is a public, multi-campus university located in Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes, Syros and Lemnos, Greece. It was founded on March 20, 1984, by the Presidential Act 83/1984 and its administrative headquarters are located in the town of Mytilene, on the island of Lesvos."Very limited infrastructure. Insufficient welfare and social services for students. Insufficient personnel (academic, administrative, and technical support) and low ratios of faculty members to students and administration members to faculty members. Limited financial resources from the state, affecting the general development of the institution. There is a general lack of certified procedural approaches, although it is clear that procedures at the UoA are increasingly systematized and formalised. The University should insist on the implementation of its strategic plan despite external adversities and further emphasize internationalization, intensify and systematise quest for external funding, both from the EU and from the private sector."
The university today comprises five Schools and 18 Departments offering undergraduate and post-graduate degrees programmes. This growth was based on the administration's belief that its sustainability could only be based on its potential to grow into a substantially large institute, initially in department numbers supporting its educational side and secondly in postgraduate courses in support of its research nature.
The University of the Aegean, like all universities in Greece, is a public university. As such, its educational activities and a small part of its research activities rely upon government funding. Since 2014, the University has been facing severe economic hardship due to austerity policies resulting in minimal state funding.University of the Aegean annual state budget, 2015 (greek)
Emblem The emblem of the University of the Aegean is the Sphinx.
Academic profile As described in its mandate, the University of the Aegean is a university which embodies a unique structure which combines campuses across six islands of the Aegean Sea.
There is a student population of approximately 10,000 active students enrolled at the university, 8,200 in undergraduate programmes and 2,000 in Postgraduate programmes with a faculty of over 380.Hellenic Statistical Authority (EL.STAT.), Report on Higher Education - Students, Institutes and Faculty Staff (2013/2014), press release, November 2015 (greek)Hellenic Statistical Authority (EL.STAT.), Report on Higher Education - Students, Institutes and Faculty Staff (2012/2013), press release, October 2014 (greek)Hellenic Statistical Authority (EL.STAT.), Report on Higher Education - Students, Institutes and Faculty Staff (2009/2010), press release, November 2011 (greek)Hellenic Statistical Authority (EL.STAT.), Report on Higher Education - Students, Institutes and Faculty Staff (2007/2008), press release, September 2009 (greek)Hellenic Statistical Authority (EL.STAT.), Report on Higher Education - Students, Institutes and Faculty Staff (2005/2006), press release, September 2007 (greek)Ministry of Education and Research (Minedu), Statistic reports on Education - Higher Education (2010/2011) (greek)
Furthermore, in 2011, the Teaching and Research Staff numbered 292 people (55 professors, 70 associate professors, 128 assistant professors, and 39 lecturers), the Scientific Teaching Staff numbered 99 and the Special Laboratory Teaching Staff 23 people, supported by 30 members of the Special Technical Laboratory Staff for teaching services and 304 members of administrative staff.
Faculties and departments The University of the Aegean consists of 6 Schools and 18 Departments that form the five University Units based on six islands of the Aegean Sea – Lesvos, Chios, Rhodes, Samos, Syros and Lemnos. As of 2013, all departments are organised in the five existing Schools – Humanities, Sciences, Business Studies, Social Studies and Environmental Studies.
Departments School of Social Sciences (founded 1989) (based in Mytilene, LESVOS) Social Anthropology and History (founded 1987) Sociology (founded 1999) Cultural technology and Communication (founded 2000) Geography (founded 1994) School of the Environment (founded 2004) (based in Mytilene, LESVOS) Environment (founded 1984) Marine Sciences (founded 1999) Food Science and Nutrition (Lemnos) (founded 2009) School of Business (founded 1997) https://www.aegean.gr/schools/σχολή-επιστημών-της-διοίκησης) (based in Chios, CHIOS) Business Administration (founded 1985) Shipping, Trade and Transport (founded 1998) Tourism Economics and Management (founded 2017) School of Engineering (founded 2017) (based in Ermoupoli, SYROS) Information and Communication Systems Engineering (Samos) (founded 1997) Financial and Management Engineering (Chios) (founded 2000) Product and Systems design Engineering (Syros) (founded 2000) School of Sciences (founded 1997) https://www.samos.aegean.gr/) (based in Karlovassi, SAMOS) Mathematics (founded 1987) Statistics and Actuarial-Financial Mathematics (founded 2000) School of Humanities (founded 1997) https://sae.aegean.gr/) (based in Rhodes, RHODES) Primary Education (founded 1986) Preschool Education Sciences and Educational Design (founded 1987) Mediterranean Studies: Archaeology, Linguistics, International Relations (founded 1999)
"ATHENA" Reform Plan for Higher Education A university report presented by the Chancellor in the Greek parliament in late 2011 describes the current challenges faced by the institution due to economic hardship and the dispersion of its academic units in islands, which increases operational costs and adds considerable stress in the educational process.
The Ministry of Education aimed to reform all Higher Education programmes in 2013 with the "ATHENA" Plan.
The university's Senate issued a formal response to the Ministry of Education's proposed plan in 2013.
Academic evaluation
The University is ranked 801st–1000th in The Times Higher Education (THE) annual list.
HQA evaluation
An external evaluation of all academic departments in Greek universities was conducted by the Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (HQA) in 2012-2015.
In 2015, the University of the Aegean was evaluated by the Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (HQAA) and received an overall institutional evaluation of "worthy of merit."
Reputation The university is one of the thirty public higher education institutions in Greece. Students are awarded degrees which fully comply with the ECTS standard, which enables them to undertake international study programmes. During the evaluation of the university by the European University Association in 2005, it was acknowledged that at the time the university had an "impressive" research output.
The evaluation also highlights the university's serious shortcomings "while it is undoubtedly the case that all universities are handicapped by the effects of this State interference, the impact at the University of the Aegean is particularly great because of its multi-island structure. It was also apparent that there are insufficient permanent staff overall, and indeed that many of the permanent academic staff are not in a position where they are able to concentrate full-time on their work within the university. The average amount of academic staff travel raises some serious concerns. Indeed all the academic staff are obliged to make difficult choices in their professional and personal lives which entail either accepting a lower standard of living in order to remain on the islands, or juggling life between a city and islands. Many of the staff described only minimal cooperation with colleagues within departments, and even less with those from other departments".
Despite the "impressive output" the lack of strategic design and effective prioritisation in research activities was evident at the time, the notable remark being that "research seems to be driven by the interests of individual academics, and more by accident than institutional design will it address priority issues for the institution or region".
In 2007 a postgraduate programme in Classical Homeopathy (Holistic Alternative Therapeutic Systems) was established in the university of the Aegean's unit in Syros, which was discontinued in 2013.
+Research Rankings Summary Institution Position European Research RankingEuropeanResearchRanking.org institution statistics 2007-2014 21st (2014) in Greece
History
The first department to operate, in the academic year 1984-85, was the department of Business Administration, on the island of Chios. In the following year, the Department of Primary School Education, in Rhodes, and the Postgraduate Course on Environmental Studies began operating. At the end of the first five years of operation, the University comprised 7 departments and 1 postgraduate course, "however, in 1997 a remarkable development was initiated by exploiting available [european] funding opportunities".
The university was officially founded in 1984, although its historical roots date back to the early 1920s, to the Ionian University of Smyrna (Ex Oriente Lux, Light from the East) which while established never operated.Constantin Carathéodory: A Biography, newspaper article, 2000 "(...) με την πολιτική και οικονομική στήριξη του Ελευθερίου Βενιζέλου και τη συνδρομή του υπάτου αρμοστή Α. Στεργιάδη, σε ελάχιστο χρονικό διάστημα θα παραδώσει ένα άρτια οργανωμένο και εξοπλισμένο, άριστα στελεχωμένο εκπαιδευτικό ίδρυμα, με έμβλημά του το «Φως εξ Ανατολών», το οποίο, φυσικά, δεν θα λειτουργήσει ποτέ." (greek)
The foundations of the University of the Aegean date back to October 1918, when Greece had expanded its geographic borders to the wider Smyrna area after World War I. At the time, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens was the only University in Greece.
Professor Constantin Carathéodory who was a professor at the University of Berlin at the time proposed the establishment of a new University – the difficulties regarding the establishment of a Greek university in Constantinople led him to consider three other cities: Thessaloniki, Chios and Smyrna.Constantin Carathéodory: A Biography, newspaper article, 2000 "(...) Είχε γνωρίσει τον Ελευθέριο Βενιζέλο από το 1895, στην Κρήτη, και από το 1913 είχε προτείνει τη δημιουργία δεύτερου ελληνικού πανεπιστημίου στη Θεσσαλονίκη. Ο πόλεμος που ξεσπάει μεταθέτει τις αποφάσεις. Στην Ελλάδα θα επανέλθει το 1930-32, όταν θα αποδεχθεί τη θέση του κυβερνητικού επιτρόπου και θα οργανώσει τα πανεπιστήμια Αθήνας και Θεσσαλονίκης με τον νόμο 5343/32, ο οποίος ίσχυε μέχρι προσφάτως. Από τη θέση αυτή θα τον απολύσει η κυβέρνηση Παπαναστασίου που διαδέχεται τον Βενιζέλο το 1932 και εκεί θα σταματήσει η ενεργός ανάμειξή του στα κοινά της Ελλάδας." (greek) Despite the political turbulence of the era over the city of Smyrna, the famous mathematician constructed a "plan for the creation of a new University in Greece", named “Ionian University” on 20 October 1919.
The city of Smyrna in Asia Minor was one of the cultural centres of the Ionian civilisation closely associated with Ancient Greek philosophy.
Consequently, the Greek government decided to materialize Carathéodory's vision and establish the Ionian University, based in Smyrna (today's city of İzmir, Turkey) on 1 December 1920. Constantin Carathéodory was the first dean of the university. However, the Ionian University stopped its operations due to the Great Fire of Smyrna in 1922. The new Greek University in the broader area of the Southeast Mediterranean region, as originally envisioned by Carathéodory, finally materialised with the establishment of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1925.
Expansion plans In 2026, the University launched its first bachelor's program taught in English, BA in Eastern Mediterranean Studies. Archaeology, History, Culture.