General Issues

The academic year starts on September 1st and ends on August 31st of the next calendar year. Each academic year consists of two semesters. Each semester comprises of at least thirteen (13) full weeks devoted to educational activities, and at maximum four (4) week to course exams. The fall semester starts in late September and the spring semester ends in late June.

No classes are held during the two examination periods. Also, there are no classes during Christmas Eve until the day of the Epiphany, from Tyrophagus Thursday to the day of clean Monday and from Holy Monday to Thomas Sunday. In addition, there are no classes or examinations during weekends and during the following dates:

  • October 26th – St. Demetrius day
  • October 28th -National holiday
  • November 17th
  • January 30th
  • March 25th – National holiday
  • May 1st – Labor day
  • Holy Spirit day (June 8th, 2020)

Also, classes are not held on Students’ election day.

Interruption of the educational work but also of the general operation of a university beyond the provisions of the law, is possible with a decision of the Senate and only for exceptional cases.

If, for any reason, the educational activities of a specific course are not being held for at least thirteen (13) weeks, the course is deemed incomplete and no final examinations will take place. In outstanding circumstances, it is possible to extend the duration of the semester for up to two weeks to complete the educational activities of a course. This decision must be made by the Rector upon the proposal of the deanery of the School.

The followings are considered as educational activities: (a) the lectures of the course, (b) providing assistance in small groups of students, (c) laboratory exercises, (d) supervision of bachelor thesis aiming at consolidating students’ knowledge.

The educational work is supplemented with corresponding textbooks or other course materials which are provided to students free of charge, as well as even with the provision of information and the access of the students to the relevant Greek and foreign bibliography. Students can select the textbook they wish to receive for each course from the corresponding list of suggested textbooks. Τhe selection is accomplished through the Eudoxus on-line system (http://eudoxus.gr/)

Each semester contributes a number of “Teaching Units” (TU) and ECTS credits. The TU corresponds to one weekly teaching hour for a semester in the case of independent course teaching. The TU per course are as many as the weekly hours of teaching and tutoring plus the laboratory hours of the course that may exist. The ECTS credits are a numerical value (between 1 and 60) assigned to each course, to describe the workload required by the student to complete it.

The General Assembly of the department is responsible for the preparation of the Curriculum. The Curriculum is reviewed every April.

The Curriculum is adapted to the minimum possible number of semesters required to obtain the degree, which is determined for each degree by Presidential Decree, and issued after the opinion of the National Council of Higher Education and the Faculties.

The Curriculum includes the title, content and weekly schedule (lectures, laboratory practices etc.) of all courses (both compulsory and elective) as well as their temporal succession and dependencies (if any).

During the first four academic years, students can select to attend and be examined to up to n+3 courses offered in the specific semester (the value of n corresponds to the number of courses for the current semester, as specified in the Curriculum). The course enrollment procedure takes place through the webpage https://sis.auth.gr/. Students can also use this webpage to obtain information regarding their current grades.

In case a student has not been examined or failed in courses of the first five (5) semesters of the Curriculum, he/she must enroll, in the current semester, to all these courses, provided that they are being taught in a semester that is equivalent (fall /spring) to the current one. If the number of these courses exceeds the number n+3, the student should enroll to all the courses in the order they appear in the semesters, until the number n+3 is reached. This clause is applicable to all students who will be admitted from the academic year 2010-11 and after.

After the first four academic years, students can select, at the beginning of each semester, to attend and be examined to up to eleven (11) courses offered in this semester.

The student can be examined during the period of September in the courses of both (winter and spring) semesters, while during the period January – February in the courses only of the winter and in the period of June in the courses of the spring semesters. In all cases it can only be considered in the courses it has enrolled at the beginning of the 2 semesters.

Grading is being provided by the course instructor who can conduct written and/or oral exams or grade students on the basis of assignments or laboratory exercises.

In case a student fails in a compulsory course examination, he/she must attend the course again in the corresponding forthcoming semester.

Students can apply to the Department Secretary for a suspension of their studies for as many semesters as they wish (either consecutive or not), but not more than the minimum number of semesters required to obtain a degree according to the Curriculum. These semesters are not taken into account in the evaluation of the maximum duration of studies. Students that suspend their studies loose their student status during the suspension period. By the end of the suspension period, students resume their studies and status.

The degree is obtained to students who meet the requirements for obtaining a degree and have completed seven (7) semesters of study.

From the following websites http://www.csd.auth.gr/ and https://elearning.auth.gr/, the students can obtain useful material related to the curriculum (course syllabus, class and exams schedule, assignments, laboratory practices, course materials, etc.).