Undergraduate Studies

General Information

The Technical University of Crete (TUC) was founded in 1977 in Chania and admitted its first students in 1984. TUC provides undergraduate and post-graduate studies in modern engineering fields, to conduct research on cutting edge technologies as well as to develop links with the industry. TUC is a Public University, under the article 16, paragraph 5 of the Constitution of the Hellenic Republic: "Higher education is provided exclusively by institutions legal entities of public law and it is self-governed." The main governing bodies are the Senate, the Rector and the University Council.

The Technical University of Crete is currently comprised of five Schools, which grant engineering degrees upon completion of a five-year course. All the five Schools run modern postgraduate programmes.

• School of Production Engineering and Management (1984) www.pem.tuc.gr
• School of Mineral Resources Engineering (1987)    www.mred.tuc.gr
• School of Electronic and Computer Engineering (1990)  www.ece.tuc.gr
• School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (1997)   www.chenveng.tuc.gr
• School of Architecture Engineering (2004)      www.arch.tuc.gr

Currently, over 5,500 undergraduate and 1,500 postgraduate students are studying at TUC. There are 120 permanent faculty members, supported by more than 100 adjunct faculty members and laboratory staff members. The university also employs approximately 100 administrative staff members.

Degrees Offered - Diploma of Engineering

The Greek Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs determines the number of undergraduate students who can be admitted to the five Schools of TUC, after having succeeded the national university examinations. 

All undergraduate programs award the Diploma of Engineering. The undergraduate programs of TUC have a total duration of ten semesters (5 years). The first nine semesters are allocated for coursework and the final semester for diploma thesis work. A total of 300 credits are required for the undergraduate degrees (i.e. 60 credits are attached to the workload of a full-time academic year). Most of the courses offered are compulsory, but there is also a wide variety of elective courses. Ιn addition, most courses include lectures, tutorials, laboratory assignments and practical training, seminars and other activities, including educational visits to industries and field trips. To become eligible for graduation a student must complete nine semesters of course work and prepare a Diploma Thesis under the supervision of one or more faculty members during the 10th semester. All undergraduate courses are taught in Greek.

Grading System

Excellent      from 8.5 to 10
Very Good    from 6.5 to 8.49
Good           from 5 to 6.49
Fail              from 0 to 4

Admission requirements

Foreign students interested in studying at a Greek university should apply to the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs. Inquiries should be addressed to the

Ministry of National Education
Directorate of Organizing and Conducting Examinations
39, Andreas Papandreou street, Maroussi, Greece
www.minedu.gov.gr

This department shall provide foreign students with useful information on application requirements, necessary supporting documents and the application form. Students must then submit all supporting documents and applications to the Department of Entrance Examinations of the Greek Ministry of National Education in person (not by post) or by an authorized person. Applications can be submitted from August 1st - August 10.

Enrolment Supporting Documents:

* Greek language certificate

* Printed application form (supplied by the Secretariats of the Schools)

* Leaving certificate of High School

* A statutory declaration mentioning that the intending student does not hold a degree from a school or department of a tertiary level educational institution in Greece or that he/she has not entered a school or department of a tertiary level educational institute in Greece since 1995 or earlier.

* Α photocopy of an identity card or a birth certificate

* 6 passport size photographs

For more details: According to the Ministerial Decision No F151/17104/B6/17-2-2006 (Official Gazette FEK 259/T.B΄) concerning students' admission to Higher Education, it is provided that under special provisions various categories of candidates can be admitted to Higher Education in Greece. EU students and non-EU students can fall into these categories on condition that neither the candidates themselves nor their parents have the Greek nationality or citizenship.

• Those candidates who fulfil the above-mentioned requirements must submit their documents to the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, Directorate of Organizing and Conducting Examinations, from 1st to 10th August. They should also fill in the candidate's application entry form, stating the Schools they prefer. Such an application entry form is given to the candidates on the day they submit their documents.
• The documents are submitted either by the candidates themselves or by an authorized person. The candidates who submit their documents must hold their passports (VISA) or the documents of their legal stay-permit in Greece, plus a photocopy thereof. If the candidates are still abroad and cannot submit their documents themselves, the person they have authorized must submit a declaration stating that they are abroad. However, if the candidates are in Greece and their documents are submitted by an authorized person, they should submit a ratified copy of the candidates' passport (VISA) or their stay-permit, certifying their legal presence in Greece.
• The essential documents are:

* the candidate's application entry form (with a small-sized passport photograph of his/hers attached to it).

* the original graduation certificate ratified by the competent educational authority of the candidate's country.

* a certificate of his/her general average marks issued either by the Department of Education or by the competent educational authorities of the candidate's country or by the Embassy of his/her country in Greece. The average of the general marks should be based on a point scale of 0-20.

* an access certificate with the overall examination marks for the candidates who have graduated from a Lyceum of Greece or the Republic of Cyprus.

* a certificate showing not only the candidate's citizenship and nationality but also his/her parents' citizenship and nationality (confirming that none of them are of Greek descent).

* a certificate issued by the competent educational or diplomatic authority of the candidate's country confirming that his/her graduation certificate entitles him/her to attend a Higher Education Institution in their own country. (This certificate is not necessary for the candidates who have graduated from a Lyceum of Greece or the Republic of Cyprus and hold an access certificate with their overall examination marks.) 

* a certificate issued by the competent educational or diplomatic authority confirming the country and the curriculum of the candidate's graduation school.

* a certificate issued by the competent educational or diplomatic authority of the candidate's country confirming that he/she has fully attended the last year of a Lyceum or an equivalent school in the country of his/her graduation.

* a declaration that:

• the non-EU candidate does not hold any degree issued by a Greek Higher Education Institution.
• the candidate has not been admitted to any faculty or department of Higher Education in Greece in the year 2004 or earlier.

* The Committee collecting and checking the documents has the right to ask any candidates to submit additional documents at a fixed deadline in case it is decided that those specific candidates ought to further prove that they fall into a particular category.

* All the documents issued by a foreign authority must be:

* ratified for the authenticity of the candidate's signature either by a Greek diplomatic authority abroad or by the diplomatic authority of the foreign country in Greece; in which case, the documents must be ratified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Greece, and

* all documents must be translated into Greek either by a Greek diplomatic authority abroad or by the Translation Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Greece.

Attention should be paid to the documents which have been issued by foreign schools in Greece. The Greek Educational Authorities that are responsible for the specific school (Directorate of Secondary Education the school belongs to) should ratify the authenticity of the documents issued by the school. They should also state the legal status of the school.

Documents which have been issued by the following countries: Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Barbados, Bahamas, Belarus, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei-Darussalam, Colombia, Cook Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Estonia, France, Finland, Fiji, FYROM, Germany, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macao, Malawi, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niue, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, St Lucia, San Marino, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Serbia-Montenegro, Samoa, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Surinam, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, do not need any ratification by a Greek diplomatic authority abroad, provided they bear the APOSTIL seal mentioned in the articles 3 and 4 of the Hague Convention (5th October 1961). The local competent authorities are assigned for this purpose by every contracting country according to article 6 of the Hague Convention. That is why the candidates who obtain their documents from the above mentioned countries should apply to the competent authority (Ministry of Education) of their own country and make sure they have the requested seal stamped on their documents.

ATTENTION: It should be noted that documents not ratified for their authenticity by a foreign authority, as mentioned above, will not be accepted by the Committee in charge of collecting the documents and the application entry forms will therefore be rejected.

NOTE: The particular category of European Union students includes Cypriot citizens who are candidates for the Higher Education of Greece. These candidates submit their documents in Cyprus from 1st to 10th July.

(For further information, please contact

ATHENS: Ministry of Education and Foreign Affairs,
39, Andreas Papandreou street, Maroussi, Greece
Tel: +30 210 3247428
www.ypepth.gr

NICOSIA: Ministry of Education and Culture 22800626 and 22800763)

USEFUL INFORMATION CONCERNING THE SELECTED CANDIDATES

1. The Selection of the candidates, who enter a Faculty or a Department of Higher Education, is carried out by a decision of the Minister of Education. Both the Faculties and the Departments, where the candidates are admitted into, are mentioned on the candidates' application entry forms.
2. The candidate can enrol only at the Faculty or the Department he/she has been selected for.
3. With regard to his/her registration, the candidate who is admitted either into a Faculty or a Department must also hold a certificate denoting his/her command of the Greek language (such a certificate is issued after relevant examinations either by the University of Athens or by the University of Thessaloniki; alternatively, the candidate should hold a 3rd level or higher certificate issued by the Greek Language Centre of Thessaloniki). If the candidate does not hold any of those language certificates, he/she can only enrol in the next academic year of his/her admission to a Greek University, on condition that he/she will by then have obtained the prerequisite language certificate. Otherwise, the candidate has no right to enrol. 
   The examinations for the Greek language certificate are held twice a year: around June and September in ATHENS, at the Modern Greek Language Centre of the University Campus in Zografou; also, in June and October in THESSALONIKI, at the Modern Greek Language Centre of the University of Thessaloniki. For further information, concerning the language test and the examinations date, the candidates need to apply to either the University of Athens or the University of Thessaloniki a month before the fixed exam date, to make sure that they will not miss the deadline of the language test.
   If a candidate holds a graduation certificate from a Greek or Cypriot Lyceum, no language certificate is required.
4. According to each Faculty or Department's regulations candidates should undergo a medical examination before enrolling.
5. Foreign students who come from countries which are not members of the European Union (non-EU students) pay fees so as to cover a small percentage of both their expenses of their studies and the books they are granted.
6. The documents submitted by candidates who have not been selected in any School of Higher Education will be returned to the candidate or to an authorized person if so requested. In case the candidate does not request to have his/her documents returned, those will be destroyed in August the following year.
7. Non-EU students must bear in mind that the Ministry of Education has no authority to grant a visa or a stay-permit. The stay-permit is issued by The Aliens and Immigration Department (Attiki Precinct) only to those candidates who will be admitted to the Higher Education of Greece, provided that there is no reason to exclude the granting of this stay-permit.

It is also noted that according to Greek legislation, a stay-permit is not granted if a student changes Faculty or Department twice. Students can change Faculty or Department only once: by submitting a new application/entry form within the year following their first admission in a Faculty or Department.

ATHENS: Ministry of Education and Foreign Affairs,

39, Andreas Papandreou street, Maroussi, Greece

Tel: +30 210 3247428
Fax: +30 210 3234812
www.ypepth.gr

NICOSIA: Ministry of Education and Culture 22800626 & 22800763)