Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki, Greece — www.auth.gr

QS Ranking
#651
Founded
1925
Type
Public Research University
Students
70,000+
Acceptance Rate
~30%
Founded
1925 — named for Aristotle, born 70 km away; Greece's largest university
QS Rank
#651 (2025) — Greece's #2
Cyril & Methodius
Inventors of Cyrillic alphabet — born in Thessaloniki 815–826 CE
Atatürk Birthplace
Founder of modern Turkey born in Thessaloniki 1881 — his birth house is a museum 2 km from campus

Overview

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH, Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης), founded in 1925 and named for the philosopher Aristotle — born in Stagira (now Stagira Chalkidikis), 70 km east of Thessaloniki, in 384 BCE, where he was later sent to Plato's Academy in Athens and eventually became tutor to Alexander the Great — is Greece's largest university and the largest university in the Balkans by student enrollment, ranked #651 in QS 2025. AUTH is located in Thessaloniki — Greece's second city, historically the 'co-capital' (συμπρωτεύουσα — symprotévousa) of Greece, the Byzantine Empire's second city after Constantinople, and one of the Mediterranean's richest cultural cities. Thessaloniki's history: founded by Cassander (Macedonian general, successor of Alexander the Great) in 315 BCE, named for his wife Thessalonike (Alexander the Great's half-sister); served as the Byzantine Empire's second capital for a millennium; was the birthplace of Cyril and Methodius (Saints Cyril and Methodius — the Byzantine missionaries who invented the Cyrillic alphabet, patron saints of Europe — born in Thessaloniki 826 and 815 CE); was a major Ottoman city known as Selanik for 500 years; and was the birthplace of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (the founder of modern Turkey, born in Thessaloniki's Ishak Pasha neighbourhood, 1881). The campus overlooks the Thermaic Gulf (the inner Aegean bay) and has one of Europe's most dramatic urban seafront university settings.

Admission Process

Greek students: Panhellenic Examinations. International students: int.auth.gr. Greek language (C1+) for most programs. English-medium graduate programs available. Erasmus+ (large quota — Thessaloniki is one of Europe's most popular Erasmus cities). Greek Government Scholarships (IKY). Deadlines: September.

Programs at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

← Browse all universities