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The University of Crete is a young public educational institution committed to excellence in research and teaching. Established in 1973, the University accepted its first students in 1977-78. It now has 16 Departments in 5 Schools (Philosophy, Education, Social, Economic & Political Sciences, Sciences & Engineering, and Medicine) as well as several affiliated research-oriented institutions, including the Skinakas Observatory, the Natural History Museum, and the University General Hospital. Currently, over 16,000 undergraduates and 2500 postgraduate students are registered here. They are educated by an outward-looking academic faculty of around 500 members, supported by adjunct lecturers, post-doctoral researchers, laboratory support staff and instructors, and around 300 technical and administrative support staff. The University's international orientation is reflected in its track record of collaborations with many leading research and educational institutions in Europe and worldwide and the active promotion of mobility and exchange programs. Research and research training at all levels also benefits from the close collaboration between many of the University's research groups with the Institutes of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH) and the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture (IMBBC) Reflecting its research activity and associated initiatives, the University of Crete is the first Greek University to have signed the EU Charter and the Code for the recruitment of researchers and forms part of the Euraxess European network for researchers' mobility. The University fully participates in quality assurance mechanisms both for its academic and administrative structures. The University's strategic choice is that there will be an ongoing effort to meet quality in its structures. Located at campuses in Heraklion and Rethymnon on Crete, a site rich in ancient and modern Mediterranean cultures, the University offers a vibrant social and intellectual environment for research and education. As such, whether your contact with the University is brief or long-term, we trust it will be rewarding. Universities' mission in Greece is 'to generate and transmit knowledge through research and teaching, prepare students for its application on a professional level, and cultivate the arts and culture' (Ν.4009/2011, s.4). Quality assurance goes hand-in-hand with the University's commitment to ensure that the quality of education and research training provided is under continuous review. The standards set are appropriate and are being met. The University's dedicated Quality Assurance site sets out the structures, procedures, and outcomes of the evaluation processes (in Greek). In brief, the University first sought the benefits of independent evaluations in 2000 (committee of 'Greek diaspora' academics chaired by Prof Eleni Arveler, Sorbonne) pdf, and again in 2001 with an Institutional Review by the European Universities Association (EUA) pdf. Since then, in line with policy developments at a European level and the formation of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), systematic quality assurance procedures applying to all Greek HEIs have been developed and implemented. The current legal framework for QA in higher education institutions in Greece was created in 2005 (N.3374/2205). This law established the Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (ΑΔΙΠ/HQAA), which acts as a national supervisory and coordinating body. Within the University, each department has a QA group (OMEA) which works together with the University QA Committee (ΜΟΔΙΠ) to meet the requirements for periodic internal and external evaluations. The Vice-Rector of Academic Affairs heads the University QA Committee. It includes three faculty members, a representative of the policy support unit, and two student representatives. View full university

Welcome to the Technological Educational Institute of Crete. Our Institute, one of the 36 Higher Education Institutes of Greece, offers quality undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Informatics, Engineering, Health, Agriculture and Food, Economics and Management, Environment. The TEI of Crete is continually being ranked at the top of its peers' list, while it has received wide recognition for its direct contribution to the development of both Crete and Greece. The TEI of Crete studies are exceptionally high standards, as proved by the External Evaluations carried out by the Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency. The teaching and research qualifications and the consistency of the staff, the modern Study Programmes, the connection to the trade and social bodies, and the way we supervise and support our graduates guarantee a complete education providing our graduates with the appropriate guidelines so that they follow the correct profession or continue with further studies, dependent on their aptitudes. Our several collaborations with numerous Greek and more than 120 European Higher Education Institutes contribute drastically to the provided studies' internationalization. Our students are encouraged to travel to other countries to complete part of their studies. Those who study at our Institute also contact international students and are often being taught by European professors. The Department has received awards for its international relations in Europe and, of course, in Greece. At the TEI of Crete, the Administration and the staff work tirelessly, always focusing on our institutional goals about quality education, excellence, real education, and our ca. 15.000 active students' broader interest. We continue to transfer our students' main principles, transparency in making and implementing our decisions, equality, and respect. We encourage the freeway of thinking and the expression of new ideas, self-motivation, and cooperation: we seek to create complete Scientists – Citizens. Our economic efficiency works as a guarantee for the State to keep financing us. Apart from that, the TEI of Crete, through the numerous educational, research, and development projects that it carries out, ensures receiving extra funds to support the studies and our students, equivalent to many years of state funding. The candidates and their parents shall see a full description of our undergraduate and postgraduate studies, together with the possibilities to support our young students during their studies and everyday life at the Institute. Our current students can provide all the necessary information concerning the classes, the studies, the contact with the professors, the Student Care Office, the exchange programs with universities abroad, the chances of working at the Institute and at trade and industry bodies, essential links for the life and the entertainment in the cities, where the departments are located, etc. The new scientists shall explore the chances of being hired by the TEI of Crete for teaching or participating in research or development projects. Our possible research colleagues have instant access to our research accomplishments, our scientists' experience, to current programs, to our immediate goals. The private and public sector bodies may contact specialized scientists for scientific and technical support and seek suitable graduates for work. The candidates supplying us with the necessary services and goods shall find anything they seek in transparency and equality. Citizens from the general public can be informed of our scientific and social work and our cultural activities. The TEI of Crete was established in 1983, aiming at offering technological education to students in Greece. Initially, the following Schools were established: Technological Applications, located in Heraklion with a branch in Chania Management and Economics, located in Heraklion Health and Welfare Services, located in Heraklion and Agricultural Technology, located in Heraklion, Which offered twelve (12) Study Programmes, supported till 2013 by the Department of Sciences of the School of Technological Applications and the Centre of Foreign Languages and Physical Education. Since June 2013, according to the Presidential Decree No 104 (Official Government Gazette 137, 5-7-2013, volume 1) under the new Law 4009/2011 (Official Government Gazette 195, 6-9-2011, volume 1), the TEI of Crete has the following Schools: School of Management and Economics, located in Heraklion School of Health and Welfare Services, located in Heraklion School of Applied Sciences, located in Chania School of Agricultural and Food Technology, located in Sitia School of Technological Applications, located in Heraklion View full university

Soon after the end of the German occupation of Greece, the issue of establishing a University on Crete was brought up and reached its peak during the 1960s. However, although public demand for establishing a university on Crete was unanimous, there was also an intense rivalry between the two major cities on the island. One would become the seat of that University. Finally, the solution to the problem was given in 1977 by the then Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis. They made a balanced decision approving both the establishment of a University with faculties in Heraklion and Rethymnon and establishing a Technical University in Chania. The Technical University of Crete was established by Law 545/77 on the "Establishment of a Technological Institution under the title Technical University of Crete and other provisions." On July 17th, 1977, the first Executive Committee of the Institution convened under the presidency of Professor Perikles Theoharis and in the presence of the then Minister of National Education G. Rallis, consisting of the Mayor of the City of Chania and the President of the Western Crete Section of the Technical Chamber of Greece, representing the local element which had shown great interest in the establishment of the University. The main task of this first Executive Committee in 1977 was to find land for the erection of permanent university facilities by commencing the expropriation procedure of 350 hectares of land. It is worth mentioning, at this point, the immense support of the local community on this matter. Simultaneously, the Executive Committee also dealt with the organization and recruitment of the university services but mostly with the legal framework for its operation. As a result of the Executive Committee's dedicated work, a significant number of decrees were issued, the most important of which is the Presidential Decree 1140/80 on the "Establishment of Higher Education Schools, Departments, and Research Institutes as well as posts of Professors at the Technical University of Crete," which provided for the establishment of three Schools: a) Technical Sciences, b) Applied Sciences and c) Architecture and Spatial Planning. Each School would comprise four Departments. Apart from its work on the legal framework of the Institution, the first Executive Committee was responsible for the acquisition of three historic buildings (Old Prisons, Old City Hall, or Arsenal and the Venetian Loggia), the drawing up of studies for their restoration as well as the drawing up of studies for the Initial University Facilities. The Committee proceeded in purchasing computers, books, and 479 magazine titles for the Central University Library and setting up electoral bodies for judging the candidatures for the calls for tender regarding Educational & Research Personnel positions. After 1981, a new Executive Committee was set up under the presidency of Professor Thales Argyropoulos (1982-1988) from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and later, under the presidency of Professor Theodore Lianos (1988-1989), who was a faculty member of the Higher School of Economic and Commercial Studies (ASOEE). The new Executive Committee completed or revised the former administration's decisions concerning fundamental issues such as housing and educational programming. As far as the housing problem was concerned, it gave priority to the development of the University inside the city by renovating the Old Venetian Prisons and Barracks, acquiring and renovating the former French School, acquiring the Military Division complex of buildings by the Ministry of National Defence, securing the use of the Hatzidakis camp in Halepa and putting forward studies for the erection of buildings on it. Simultaneously, the erection of university facilities in Akrotiri was put forward while the expropriated land for this purpose had been cut down by 60 hectares compared to the initial surface. The foundation ceremony of the university facilities in Akrotiri took place in December 1988. As far as the educational programming was concerned, significant changes took place, based, of course, on the new legal framework that had started to form in the meanwhile but had reversed the programming of the Executive Committee of 1977. The capstone of the philosophy of the Executive Committee of 1981, concerning the educational programming, was the issuing of the Presidential Decree52/83 on "the structure of the Technical University of Crete into Departments and Sectors, the procedure of electing permanent faculty members and prerequisites on the independent function of the Technical University of Crete with elected governing bodies." Instead of three Schools and 12 Departments that were provided for in the P.D. 1140/80, the new P.D. 52/83 provided for the establishment of 6 Academic Departments: Production Engineering and Management, Mineral Resources Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Sciences Department. In 1984, the first faculty members were appointed. During the academic year 1984-85, the Production Engineering and Management Department started running its educational program and admitted its first 120 students together with the Sciences Department. The Mineral Resources Engineering Department followed in 1987-88 and the Electronics and Computer Engineering Department in 1990-91. Later on, and after the University had become independent, the Chemical Engineering Department became an Environmental Engineering Department and admitted its first students in 1997. Finally, in 2004 the Architectural Engineering Department was established and welcomed its first students. In September 1989, the new Executive Committee, presided by the Professor of the National Technical University of Athens Mr. Ioannis Tegopoulos together with the Professors of the Technical University of Crete Mr. Antonis Foskolos and Mr. Joachim Gryspolakis as vice-presidents, decided to change the spatial planning orientation of the expansion of the University. They abandoned the idea of further expanding the University within the city of Chania and rapidly promoted the development of the facilities of the University in Akrotiri. The University assigned facilities such as the Hatzidakis camp and the Venetian Loggia to Chania's Municipality for other uses. The buildings that were kept to be used by the University itself include the Venetian Complex of the Old Prisons and Barracks, which now house the Rectorate offices and the offices of administrative and financial services. In contrast, the former French School facilities in Halepa now accommodate the Department of Architectural Engineering. In this way, the University maintains its necessary cohesion with Chania and its social fabric. Most importantly, this policy enabled the housing of the rest of the academic departments of the University within the campus in Akrotiri, which offered the possibility for the erection of suitable lecture halls, laboratories, and infrastructure that modern requirements dictate for a Technical University. In 1993, all the necessary legal requirements were met, and thus, all the Departments of the University became independent and had been operating since then with elected governing bodies. As soon as these requirements were met, the procedure for the election of a Rectorate was initiated, thus establishing the independent operation of the Technical University of Crete. Professor Yannis Phillis became the first Rector of the Technical University of Crete, assisted in his functions by the Vice-Rectors Professors Ioannis Siskos and Theodore Markopoulos. They took on their office on 8.12.1993. Since then, the Technical University of Crete has been making continuous and significant progress. The faculty staff's high quality, the scientific partners, and the administrative and technical personnel guarantee future growth. The campus is undoubtedly one of Greece's best, with modern lecture halls and research facilities, library, student hall of residences, restaurant, and recreational areas. 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