UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION

Universities are legal entities of public law with full self-governance. The Ministry of National Education and Religion supervises their operation on the basis of relevant laws and it also provides for their financial support.

In accordance with the State Constitution (article 16, par. 5 and 8) higher education is exclusively provided by the state and the establishment of higher education institutions by private bodies is not allowed.

The main laws that govern the operation of Greek Universities are law 1268/82 (known as framework law for Higher Education Institutions) and law 2083/92. These laws have underwent several amendments; some of the most significant were effected with laws 2188/94, 2517/97 (Official Gazette 160/11-8-97) and 2530/97 (Official Gazette 218/23-10-97), 2817/00 (Official Gazette 78/14-3-00), 3027/02 (Official Gazette 152/28-6-02).

• Every Higher Education Institution comprises the faculties that cover a total of related disciplines, so that it ensures their interaction, necessary for scientific progress, and their coordination, necessary for research and teaching.

• In a similar manner, faculties are divided into schools. A school is the basic academic unit and it covers the subject area of a discipline. The studies programme of each school leads to a degree.

• The schools are subdivided into departments. Each department coordinates the teaching of part of the school’s subject area that corresponds to a specific field of the discipline.

• Finally, laboratories, reading rooms and clinics are smaller units that belong to the department, the school or the faculty, and cover part of the subject area of a discipline.