Welcome ceremony for the first-year students of NKUA’s English-taught Undergraduate Programmes: the ‘BA Program in the Archaeology, History, and Literature of Ancient Greece’ and the ‘Medical Degree in English’

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens held on Thursday, 29 September 2022, a welcome ceremony for the first-year students of its two English-taught Undergraduate Programmes in the presence of the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs, Mrs Niki Kerameus, and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Andreas Katsaniotis.

Guests of honour were the students of the English-taught BA Program in the Archaeology, History, and Literature of Ancient Greece, the first English-taught Undergraduate Programme ever launched by a Greek University, now entering its third year of operation, with 64 undergraduate students in total, and the Medical Degree in English, which starts this year with 40 undergraduate students. The students of these English-taught Programmes originate from various countries, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, India, Jordan, Canada, Cyprus, Lebanon, the Maldives, South Africa, Finland, Egypt, Albania, Australia, France, Georgia, El Salvador, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, Norway, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Poland, and Sri Lanka.

The event was also live-streamed:

The event was opened with welcome addresses given by the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs, Mrs Niki Kerameus, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Andreas Katsaniotis, and the Rector of NKUA, Professor M.-A. Dimopoulos.

In her welcome address, the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs, Mrs Niki Kerameus, stressed as a supreme priority the extroversion of Greek Universities and the importance of international academic partnerships. To this purpose, the Ministry of Education has developed a strategy with three axes:

1. Provision of extensive financial tools to support Universities in this effort with:
   20 million euros for the internationalization of Greek Universities, and
   60 million euros for the visiting professors programme.
2. Formulation of new legislation on:greater freedom given to Greek Universities in establishing a wider range of partnerships (e.g. dual/double degrees, joint research hubs, summer and winter schools, English-taught programmes), and
   automatic academic recognition of degrees obtained abroad, eliminating individual applications to the Hellenic NARIC for the holders of qualifications from recognized foreign institutions.
3. Building of strategic partnerships with key players such as Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom et al.

The Rector of NKUA, Professor Meletios-Athanasios Dimopoulos, gladly welcomed the students present at the event and emphasized, among other things, the following:

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome today students from twenty-eight countries who have joined our two English-taught undergraduate programs, the “BA Program in the Archaeology, History, and Literature of Ancient Greece” and our new “Medical Degree in English” program. We are pleased to have with us students from countries around the world such as Albania, Australia, Canada, China, Cyprus, Egypt, El Salvador, Finland, Germany, Georgia, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, India, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, the Maldives, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America. Each of you will be one of approximately seventy thousand undergraduate and postgraduate students of our University.  More than two thousand members of teaching staff are willing to assist you during your studies.

(…)

Your joining our University comes with a lot of expectations on your part, your parents and friends, some of which we have the honor to have with us today. All of us want to see you succeed in your studies. I encourage you to enrich yours and other students’ experience. Be on the lookout for new knowledge and everything that a foreign, historic University and a cultural city have to offer.  The first months may be demanding; you will find yourselves in a foreign country, study there, and start getting accustomed to a new culture. But by actively participating in our academic community, you will meet new people, learn things, and gain personal experiences you will keep for the rest of your lives. But it is not only you that will benefit from all the above; every time you return home for the holidays, you will bring a whole new set of experiences and perspectives to your family and friends. I also encourage you all, at the end of every semester, to give us your opinion as to what inspired you, what worked well, and what could have been better.

I hope and trust that this will be an enriching experience both for you and for those you will get to know during your stay. Thank you everyone for selecting our University for your studies and welcome to our country!

Shortly afterwards, NKUA Professor Emeritus Eleni Karamalengou, presented the ‘BA Program in the Archaeology, History, and Literature of Ancient Greece’, while Petros Sfikakis, Professor at the NKUA School of Medicine, presented the ‘Medical Degree in English’.

A musical programme followed, performed by two students of the NKUA Department of Music Studies, Konstantinos Vourlis (piano) and Eleni Katsouli (voice).

Finally, the students were presented with commemorative gifts.

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