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Historical Facts

Historical Review

The School of Economics and Political Sciences of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) is an evolution of the University's long-standing presence in the fields of social, political and economic science.

Until 2013, the Departments that currently comprise the School were administratively subordinated to the School of Law, Economics and Political Sciences (NOPE), together with the School of Law. In 2013, the restructuring of higher education led to the redesign of university schools and the need to create an autonomous institutional framework for social and economic sciences. With Presidential Decree No. 85, (Government Gazette 124/3-6-13, issue one), the School of Law, Economics and Political Sciences is renamed the School of Economics and Political Sciences (OPE) and operates as an independent academic unit of the National University of Athens, with the aim of unifying, upgrading and promoting the Departments that deal with the analysis and interpretation of social, political and economic phenomena.

From 2019 onwards, the School was significantly strengthened with the establishment of new Departments that respond to the modern needs of society and the economy, covering topics such as shipping, public administration, digital art and cinema. .

Today, the School of Economics and Political Sciences has eight (8) active Departments:

  • Department of Economics (Established in 1972)
  • Department of Political Science and Public Administration (Established in 1982)
  • Department of Business and Organizational Management (Established in 2019)
  • Department of Communication and Mass Media (Established in 1990)
  • Department of Sociology (Established in 2019)
  • Department of Turkish and Modern Asian Studies (Established in 2003)
  • Department of Port and Shipping Management (Psachna) (Established in 2019)
  • Department of Digital Arts and Cinema (Psachna) (Established in 2019)

The School seeks to create a modern and open university environment that combines scientific excellence with social sensitivity, academic research with professional training, and theoretical approach with practical application. With strong ties to society and the international scientific community, the School of Economics and Political Sciences continues to be a key pillar of the university life and scientific progress of the University of Athens.

Past Deans

School of Law, Economics and Political Sciences (N.O.P.E.), before the independence of the Law School. (until 2013)

  • Aristovoulos Manesis (1987-1988), Professor of Constitutional Law
  • Christos Rozakis (1991-1994), Professor of Public International Law
  • Spyridon Troianos (1994-2000), Professor of Ecclesiastical Law, History of Byzantine and Modern Law
  • Ioannis Karakostas (2000-2003), Professor of Civil Law
  • George Donatos (2003-2010), Professor of Statistics and Econometrics
  • Michael I. Tsinisizelis (2010-2014), Professor of European Integration Theories

School of Economics and Political Science

  • Michalis Spurdalakis (2014-2021), Professor of Political Sociology
  • Nikolaos Eriotis (2021- ), Professor of Financial Accounting

Honorary Doctorates of the School of Economics and Political Sciences

Department of Economics:

  1. Daron Acemoglu, Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at MIT, USA, 2014
  2. Mark Mazower Ira D. Wallach Professor of History at Columbia University, New York, USA, 2015
  3. Pierre Moscovici European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, 2017
  4. Jeffrey Sacks, Professor, Columbia University, 2017
  5. Muhammad Yunus Economist-Banker, 2019
  6. Nicholas Christakis, Professor of Social and Natural Sciences and Director of the Human Nature Laboratory at Yale University in the USA (2021)
  7. Panagiotis Pardalos, Distinguished Emeritus Professor at the University of Florida, 2022
  8. Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winning American economist, 2022
  9. Sir Christopher Pissarides, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and the University of Cyprus, Academician and Nobel Prize laureate in Economic Sciences, (2025)
  10. James K. Galbraith, Professor of Political Science, holder of the "Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Public Sector-Business Relations at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, USA. (2026)

Port and Shipping Management Department:

They don't have honorary doctorates.

Department of Sociology:

1.Nonna Mayer, Professor Emeritus, Research Director Emerita at the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics.

Department of Turkish Studies and Contemporary Asian Studies:

They don't have honorary doctorates.

Department of Communication and Mass Media:

  1. Yannis Bakogiannopoulos, Publisher, critic, director, teacher and film theorist (2024)

Department of Business and Organizational Administration:

  1. Nikolaos Christodoulides, President of the Republic of Cyprus (2024)
  2. Sir Christopher Pissarides, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and the University of Cyprus, Academician and Nobel Prize winner in Economic Sciences. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the departments of Economics and Business Administration of the School of Economics and Business Administration of the University of Athens, Monday, 7 April 2025.
  3. Dimitrios Choupis, General of the Hellenic National Defense Forces (2025)

Department of Digital Arts and Cinema:

  1. Fotos Lambrinos, documentary filmmaker (2025)

Department of Political Science and Public Administration:

  1. Robert Menendez
  2. Katerina Sakellaropoulou
  3. Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frederic Macron
  4. Kevin Featherstone
  5. Axel Honneth
  6. Thomas Piketty
  7. Nikos Fokas
  8. Frans Timmermans
  9. Helen Wallace
  10. Leo Panitch
  11. Francois Hollande
  12. Joseph H.H.Weiler
  13. Mark Tushnet
  14. George Tsembelis