Courses

Course Curricula include compulsory, elective and optional courses, course description, teaching hours per week, teaching and assessment methods, prerequisites, etc.  They also contain the academic and teaching staff qualifications required for implementing curricula and achieving learning outcomes.

According to the National Qualifications Framework for Higher Education, Course Curricula also describe the learning outcomes and qualifications acquired from a degree course, the individual course units, tutorials or training. In addition, they include ECTS credits (Ministerial decision F. 5 / 89656 / Β3 / 13.8.2007, B’1466), and the qualification levels specified in the National Qualifications Framework and the European Qualifications Framework for Higher Education.

First-cycle curricula also include at least one compulsory foreign language learning course.

Course Duration-Exams

Each Academic Year starts on 1st September and ends on 31st August of the following year. It consists of two semesters, lasting for at least 13 full teaching weeks each, followed by a two- or three-week exam period. Moreover, in September there is a four-week exam period for the total number of taught courses. Most students complete their studies within the minimum course duration determined by Departments.

Typically, course curricula include four to six courses per semester requiring 18 to 25 hours coursework (lectures and laboratory sessions) per week. Most courses (2/3) are compulsory; however, there is also a number of elective/optional courses, which students can choose either from their own course curriculum or from the curricula of other Departments. Therefore, students are given the opportunity, apart from gaining specialized knowledge in their own discipline, to study more specialist subjects, according to their academic interests and needs.