UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES

NTUA plans and organises its educational programme under the following principles:

• Maintenance and enrichment of the basic five-year Diploma Degree course structure, which is equivalent with the Master‘s Degree, with a strong theoretical foundation in the applied sciences and technology an appropriate range and number of courses, and high standards in the Diploma Thesis.
• Strengthening studies, aiming at: 

i. cohesion and academic depth
ii. responding to current and future development needs
iii. methodical adaptation to the educational process of active learning
iv. linking studies with practical experience (professional or research-oriented)

• Opening new horizons in scientific and technological education

Requirements and Standards

Under the general principles which govern studies at NTUA, the university strives to ensure that the following demands and conditions are met:

• 25 to 26 teaching hours in total per week and 6 to 7 courses a semester.
• Classes are normally held between the hours of 08:45 and 15:30 from Monday to Friday.
• Class size is kept to a maximum of 80 students per lecturer.
• Teaching includes theoryand practice in a coherent presentation.
• Academic tutorials and interim tests are assessed, to strengthen the step by step learning.
• Information technology and PC labs form an integral part of the curriculum
• Regular detailed audit of textbooks by a special School Committee.
• Distribution of textbooks, on time.
• A fixed timetable for courses, examination periods and announcement of results.

In the winter examination period (January-February), only the courses of the fall semester are examined. In the summer examination period (June-July), only the courses of the spring semester are examined. In September, students may retake exams in any courses which they have either failed or have not previously been examined on or in which they wish to improve their grade (provided the courses have been declared at registration). Students are assessed in each course by the course instructor, who must set written and/or oral examinations as he/she feels appropriate, based on intermediary educational procedures (e.g. reports, term papers, exercises, etc.)

Design Projects

Design projects take place in all NTUA Schools during the semester courses or between the end of the final examinations in the spring semester and the start of courses in the fall semester. In the Schools of Civil Engineering, Rural and Surveying Engineering, and Mining and Metallurgical Engineering major projects are also in the curriculum.

Practical Training / Internship

The Internship's purpose is to connect education with the professional environment that the students will meet in the labor market when they complete their studies. NTUA was the first among the country's technology institutes which includes its students' Internship as an integral part of the educational process. The school of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering has incorporated the Internship into its curriculum since approximately 1953, while the School of Rural and Surveying Engineering around 1960. It is a mandatory lesson in the curriculum of the Schools of Architecture, Chemical Engineering and of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering. It is an elective lesson in the curriculum of the Schools of Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rural and Surveying Engineering, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and the School of Applied mathematical and Physical Sciences. The duration of the Internship is set at 1 or 2 months after the institutionalization of each school. It takes place every year from April to October. More than 1000 students of the NTUA every year are trained in their cognitive subjects through the Internship. NTUA Internship

Diploma Thesis

The final Diploma Thesis has the level, content, and duration of the Master Thesis of equivalent Anglo-Saxon Universities. It gives the students the opportunity to integrate their knowledge and to present their ability to carry out research on a topic of their specialty which was given during the five-year period of study. The principal thesis work is carried out exclusively during the 10th semester, when the student does not have any coursework. In the beginning of the 9th semester, the student applies to the School Office and selects the course within which the thesis is to be carried out under the supervision of a member of the academic staff who taught it or a course nearest the subject matter. The text of the thesis must include, apart from the significant contribution and
detailed development of the subject matter, the following:

• Synopsis (150-200 words) and Extended Abstract (300-500 words) in Greek and another foreign language (preferably English)
• High quality presentation
• Table of Contents and detailed Bibliography

After completion of the Diploma Thesis, the student deposits the appropriate text and undergoes an oral examination, by a three-member examining committee. This committee is proposed by the General Assembly of the Department and confirmed by the General Assembly of the School or by the Executive Board of the School, if it has been so authorized. This can only be done after the student has successfully passed all the courses. The final copy of the thesis remains to the School Office, while 2 other copies must be submitted, one to the Departmental Library and the other to the Central Library. These copies are available for borrowing by anyone who is interested. The final mark of the Diploma Thesis is calculated as the average of the marks of the 3 examiners, rounded to the closest integer or half unit of an integer.

Marking Schemes and Diploma

Marking in all courses is made on a scale of 0-10, without using fraction of an integer, and with 5 as a passing mark. Thesis marking is an exception since it is allowed to use half marks (0.5), and the passing mark is 5.5. The overall mark for the Diploma is calculated by summing the following:

• the arithmetic average of all course marks taken by the student during his/her studies, with a weighted coefficient of four fifths (4/5), and
• the Diploma Thesis mark, with a weighted average of one fifth (1/5).

The total quality of the student is assessed according to the following scale:

• Excellent 9 to 10
• Very Good 7 to 8.99
• Good 5.5 to 6.99
• Satisfactory 5 to 5.49
• Fail below 5