Foreign Students Admission

Foreign students can only be admitted to Higher Education in Greece, and thus to the University of Ioannina or any of the other 21 Higher Education Institutions, through the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, Directorate of Organising and Conducting Examinations.

The general instructions for foreign students interested in being admitted to Higher Education in Greece, are the following:

1. According to the Ministerial Decision No F 151/17104/B6/17-2-2006 (FEK 259 T. B') concerning students' admission to Higher Education, it is provided that under special provisions various categories of candidates can be admitted to Higher Education in Greece. EU students and non-EU students can fall into these categories on condition that neither the candedates themselves nor their parents have the Greek nationality or citizenship.

2. Those candidates who fulfill the above-mentioned requirements must submit their documents to the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, Directorate of Organising and Conducting Examinations, usually early August each year.
They should also fill in the candidate's application entry form, stating the Faculties and the Departments they prefer. Such an application entry form is given to the candidates on the day they submit their documents.

3. The documents are submitted either by the candidates themselves or by an authorized person. The candidates who submit their documents must hold their passports (VISA) or the documents of their legal stay-permit in Greece, plus a photocopy thereof. If the candidates are still abroad and cannot submit their documents themselves, the person they have authorized must submit a declaration stating that they are abroad.

However, if the candidates are in Greece and their documents are submitted by an authorised person, they should submit a ratified copy of the candidates' passport (VISA) or their stay-permit, certifying their legal presence in Greece.

4. The essential documents are:
a) the candidate's application entry form (with a small-sized passport photograph of his/hers attached to it).
b) the original graduation certificate ratified by the competent educational authority of the candidate's country.
c) a certificate of his/her general average marks issued either by the Department of Education or by the competent educational authorities of the candidate's country or by the Embassy of his/her country in Greece. The average of the general marks should be based on a point scale of 0-20.
d) an access certificate with the overall examination marks for the candidates who have graduated from a Lyceum of Greece or the Republic of Cyprus.
e) a certificate showing not only the candidate's citizenship and nationality but also his/her parents' citizenship and nationality (confirming that none of them are of Greek descent).
f) A. a certificate issued by the competent educational or diplomatic authority of the candidate's country confirming that his/her graduation certificate entitles him/her to attend a Higher Education Institution in their own country. (This certificate is not necessary for the candidates who have graduated from a Lyceum of Greece or the Republic of Cyprus and hold an access certificate with their overall examination marks.)
     B. a certificate issued by the competent educational or diplomatic authority confirming the country and the curriculum of the candidate's graduation school.
g) a certificate issued by the competent educational or diplomatic authority of the candidate's country confirming that he/she has fully attended the last year of a Lyceum or an equivalent school in the country of his/her graduation.
h) a declaration that:
    A. the non-EU candidate does not hold any degree issued by a Greek Higher Education Institution.
    B. the candidate has not been admitted to any faculty or department of Higher Education in Greece in the year 2004 or earlier.
i) The Committee responsible for collecting and checking the documents has the right to ask any candidates to submit additional documents at a fixed deadline in case it is decided that those specific candidates ought to further prove that they fall into a particular category.
5. All the documents issued by a foreign authority must be: a) ratified for the authenticity of the candidate's signature either by a Greek diplomatic authority abroad or by the diplomatic authority of the foreign country in Greece in which case, the documents must be ratified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Greece, and b) all documents must be translated into Greek either by a Greek diplomatic authority abroad or by the Translation Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Greece.
Attention should be paid to the documents which have been issued by foreign schools in Greece. The Greek Educational Authorities that are responsible for the specific school (Directorate of Secondary Education the school belongs to) should ratify the authenticity of the documents issued by the school. They should also state the legal status of the school.
Documents which have been issued by the following countries:
Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Barbados, Bahamas, Belarus, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei-Darussalam, Colombia, Cook Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Equador, Estonia, France, Finland, Fiji, FYROM, Germany, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakstan, Lesotho, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macao, Malawi, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niue, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, St Lucia, San Marino, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Serbia-Montenegro, Samoa, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Surinam, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, do not need any ratification by a Greek diplomatic authority abroad, provided they bear the APOSTILLE seal mentioned in the articles 3 and 4 of the Hague Convention (5th October 1961). The local competent authorities are assigned for this purpose by every contracting country according to article 6 of the Hague Convention. That is why the candidates who obtain their documents from the above mentioned countries should apply to the competent authority (Ministry of Education) of their own country and make sure they have the requested seal stamped on their documents.

ATTENTION: It should be noted that documents not ratified for their authenticity by a foreign authority, as mentioned above, will not be accepted by the Committee in charge of collecting the documents and the application entry forms will therefore be rejected.

NOTE: The particular category of European Union students includes Cypriot citizens who are candidates for the Higher Education
of Greece. These candidates submit their documents in Cyprus from 1st to 10th July.

(For further information, please contact
ATHENS: Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, Tel.: +30 210-3247428
NICOSIA: Ministry of Education and Culture, Tel.: + 357 22800626 & 22800763)

Useful information concerning the selected candidates:
1. The Selection of the candidates, who enter a Faculty or a Department of Higher Education is carried out by a decision of the Minister of Education. Both the Faculties and the Departments, where the candidates are admitted into, are mentioned on the candidates' application entry forms.

2. The candidate can enroll only at the Faculty or the Department he/she has been selected for.

3. With regard to his/her registration, the candidate who is admitted either into a Faculty or a Department must also hold a certificate denoting his/her command of the Greek language (such a certificate is issued after relevant examinations either by the University of Athens or by the University of Thessaloniki alternatively, the candidate should hold a 3rd level or higher certificate issued by the Greek Language Centre of Thessaloniki).
If the candidate does not hold any of those language certificates, he/she can only enroll in the next academic year of his/her admission to a Greek University, on condition that he/she will by then have obtained the prerequisite language certificate. Otherwise, the candidate has no right to enroll.
The examinations for the Greek language certificate are held twice a year: around June and September in ATHENS, at the Modern Greek Language Centre of the University Campus in Zografou also, in June and October in THESSALONIKI, at Modern Greek
Language Centre of the University of Thessaloniki.
For further information, concerning the language test and the examinations date, the candidates need to apply to either the University of Athens or the University of Thessaloniki a month before the fixed exam date, to make sure that they will not miss the deadline of the language test.
If a candidate holds a graduation certificate from a Greek or Cypriot Lyceum, no language certificate is required.

4. According to each Faculty or Department's regulations candidates should undergo a medical examination before enrolling.

5. Foreign students who come from countries which are not members of the European Union (non-EU students) pay fees so as to cover a small percentage of both their expenses of their studies and the books they are granted.

6. The documents submitted by candidates who have not been selected in any School of Higher Education will be returned to the candidate or to an authorised person if so requested. In case the candidate does not request to have his/her documents returned, those will be destroyed in August the following year.

7. Non-EU students must bear in mind that the Ministry of Education has no authority to grant a visa or a stay-permit.
The stay-permit is issued by The Aliens and Immigration Department (Attiki Precinct) only to those candidates who will be admitted to the Higher Education of Greece, provided that there is no reason to exclude the granting of this stay-permit.
It is also noted that according to Greek legislation, a stay-permit is not granted if a student changes Faculty or Department twice.
Students can change Faculty or Department only once: by submitting a new application/entry form within the year following their first admission in a Faculty or Department.

The above text is an extract of the information provided by the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, Directorate of Organising and Conducting Examinations.

For more information or the required application forms students should contact the Ministry directly at:
15, Mitropoleos str., GR101 85 Athens, Greece,
Tel.: +30 210 3247428, 3229959,
Website: http://www.ypepth.gr, http://www.ypepth.gr/en_ec_home.htm

Finally, it should be noted that as from 2004 the University of Ioannina is an official Examination Centre for the Certificate of Attainment in the Hellenic Language.
Further information can be obtained through the Centre for Teaching of the Greek Language and Culture (HeLaS) of the University of Ioannina, at,
Tel.: +30 26510 09135, 09147, 09150,
Fax: +30 26510 09229,
e-mail: langcntr@cc.uoi.gr, or Website: http://dikeppee.uoi.gr/?q=en/node/114

Foreign students interested in pursuing studies on a postgraduate level or exchange students (i.e. Erasmus) should contact the International & Public Relations Directorate directly, at
Tel.: +30 26510 07105-7, 07443, 07519, 07264, 07312,
Fax: +30 26510 07024, e-mail: piro@cc.uoi.gr,
or Website: http://www.uoi.gr

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