The academic year starts on September 1 every year and ends on August 31 of the following year.
The educational work of every academic year is organized in two semesters, the fall semester and the spring semester, each of which comprises 13 weeks of teaching and two or three weeks of exams.
- Fall semester courses start in the last week of September and end in late January, followed by the first exam period of the fall semester.
- Spring semester courses start in mid February and end at the end of May, followed by the first exam period of the spring semester.
Exact dates are determined by the University Senate.
Every semester has two exam periods:
- Fall semester courses are examined during the exam period January-February and re-sit exams are held in September;
- Spring semester courses are examined during the exam period of June and re-sit exams are held in September.
The exam periods usually last for three weeks.
Every semester, before the beginning of each exam period, students have the right and obligation to evaluate their courses and instructors, in order to improve the quality of their studies. More information is available at the website of the Quality Assurance Unit (MODIP-AUTh http://qa.auth.gr/en) and the website of their Faculty/School.
HOLIDAYS
Neither courses nor exams are held in July and August, the two months of summer holidays. Holidays also include:
- Christmas Holidays: December 24 to January 7.
- Carnival Holidays: from Thursday before Lent to the day after Lent Monday.
- Easter Holidays: from the Monday of Easter Week to the Sunday after Easter Sunday.
OTHER HOLIDAYS
- October 26: Saint Dimitrios Day – Feast of the city’s Patron Saint. Liberation of Thessaloniki from the Ottoman occupation (National Holiday).
- October 28: National celebration.
- November 17: Students’ uprising in the National Technical University of Athens against the junta in 1973.
- January 30: The Three Patron Saints of Education Day.
- March 25: National Anniversary of the revolution of 1821 against the Turkish rule.
- May 1: Labour Day.
- Holy Spirit Day: Monday (after Pentecost).