History
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens was founded on May 3, 1837, and was housed in the residence of architects Stamatios Kleanthis and Eduard Schaubert, on the north slope of the Acropolis. It was the first University not only in the newly established Greek State but in all the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean in general.
Before it was renamed to honour Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first head of state of independent modern Greece, the university was known as the Othonian University after King Otto and consisted of four faculties; theology, law, medicine and arts (which included applied sciences and mathematics). It had 33 professors, 52 students and 75 non-matriculated “auditors”. In November 1841, classes began in a new building designed by the Danish architect Christian Hansen. The Propylaea (37°58′51″N 23°44′02″E / 37.98083°N 23.73389°E / 37.98083; 23.73389 (Propylaea)) was designed by Hansen younger brother, Theophil Hansen in 1859 but the building project was not completed until 1885.
A major change in the structure of the University came about in 1904, when the faculty of Arts was split into two separate faculties: that of Arts and that of Sciences, the latter consisting of the departments of Physics and Mathematics and the School of Pharmacy. In 1919, a department of chemistry was added, and in 1922 the School of Pharmacy was renamed a Department. A further change came about when the School of Dentistry was added to the faculty of medicine.
In this first and “heroic” period for Greek education, the university faculty made great efforts to fill the gap between their newly founded institution and older ones in other countries.
Between 1895 and 1911, an average of one thousand new students entered the faculties each year, a figure which rose to two thousand at the end of World War I. This led to the decision to introduce entrance examinations for all the faculties, beginning in the academic year 1927-28. Since 1954 the number of students admitted each year has been fixed by the Ministry of Education and Religion, on the proposal of the faculties.
In the 1960s construction work began on the University Campus in the suburb of Ilissia. The Ilissia campus now houses the Schools of Philosophy, Theology and Sciences.
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