The Master's Program in Applied Physics is the continuation of one of the oldest postgraduate programs in Greece, the professional Meteorology Diploma, which was established in 1946 (Government Gazette 292/1946). Since 1994, it has operated as part of the unified postgraduate curriculum of the Department of Physics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Government Gazette 450/1994). In its current form, it was re-established in 2018 (Government Gazette 2137/2018) and operates under the regulations published in Government Gazette 4112/2023.
The goal of the master's program is not only to provide modern knowledge in the fields of Environmental Physics and Meteorology but also to develop skills for students, such as analytical thinking, synthesis ability, and problem-solving. This is why special applications have been included in the curriculum, such as numerical analysis, artificial intelligence, neural networks, extreme value analysis, digital processing of satellite images, and geographic information systems. These applications connect different - but related research fields - and enable the broadening and deepening of research through the use of big data. At the same time, emphasis has been placed on an interdisciplinary approach to environmental, meteorological, and climatic phenomena, which broadens the knowledge base of our students and reconciles them with the value of interdisciplinarity.
This Postgraduate Study Program leads, upon successful completion of the postgraduate curriculum, to the award of a Diploma of Postgraduate Studies (MSc) in “Applied Physics”, with specialization in Environmental Physics.
Admission to the MSc program is granted to holders of a BSc degree in Physics or in a closely related scientific field. If the degree is issued by a foreign University, it must be recognized by DOATAP, the Hellenic National Academic Recognition and Information Center (Hellenic NARIC). Admission is also granted to one (1) member of the Special Teaching Staff, Laboratory Teaching Staff, and Laboratory Technical Staff, per year, as long as the work he carries out in the Department is related to the subject of the Postgraduate Study Program.
Calls for applications to the MSc program are announced and posted on the Departmental and University sites during the Spring semester. Applications, accompanied by all required documents and certificates, must be submitted to the Department’s Secretariat before the deadline cited in the announcement. In exceptional cases, the call for applications may be launched later in the year, in September.
The duration of the MSc program, including the time needed for the dissertation, is three (3) academic semesters. Extensions of an additional semester, up to the examination period of the Spring semester of the second year of study, can be granted upon application by the student.
Students who work at least twenty (20) hours per week, as well as non-working students with disabilities and special educational needs, or students who are also athletes, but also students who cannot meet the demands of full-time attendance due to personal reasons, including health or family issues, or military service, may opt for part-time attendance. In such cases, the duration of part-time MSc studies does not exceed twice the duration of full-time studies.
Postgraduate students facing extraordinary issues, e.g., of a personal nature or health issues, may apply for a temporary hold to their studies of up to two consecutive academic semesters, which are not included in the maximum number of semesters allowed for completing the MSc program.
All postgraduate students are assigned an Academic Faculty Advisor who follows their progression and provides advice throughout the duration of their MSc studies.
Each academic year is divided in two semesters, a Winter semester, and a Spring semester, each with thirteen (13) weeks of instruction and three (3) weeks of examinations. Attendance to course lectures is obligatory: Participation in the examinations in each course is contingent upon absences not exceeding four (4). The examinations are held at the end of the semester of instruction of each course, i.e., in February and June. A repeat examination for the courses of both semesters is held in September of each academic year. Grades are assigned on a scale of 1 through 10, with 10 being the maximum (best) possible grade. A grade of six (6) or higher is required for successful completion of a course.
Students may choose to be examined in any course up to two (2) times, one of which is at the end of the semester of the course. In the event of a no-show in this first examination, a grade of zero is assigned and the students may choose to take the examination only once, in September of the same year as the normal examination.
A MSc dissertation (thesis) should be completed during the third semester. Students may commence their dissertation work upon completion of all coursework of the first year of study (or the second year, in the event of part-time attendance), i.e., either in June or in September. Each dissertation is assigned a three-member examination committee, with one member acting as the Thesis Advisor. Theses must be defended in the presence of the examination committee in a public presentation, which takes place after the February or June examination periods. The final dissertation, after inclusion of all corrections and editing requests made by the committee, must be posted on the Institutional Repository “PERGAMOS”. Graduates of the MSc program must also commit to obtaining the written consent of their Thesis Advisor prior to making any further use of all data and results within their MSc thesis.
The final MSc degree grade is determined as the weighted average of all course grades. The weighting factors are the ECTS points awarded by each course. The degree lists grades with a precision of two (2) decimal places and the designation EXCELLENT (8.5–10), VERY GOOD (6.5–8.49) or GOOD (6–6.49). The degree is accompanied by a Diploma Supplement, which is written in Greek and in English, and is attached to the degree.
