General Information

Since 1994, the Department of Geography of the University of the Aegean serves the science of Geography, one of the oldest scientific disciplines. Geography, as a field of academic activity and professional practice, has obtained particular importance in contemporary times that demands integrated and multidisciplinary approaches to the analysis and management of the multidimensional environmental, social and economic problems of modern societies with an emphasis on their spatial and geographical dimensions.

Together with the other departments of the University of the Aegean, the Department of Geography has entered a dynamic development trajectory. There are 23 three faculty members at the moment (2014). The high academic profile of its academic staff, in Greece and internationally, has contributed to the development and implementation of a complete Programme of Undergraduate Studies which successfully competes with related academic programmes abroad as well as of a Programme of Postgraduate Studies entitled “Geography and Applied Geo-Informatics”.

The facilities of the Department of Geography are located at a building of circa 5000 sq. meters on the University Hill, i.e. the university campus that is located at the outskirts of the town of Mytilene. The main technological/technical infrastructure of the Department is continuously enriched with the aim to organize and equip modern educational and research laboratories to cover the diverse range of the thematic areas of Geography.

The contribution of geographic research in everyday life and social practice is unquestionable today. The geography of poverty and of wealth, of investments and of technological innovation, of development and of underdevelopment, of cities and regions, of health, education, pollution and many other phenomena are issues that often appear in the mass media because they are at the center of interest and concern of society and the state. Their geographic analysis offers the indispensable basis for actions that aim at the alleviation of problems, the improvement of the quality of life and the move towards sustainable development. The inexhaustible wealth of its subjects makes the studies in Geography an experience of creative academic training that offers the satisfaction of obtaining meaningful and complete knowledge. At the same time, it opens up professional career horizons in areas where geographers are the most competent among other professions because they possess the necessary knowledge and skills to substantively contribute to the integrated analysis of modern spatial, environmental, social and economic problems.

Geography studies a vast variety of natural and socio-economic phenomena that take place in space and time – as, for example, land degradation and desertification, climate change, global environmental change, migration, urbanization and suburbanization, tourism development, social exclusion, industrialization and de-industrialization, urban, regional and rural development, globalization, geopolitical conflicts and many more. At the center of geographical studies lie the analysis, understanding and interpretation of the distribution and differentiation of the biophysical and social characteristics of space as well as the relationship between the natural environment, economy and society. By analyzing and interpreting the spatial problems, Geography is in the best position to articulate proposals regarding their resolution. Without becoming a substitute the spatial planning sciences – Urban Planning, regional Planning and Regional Science – the geographical analysis provides the indispensable basis for the development of planned interventions in space such as urban, regional and rural plans and development programs, social, economic, rural and environmental policy, infrastructure works, and works for the protection and improvement of the natural and the manmade environment.