Studies
Undergraduate Studies
The General Assembly of the Department formulates the Program of Studies. Revisions of the program can be made each April after a proposal by the Studies Committee.
Course Attendance-Examinations and Grading
The academic year begins on the 1st of September and ends on the 31st of August. The educational activity is organized in two semesters (Fall and Spring), each comprising of at least 13 weeks of teaching. The Fall Semester starts in the middle of September and the Spring Semester ends in the second half of June. The exact dates are determined by the University Senate or in particular cases by the Ministry of Education, so as to adhere to the required number of teaching weeks. Students are obliged to participate in the educational process, as defined by law and the regulations of the official bodies of the University and the Department.
Each Semester is followed by a 2-3 week examination period. A resit examination period is offered in September, during which students may take exams they have failed or missed. Each examination period normally lasts for 3 weeks. Grades are determined by the teacher, who is obliged to carry out written or oral examinations or even provide grades on the basis of homework or laboratory practice. The grades are expressed in a scale from 0 to 10 with a minimum passing grade of 5 (according to the following scale, A=9-10, Β=8, C=7, D=6, E=5, F=0-4). The examination schedule is arranged by a special committee and is announced at the beginning of the academic year.
Courses in the Program of Studies
The courses in the Program of Studies are distinguished in compulsory and electives. A total of 20 compulsory courses are provided. The courses are distributed in semesters. The code number of the courses is constituted of three digits: The first digit implies the semester in which it is offered, the second digit implies the thematic group, according to the following scheme: 1=Mathematical Analysis, 2=Algebra and/or Geometry, 3=Probability, Statistics and/or Operations Research, 4=Applied Mathematics, Mechanics and/or Computer Science, 0=General or courses offered by other Departments) and the third digit implies the serial number of the course in the semester. After the code number follows the title of the course and the number of credits. Each elective course offers 3 credits.
A short description of the compulsory and elective courses included in the new Undergraduate Studies Program (USP) is given in the following link.
To obtain the Mathematics degree, students must accumulate a specific number of credits. To be more specific, they must succeed in at least 40 (20+20) courses and collect at least 135 credits (90 from the compulsory courses and 45 from electives) in a minimum period of seven semesters. Students are also allowed to carry out one period of their studies abroad, in the framework of EU projects and exchange programmes.
Courses from other Departments
The Department of Mathematics offers its students the possibility to follow and be successfully examined in certain courses of four other Departments, namely Physics (Meteorology-Astronomy), Economics, Primary Education, Philosophy, Education and Psychology (two courses at most). Each academic year, all compulsory courses as well as some of the elective courses are offered. For the follow-up of courses in other Departments, apart from the consent of the corresponding Department, consent of the Department of Mathematics is also required.
Statement of Courses
The statement of courses should be made in the beginning of each semester and in the exclusive deadline of two weeks which are announced. During the first two semesters each student can register for specific courses. During subsequent semesters students can register for a number of courses corresponding to a total of 31 credits. In the statement of courses, compulsory courses of previous semesters should be at first priority and compulsory courses of the current semester should follow.
In case a student fails or misses the examinations on some of the compulsory courses he has undertaken, he is obliged to repeat these courses during the corresponding semester of the following year. Consequently, he must include the above courses in his new statement, while still complying with the maximum number of credits allowed. Upon failure in an elective course, the student may either repeat the course or substitute it with another elective.
Grade of Diploma
The grade of diploma is calculated as follows: each grade is multiplied by a weighting factor assigned to the corresponding course and the sum of all weighted grades is divided by the sum of all weighting factors. Courses of 3 or 4 credits are assigned a weighting factor of 1.5, while those of more than 4 credits a weighting factor of 2. A student that has succeeded in more than the minimum required courses may choose to exclude the grades he received in the extra courses when calculating his final grade. In that case, upon completion of his studies and once all his grades have been announced, he is required to notify the Department Secretariat. All courses, whether included in calculating the final grade or not, are listed in the student's certificate of studies and remain on his permanent record.