The International Hellenic University (IHU; Greek: Διεθνές Πανεπιστήμιο της Ελλάδος) was established by Law No. 3391 in October 2005 and is based in Thessaloniki, Greece. The IHU is Greece’s first public university where programmes are taught exclusively in English. The university is financed by the European Union and the Greek state.
The IHU offers postgraduate programmes of study aimed at international students who are interested in studying in Greece. As a state university, all degrees awarded are accredited by the Greek Government and are recognized in the European Union and internationally.
The university has an international academic faculty and students, especially from Southeast European and Black Sea countries. Countries of origin include Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cameroon,Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Sudan, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA.
The campus is located close to Thermi on the Thessaloniki-Nea Moudania highway (14th kilometre). Building A hosts the main auditorium, the School Course Offices, lecture rooms, PC labs, the Career Office, a study area and the coffee shop. Building B hosts the university administration offices, teaching staff offices, the Special Account Committee services, lecture rooms, PC labs and the library.
Organization and administration
The International Hellenic University is one of the twenty-four public universities in Greece but the first where all its programmes of study are taught exclusively in English and all administrative communication with students is also in English.
The Governing Board of the International Hellenic University is composed of academic and business members:
President - Prof. Costas Th. Grammenos, Professor of Shipping, Trade and Finance, Cass Business School, City University London
Vice President - Prof. Georgios Stamou, Emeritus Professor of Ecology, Department of Ecology, School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Member - Prof. Dimitrios Psyllos, Professor of Instruction of Science and Educational Technologies, Department of Sciences and New Technologies, School of Primary Education, Faculty of Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Member - Prof. Ioannis Chamilakis, Professor of Archaeology, University of Southampton, UK.
Member - Prof. Athanassios Kaissis, Emeritus Professor of Law, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Member - Prof. Lida − Maria Pipsou, Professor of Law, Department of Civil Law, School of Law, Faculty of Law, Economics and Political Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Member - Prof. Dimitrios Naziris, Professor of Acting, School of Drama, Faculty of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Member - Prof. Anastasios Xepapadeas, Professor of Economic Theory and Policy, Dean of the School of Economic Sciences of Athens University of Economics and Business
Member - Prof. Nikolaos Katis, Professor of Plant Pathology, Head of Department of Plant Protection, School of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Member - Prof. Stathis Gourgouris, Professor of Comparative Literature and Society, Director of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University, New York
Member - Prof. Georgios Evangelidis, Professor, Department of Applied Informatics, School of Information Sciences, University of Macedonia
Schools and programmes
The university has three schools:
School of Economics, Business Administration & Legal Studies,
School of Humanities,
School of Science & Technology.
The school offers ten postgraduate programmes, taught in English, available either in full-time (1 year) or part-time (2 year) mode. The Executive MBA is available in 24-month mode.
The postgraduate programmes are:
Executive MBA (EMBA)
MSc in Management
MSc in Banking and Finance
MSc in Environmental Management and Sustainability
Environmental Management stream
Sustainable Tourism Management stream
MSc in Strategic Product Design
Product Management stream
Product Creativity & Design stream
Industrial Design & Innovation stream
MSc in International Accounting, Auditing and Financial Management
MSc in Hospitality & Tourism Management
LL.M. in Transnational and European Commercial Law, Mediation, Arbitration and Energy Law
MA in Art, Law and Economy
MSc in Energy Law, Business, Regulation and Policy
The school offers two postgraduate programmes, taught in English, available either in full-time (1 year) or part-time (2 year) mode.
The postgraduate programmes are:
MA in Black Sea & Eastern Mediterranean Studies
MA in the Classical Archaeology and the Ancient History of Macedonia
The school offers seven graduate programmes, taught in English, available in either full-time (1 year) or part-time (2 year) study.
The postgraduate programmes are:
MSc in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Systems
MSc in e-Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
MSc in Mobile and Web Computing
MSc in Communications and Cybersecurity
MSc in Energy Systems
MSc in Energy Management
MSc in Energy Building Design
The library provides services to teaching staff, students, researchers, and administration staff. 8,000 book titles related to the programmes of study are offered, together with journals, dictionaries, encyclopedias and access to online databases such as Bloomberg, Datastream, Thomson One, JSTOR, Ebsco, Heal-link.
The office providesd career events, access to career information, vacancy information, career fairs, internships and voluntary work.
IT services and e-learning
The university is supported by an Information Technology and Communications team which provides:
Applications and services for staff and students, including email, calendaring, wireless connectivity, web authentication, and Windows and Linux server hosting, supported by a front-line help desk, online self-help pages and personal training
An infrastructure to support advanced network, remote computing, VPN connections, voice, web-based teaching and e-learning services.
Student life and social clubs
Some of the social clubs are:
Dance Club
Student Football Cup
IHU Photo Contest
Museums and Exhibitions Club
Student parties
Photography Club
Yoga Club
Languages club (Greek, Chinese, Russian, German)
The university has conferred honorary awards on prominent members of the Greek Diaspora from the worlds of science, the humanities, and finance.
In 2015, Honorary Doctorate waw bestowed on:
Prof. Dr Thomas Pfeiffer Professor of Law & Director of the Institute for Comparative Law, Conflict of Laws and International Business Law Heidelberg University
In 2014, Honorary Doctorates were bestowed on:
Professor Alexander Nehamas Carpenter Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Literature at the University Princeton, in recognition of his contribution to the study of ancient Greek and modern European philosophy, aesthetics and literary theory
Themistocles Vokos Chairman of Posidonia Exhibitions and Founder of the Seatrade Organisation for his contribution to the international maritime sector
In 2013, Honorary Doctorates were bestowed on:
Professor Spiros Pollalis Professor of Design, Technology and Management at Harvard Design School
Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Herbert Kronke Professor of Private Law at the Heidelberg University Law School, Director of the Institute for Comparative Law, Conflict of Laws & International Business Law and Arbitrator on the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal
Dr. Phaedon Avouris Corresponding Member of the Academy of Athens, IBM Fellow and Research Manager, New York
Professor em. Dr. Dr.h.c. Spiros Simitis (Emeritus Professor of Labour and Civil Law, Computer Science and Law, Goethe University, Frankfurt) for his contribution to the protection of personal data and privacy of the individual.
Professor Dr Dr Franz Josef Radermacher (Professor of Database and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Ulm and Director of the Research Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing FAW/n) in recognition of his contribution to the fields of economics, innovation and global sustainable development.
In 2012, Honorary Doctorates were bestowed on:
Professor Emeritus Spyros Makridakis European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD)
Professor Angelos Chaniotis Professor of Ancient History and Classics, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
In 2011, Honorary Doctorates were bestowed on:
Professor Eleni Glykatzi-Ahrweiler Sorbonne University, University of Europe, in recognition of her contribution to Byzantine History and to Education
Professor Joseph Sifakis, Verimag, University of Grenoble, in recognition of his contribution to the field of Computer Science and System Verification
Professor Stamatios Krimigis, National Council of Research and Technology, Greece, Space Department, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, in recognition of his contribution to the Science of Space.
In 2010, Honorary Doctorates were bestowed on:
Professor George Constantinides Leo Melamed Professor of Finance from the University of Chicago Booth, School of Business, for his contribution to research in the field of finance
Minos Zombanakis, Chair of the Group for International Study and Evaluation AG, for his contribution to the creation and development of the Euromarkets.
