History and physiognomy of the Department
The University of Athens was founded in May 1837 and its first seat was the house of the architect Stamatis Kleanthis at the foot of the Acropolis rock, which today houses the Museum of History of the University of Athens. It was the first university not only in the newly-established Greek state but also the first university to be created in the independent Balkan states. Initially called the Ottoion University, with the eviction of Otto it was renamed the National University. In 1911, in order to fulfill a condition of the will of the Epirot benefactor Ioannis Dombolis, the "Kapodistrian University" was founded as a separate legal entity, with its own property and with the affiliation of the Faculties of Theology, Law and Philosophy, while the other two Faculties, namely Medicine and Physics, formed the "National University". By the Statute of 1932 (Law 5343) it was established that the two Institutions constituted the 'National and Kapodistrian University of Athens'. Initially, the new University of Athens consisted of four faculties: Theology, Law, Medicine and Philosophy, with 33 professors and 52 students.
In November 1841 the University moved to its new building, designed by the Danish architect Christian Hansen (1803-1883), on the street named "Panepistimiou". His brother Theophilus Hansen was responsible for the other two neoclassical buildings surrounding the University, the National Library and the Academy of Athens. In 1904 the sciences were separated from the Philosophy Department and thus the new departments of Physics, Mathematics and Pharmacy were established. (Shortly afterwards, Dentistry was added to the Faculty of Medicine.)
Between 1895 and 1911, about a thousand new students were admitted to the University's faculties annually. After the end of the First World War, this number roughly doubled. The increasing demand for student places from the Greek youth led the University to introduce entrance examinations in the academic year 1927-28.
The teaching of political economy began with the establishment of the University of Athens, at the corresponding seat of the Law School. The first professor in this chair, which he retained until his death, was Ioannis Alex. A pupil of the liberal economist Pelegrino Rossi, Soutsos preferred the term 'plutology' for political economy. Other famous professors of political economy and public economics at the Law School were Andreas M. Andreadis (1876-1935) whose obituary in the Economic Journal was written by John Maynard Keynes, Angelos Angelopoulos (1904-1995), Xenophon Zolotas (1904-2004), Kyriakos Varvaressos (1884-1957) and Yagos Pezmazoglou (1918-2003).
From 1926 to 1967 specialised courses in economics were offered within the framework of the Law School. After three years of common courses, students were able to choose in their fourth year of studies between two majors: law or economics. In 1967, these two directions led to the establishment, within the Faculty of Law, of two new departments. Finally, in 1972, the School took its present form, as the Department of Political Science and Economics was divided into the Departments of Economics and Political Science and Public Administration.
Since then, the Department of Economics has operated independently as one of the eight departments of the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences. It consists of 33 faculty and research staff members and awards about 350 degrees annually. Its registered active students amount to about 3,500 undergraduate and 140 postgraduate students, with about 350 students admitted each year.
Having broadened the variety of its research fields in all areas of economics, but also in related fields, which are in constant creative dialogue with economics (e.g. economic history and philosophy, mathematics, statistics and computer science), the Department of Economics of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens plays a central role in the production of economic knowledge, critical analysis of economic relations and institutions, as well as research work that strengthens the Greek and international literature.