General information about Athens

Country	Greece
Region	Attica ESYE31
Region 2	Nomarchía Athínas 445408
Region 3	Athens 9186
Population	664,046
Visitors	4,155,000/Year
Time Zone	Europe/Athens

Educational organizations in Athens

Commercial, Private,	89
Healthcare, Medical	46
Nonprofit	22
Government, Bureaus	17
Universities, Colleges	16
Educational institutions	14
Research centers	11
Libraries, Museums, Archives	3

Cost of living in Athens

Expenses – USD/Month	Min.	Med.
Accommodation	148	134
Food	168	335
Transportation	26	89
Communications and utilities	72	103
Clothing	24	89
Sports and leisure	19	84
Total	456	834

Accommodation in Athens	USD/Month
Shared room outside of centre	149
Shared room in city centre	135
1 bedroom apartment outside of centre	244
1 bedroom apartment in city centre	234

			Title	Bachelor	Master
	456	2	National Technical University of Athens	807 USD	807 USD
	485	3	National and Kapodistrian University of Athens	807 USD	807 USD
	737	6	Athens University of Economics and Business	807 USD	807 USD
		23	Athens University of Applied Science	807 USD	807 USD
		26	Agricultural University of Athens	807 USD	807 USD
		38	American School of Classical Studies at Athens
		39	School of Pedagogical and Technological Education	807 USD	807 USD
		41	Athens School of Fine Arts	807 USD	807 USD
		60	City Unity College	2,307 USD	3,460 USD
		65	Metropolitan College
		71	Alba Graduate Business School

Student cities in Greece

City	Region	Universities	Population
Athens	Attica, Nomarchía Athínas	16	664046
Thessaloniki	Central Macedonia, Nomós Thessaloníkis	5	354290
Patra	West Greece, Nomós Achaḯas	3	168034
Piraeus	Attica, Nomós Attikís	2	163688
Chania	Crete, Nomós Chaniás	2	53910

Private Universities in Greece

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This is a comprehensive guide to Private Universities or Colleges in Greece. The Institutions are categorised depending on a) whether they are for profit or not and b) whether their degrees are accredited, validated or neither. Explanations of the categories, the legal situation and the educational situation can be found below.

I. Non-profit institutions that are accredited by a foreign state

• American College of Greece/Deree College, Athens – BA, BS, MS, MBA
• American College of Thessaloniki/Anatolia College, Thessaloniki – BA, BS, MBA
• American Farm School/Perrotis College, Thessaloniki – AS
• University of Indianapolis, Athens Campus [Branch of U Indianapolis] – BA, BSc, MA, MSc, MBA

II. Non-profit institutions that are not accredited by a foreign state or validated by a foreign university

• AIT, Athens Information Technology, Athens – MS [AIT cooperates with Carnegie Mellon U]
• ALBA, Athens Laboratory of Business Administration, Athens – MSc, MBA
• Hellenic American University, Athens – BS, MBA

III. For-profit institutions that award degrees validated by a foreign university

• AGSM, Athens Graduate School of Management [Nottingham Trent U] – MBA, PhD
• AKTO, Art & Design, Athens [Middlesex U] – AS, BA, MA
• Alpine Center, Athens [Vitznau, U Wales] – BA, MA
• American University of Athens, Athens [AUA, Seattle] – BA, BS, MA, MSc, MBA
• Athenian College, Athens [?] – ?
• Athens Metropolitan College/AKMH, Athens [U Portsmouth, IU Vienna, etc. etc.] – BSc, BA, MA
• BCA Business Studies, Athens [London Metropolitan U, Huddersfield U] – BA, DMS, MA, MBA
• British Hellenic College, Athens [U Wales] – BA, MBA
• City College, Thessaloniki [Sheffield U] – BA, BSc, MSc, MBA
• City University, Athens [City U Denver] – BS, MA, MS, MBA
• CMA, Center for Management and Administration, Athens [U Wales] – BSc, MBA
• CNAM, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Athens [CNAM, France]

• EEDE – Hellenic Management Association [Henley Management College] – Diplomas, MBA
• European University, Athens Campus [none] – BA, BBA, MBA
• ICBS Business School, Athens/Thessaloniki/Larissa [Kingston U] – BS, MBA
• iCon International Training, Athens [Leicester U, Surrey U, Heriot-Watt U, Wales U] – DT,  MA, MSc, MBA
• IMESE, Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship in South-Eastern Europe, Thermi/Thessaloniki [CMI, Liverpool Hope UC] – MA, MBA
• IMS, International Management Studies, Athens [U of Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian, Sheffield Hallam U] – MA, MSc, MBA
• Intercollege Globaltraining, Athens [Henley Management College, etc.] – ACCA, CFA, CIA, MBA
• IST Studies, Athens [U of Hertfordshire] – BSc, MSc, MA, MBA
• Mediterranean Business School, Heraklion [U Nottingham Trent, Salford U] – BA, MBA
• Mediterranean College/IEK Xyni, Athens/Thessaloniki [Teesside U, Heriot-Watt U] – BA, BSc, HND, MSc, MBA
• New York College, Athens/Thessaloniki [Sunderland U, SUNY Empire State College etc. etc.] – BA, BSc, MSc, MBA
• North College, Thessaloniki [Huddersfield U] – BA, BSc, MA, MSc, MBA
• SAE Institute, Athens Campus [none] – BA
• SBE College, Athens [Liverpool John Moores U] – BSc, MA, MSc
• Vakalo School of Art and Design, Athens [U Derby] – BA, MA

IV. Distance learning support institutions (for profit and non-profit)

• CEMS, Centre for European Managment Studies, Athens/Thessaloniki [U Surrey] – MSc, MBA

• DEI, Thessaloniki
• Institut Français, Athens
• Institut Français, Thessaloniki
• … [this list is likely to be incomplete]

Legal and Educational Situation

The Legal Situation

The Greek Constitution states that universities are public and charge no fees. At present (09/2007), the Greek State has no system in place to recognize degrees wholly or partially obtained from private universities in Greece (though it does recognize degrees from private universities abroad via DOATAP [formerly DIKATSA]). Consequently, nearly all private universities in Greece cooperate with foreign bodies for accreditation or validation, typically in the UK and USA. (For other countries and languages other than English, only distance learning support exists, with the exception of CNAM.)

The Greek law permits public bodies (πρόσωπα δημοσίου δικαίου) to set up institutions of higher education (at university level). In 2004, the OAED has decided to establish a graduate program.

Three things are to be kept in mind, however:

A) Private higher education is legally recognized in practically all countries outside Greece. Consequently, degrees from Greek private universities (if accredited or validated) are legally recognized outside Greece, both for work and for postgraduate study. Also, a license to practice a profession [άδεια επαγγέλματος] can be obtained abroad – and this license is normally (!) recognized in Greece as well. Membership in Greek professional associations only implies such a license if these associations are given this right by the Greek state.

B) The EU expects Greece to give professional rights to people with EU degrees, irrespective of where the students obtained them (e.g. a UK degree in Greece). Greece must change its law to accommodate EU law.

C) Both major parties, ND and PASOK propose to revise  the constitution such that it will recognize private universities (in terms of both academic and professional rights) – but only if they are not for profit. Early in 2007, PASOK disagreed with other issues in the revision and withdrew from the revision process. The revision passed with ND votes foresees non-profit private universities. Each section of the revision will have to be confirmed by the current parliament, after the elections on Sept. 16, 2007. Whether this will take place is not clear at present. This parliament will also formulate a law with the details on how recognition will proceed, under which conditions, etc.

Any private College which claims that its degrees are recognized by the Greek state or will definitely be recognized very soon does not tell the truth and should be viewed with suspicion.

The Educational Situation

The quality of education at private universities is not controlled by the Greek state and under varying levels of control from foreign accreditation bodies and validating universities. Consequently, the quality of teaching, research, libraries, computing facilities, student support, organization etc. varies dramatically from one institution to another. Some private universities offer better education than Greek state universities, some are well below university level. (The situation is similar to that of private schools, only that the state guarantees a certain minimum standard there.) It is probably fair to say that the level of faculty scholarship is typically lower than at Greek public universities, while the level of student support, organization and facilities is typically higher. In the better institutions, students work harder than at public universities because they are continuously assessed through tests, projects, papers, etc. Private institutions tend to be more market-oriented, more student-oriented, but less research-oriented. Finally, they operate in English, which is an educational gain. (Institutions that operate partially or wholly in Greek are typically of much lower quality.)

While a number of years ago most students at private universities had not passed the Greek state university entrance exams (πανελλήνιες) for the course of study they preferred, the student body now mostly consists of people who care first about quality of education, less about Greek state recognition – either because they are heading for jobs in the private sector or because they are heading for jobs and postgraduate study outside Greece, where the degrees are state recognized (a very substantial portion of students are foreigners coming to Greece for that purpose). Also, most students now expect the legal situation to change, such that Greek state recognition is forthcoming. Some private Greek universities additionally have study abroad students visiting from universities abroad, especially the USA.

Private universities receive no funds from the Greek state and only the non-profit institutions receive some support form foreign states and charitable institutions or private donors. Since universities have to cover the costs of instruction, administration, facilities (and, in the case of for-profit institutions, validation as well a profit), all private universities charge fees. The more serious ones also offer full or partial scholarships.

In looking at institutions, do not just rely on advertisement statements, check their faculty, visit their library and facilities, check their cooperating institutions,ask why you should study there, talk to students, look at the record of placing their graduates at good universities and in jobs. You are the customer, so be picky.

Categories & Terms

Accreditation

Accreditation is a legal act of a state that grants an institution the right to award academic degrees. Some states grant this right to an institution through a single legal act (e.g. a “Royal Charter” in the UK, an act of parliament in Greece), some others use a process of “accreditation”, by which the institution becomes a member of the legal accrediting body (e.g. in the USA). The USA accreditation process means strict control of all aspects of the institution by the accreditation body, and is renewed periodically. This accreditation body is either a state institution or an institution to which the state that has given the right to grant accreditation (such as the USA Northern, Western, Eastern and Mid-Western “Associations of Schools and Colleges”). Some such bodies specialize in particular fields, e.g. the AACSB International for business accreditation or the British Bar Council for legal professions.

All private accredited universities in Greece are legally registered in the USA and accredited by the accrediting bodies responsible for the place of legal registration. Some additionally have a charter from a state of the USA. Accreditation is not paid for.

Note that “accreditation” that is not backed by a state is legally worthless, though it may indicate educational value; one such pseudo-accreditation body is the “British Accreditation Council” (BAC), a private charity, not a government agency. There are several others for various areas (computing, business, etc.).

Validation

Validation of a degree is given by one university or college that is accredited to another university or college that is not; e.g. an accredited university in the UK validates a degree given by a private university in Greece. Validation is granted for particular degrees (e.g. “BSc in Computer Science”), not for the whole institution. The foreign validating institution is paid by the Greek validated institution for this service. The foreign validating institution controls, to some extent, the teaching etc. and (in most cases) the students receive degree certificates from that institution. (The validation activities of UK universities are occasionally controlled by the British state through the “Quality Assurance for Higher Education”, QAA. The QAA publishes detailed reports about the validations of degrees in Greece.) The British Council has very useful lists of UK degrees in Greece.

The Greek validated institution may act as a branch or franchise, or it may be independent and offer degrees validated by several foreign universities. Some such Greek institutions are independent businesses, some are legal branches of a foreign university or college.

A few institutions listed here under “validated” are (partially) accredited in the USA but operate under a for-profit basis (AUA, NYC).

Most non-profit institution in Greece are accredited, none offers validated degrees (this may change).

Distance Learning

Distance learning means that a person studies for a degree from a university without physically attending classes at that university, or only attending very rarely. Anybody can study for a degree by distance learning anywhere in the world, provided they are accepted and pay the fees. Some institutions in Greece offer support (as a φροντιστήριο) for distance learning students, teach related classes, etc. These support institutions offer no degrees and have no legal relation to the distance learning universities (e.g. the University of London).

Study Abroad

A number of foreign universities and colleges have study abroad programs in Greece, some in cooperation with Colleges named above, some in cooperation with state universities and some on their own or together with other universities from their countries. These programs are for a limited period, typically a semester or a year and only for students at these foreign institutions.

If you are a student in Greece wanting to study abroad, ask at your university or at the institutions representing host countries (British Council, Institut Français, Goethe Institut, US Embassy, etc.).