University of the Aegean

 

The University of the Aegean (Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Αιγαίου) is a state, multi-campus university located in Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes, Syros and Lemnos, Greece. 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.

 

It is a medium-sized university, one of the 24 state supervised and funded universities in Greece. It is an institution mandated to provide innovative and socially committed studies. The only higher education institution in the Greek state region of Northern Aegean Sea, it was founded on March 20th 1984, by the Presidential Act 83/1984 and its administrative headquarters are located in the town of Mytilene, on the island of Lesvos. As of 2012, approximately 12,000 active students are studying at the university, 9,700 in undergraduate programmes and 1,500 in postgraduate programmes. Furthermore the Teaching and Research Staff number 292 people (55 professors, 70 associate professors, 128 assistant professors, and 39 lecturers), the Scientific Teaching Staff number 99 and the Special Laboratory Teaching Staff 23 people. This is further supported by the 30 members of the Special Technical Laboratory Staff for teaching services and the 304 members of administrative staff.

 

The first Department to operate, in the academic year 1984-85, was the department of Business Administration, in 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 comprises 7 departments and 1 postgraduate course, "however, in 1997 a remarkable development was initiated by exploiting available [european] funding opportunities".

 

The university today comprises 5 schools and 16 departments offering undergraduate and post-graduate degrees programmes. This growth was based on the University’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. In 2009 a new academic unit was created on the island of Lemnos.

The University of the Aegean, as 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. These activities are also supported by funds generated by the Research Unit, as well as by the University of the Aegean Property Management Corp. Research in the University is funded through participation in competitive national, European and international research and development programs.

 

HQAA Evaluation

An external evaluation of all academic departments in Greek universities will be conducted by the Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (HQAA) in the following years. The internal evaluation process of every department will be organised by the Internal Quality Assurance Unit (in greek: ΜοΔιΠ) of the university. The evaluation of the Department of Primary Education has been done recently (2013).