Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

About

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.

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.

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).

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.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.