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The
Department of Geography of the University of the Aegean in
Mytilene, Lesvos, Greece, is the first Department of Geography
in Greece.
It was officially established in 1989
and it was launched in
1994-1995.
Originally,
it was called Department of Human Geography,
but since
1997 its name changed to Department of
Geography.
Its establishment responded,
rather belatedly though,
to the absence of modern geographic
education in the country where Geography was born and to the
need to develop contemporary geographic academic and research
activity in Greece as in the rest of the world.
The Department of Geography belongs to
the School of Social Sciences of the University of the Aegean
together with the Department of Social Anthropology and History,
the Department of Sociology and the
Department of Cultural Technology and Communication.
In 2002
the Department of Geography moved to a new
building at the University Hill that occupies
5000 square meters
and it is equipped with modern
facilities.
The aim of the Department is to offer a complete programme of
undergraduate and graduate education in Geography that observes
and responds to the both the international developments in the
field and the needs and particularities of the study of spatial
problems in Greece and its role in the wider Mediterranean and
European territory.
Since 1994
the Department of Geography follows a dynamic
development trajectory.
It offers a complete Programme of
Undergraduate Studies that continuously adapts to the academic
and professional demands of the field.
Since
2001-02 it has also a Programme of
Graduate Studies entitled «Geography
and Planning in Europe and the Mediterranean»
which, beginning with the academic
year 2005-06
it will be changed to
«Geography and Applied Geo-Informatics».
The
Department of Geography has 18
permanent staff members which in the near
future will reach the number of 23.
Teaching is supported also by several adjunct lecturers.
The total number of undergraduate students is
about 370.
So far, 156
geographers have graduated from the Department.
The total number of graduate students
is 35 while
there are also 34 PhD candidates.
At the time of this writing,
10 Master’s degrees and
4 PhDs have been awarded.
The management of the
academic and other affairs of the Department is carried out by
committees that consist of permanent staff members and students.
These
committees are:
Committee of
Undergraduate Studies,
Committee of
Graduate Studies and Scholarships,
Committee of
Economic Affairs,
Committee of
Public relations, Promotion and Professional Matters,
Committee of
Infrastructure,
and Committee
of Practice Course.
The
Department has three complete educational laboratories to
support teaching and research:
Laboratory of
Geoinformatics,
Laboratory of
Physical Geography and Laboratory of Human Geography.
A number of
research laboratories are under development and are expected to
be launched in the near future to support research on many
thematic areas of Geography.
Finally,
the educational
and research activity at the Department of geography are
considerably supported by the very well organized Mytilene
Section of the Library of the University of the Aegean.
The
headquarters of the Library are at Mytilene and coordinate the
sections of Mytilene, Samos, Chios, Rodos and Syros.
The Library has
a noteworthy collection on geographic themes and it is
continually enriched with english/links and foreign titles as well with
information material.
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