Undergraduate Studies

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The core of the curriculum focuses on the history and archaeology of a large part of the Mediterranean area from the prehistoric times until the 20th century. Lectures deal with various aspects of the civilizations that grew up or were established in this area, mainly those who were developed in the area of modern day Greek state: the prehistoric Aegean civilizations, the ancient Greek, the Roman, the Byzantine, the Venetian, the Ottoman, as well as the Modern Greek.

Taking under consideration that the Department of History and Archaeology succeeded a previous Department with different academic program, the current curriculum offers a larger variety of courses than in other History and Archaeology Departments, such as museum studies, cultural heritage management, public archaeology, etc. The most appealing and innovative part of the offered courses are those dealing with digital humanities, a section of the humanities studies that has drawn large attention during the last years worldwide.

The Department of History and Archaeology awards diplomas up to the doctorate level. The mandatory minimum length of study leading to the Bachelor’s degree is set at eight (8) semesters (four-year courses). The annual educational Program comprises two semesters, fall and spring semester, each representing thirteen (13) full teaching weeks. Lectures and classes take place in these periods. The exact dates of the beginning and the end of the fall and spring semester, as well as the examination periods, are determined by the Administrative Committee of the University of Patras. The number of students admitted per year in the Department is set to the input of students at each university requirements.

Course guide

Code numbers: To each course corresponds a code consisting of three letters and numbers. Courses are taught only in semesters, as stated in the Curriculum. Practical Exercise can be selected in the 6th or 8th semester.

Contact hours: Courses are taught by means of lectures (L), tutorials (T) and / or workshops (W), which are registered in the curriculum as hours per week. This number of hours, as well as the number of hours attended by students in the exams, is known as contact hours (CH).

Teaching units: According to art. 24, par. 3 of Law 1268/82, 1 teaching unit (TU) corresponds to 1 hour of lecture or 1 hour of tutorial or 2 hours of laboratory exercises per semester.

Credits: According to the general program of educational activities of the University of Patras, the courses are taught in two semesters of at least 13 weeks each and the examinations in two periods of 3 weeks each and a period of repeat examinations of 4 weeks. Therefore, the overall education process lasts 36 weeks. According to Law 1466 / 13-08-2007, 36-40 full weeks of teaching (including tutorials and / or workshops), preparation and examinations are valued at 1,500-1,800 hours of work (total workload of a student) and correspond to 60 credits units. Therefore, 36 full weeks of work correspond to approximately 1,500 hours of work and therefore 1 credit equals 25 hours of total workload. Therefore, in a lesson eg. of 5 credits corresponds to a total workload of 125 hours.

Obtaining a Bachelor degree: In order to obtain the Bachelor’s degree, the student is required to be successfully examined (grade ≥5) in all courses, compulsory and elective provided in the curriculum with a total number of 240. In this case, the degree is obtained in accordance with B3 / 2166/87 (Government Gazette 308/87, B3 / 2457/88 (Government Gazette 802 / 16.6.1989) and B3 /2882/16.6.1989 (Government Gazette 507 / 27.6.1989) with the following calculations: On the basis of the teaching units of each course the corresponding weighting coefficient of the course is calculated, which is multiplied by the successful examination level of the abovementioned course and then divided the sum of the above products by the sum of the total weight coefficients.

Rules of Declaration of Courses

The courses of the four (4) first semesters are compulsory (C) and are allocated in six (6) semesters. Students are required at the beginning of each semester to have a total number of 30 credits. They can also select courses that they have attended and have not passed successfully for a total number of Credit Units up to 30.

From the 5th semester onwards, the student chooses a deepening in History or Archeology and selects three (3) compulsory in-depth courses from a list of courses, and also selects one (1) of the other. The remaining two (2) courses to complete the six (6) courses per semester are selected from a list of courses related to the subject area of Digital Culture.

In the 7th semester the student selects the Diploma Thesis, which is optional. Students can dselect the Diploma Thesis if they have successfully completed the examination of courses with a total number of at least 120 credits. The Thesis corresponds to two courses of the 7th and 8th semesters in which the student is not examined and replaces at least one lesson of corresponding deepening and one lesson of the other deepening or Digital Culture offered in the 7th and 8th semesters.

In the 7th and 8th semesters students have the option, if they wish, to choose from a Pedagogical course. These two courses are deducted from the courses of their semester, and even from those that are not of their deepening.


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