National Technical University of Athens

National Technical University of Athens

The National (Metsovian) Technical University of Athens (N.T.U.A.) was founded in 1837. A royal decree “on architectural education” established a Technical School, which initially operated only on Sundays and holidays, offering courses to those who wish to train as master craftsmen in architecture. The influx of prospective students was so great that in the spring of 1840, a daily school was added alongside the Sunday school, while the number of classes increased and expanded. The “Polytechnic School” is then installed in its own building on Piraeus Street. With the zeal of the students and teachers, the school developed constantly and its level rose. Soon, the School was upgraded to meet the general needs of domestic reconstruction and industry. The duration of the studies was extended to three years, the program was enriched with new courses and the administration was carried out by the ” Committee for the Encouragement of National Industry”.

The limited capacity of the G. Vlachoutsis house on Piraeus Street (which later housed the Athens Conservatory), did not allow the School’s ambitious goals to be met. Thus, in 1871, the relocation of the School to new buildings on Patision Street began. Historical buildings that were first envisioned by Nikolaos Stournaris and led his relatives and fellow citizens from Metsovo, Michael Tositsa, Eleni Tositsa and Georgios Averof, to embrace his idea and follow his example. In 1887, with the establishment of the four-year study schools of “civil engineers” and “mechanics” (later mechanical engineers), the Polytechnic School or Metsovian Polytechnic, as it became more widely known, “trains men of higher technical education for the public service, industry and construction” comparable “to the graduates of the major technical schools of Europe” and with a law of 1914 the Institution was established as the “National Technical University of Athens”.

The last radical reform in the organization and administration of the University took place in 1917 with a special law. The National Technical University of Athens acquires five Schools of Higher Education: Civil Engineering, Mechanical – Electrical Engineering, Architectural Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Surveying Engineering. The transition from 1917 to the current organization of studies is the result of successive adaptations to the changing needs of the Greek economy in combination with the evolving in extent and depth content of the various fields of knowledge. The uprising of the youth in November 1973 and the shocking events that unfolded in the forecourts and classrooms of the Polytechnic School, formed the peak moment of the student movement’s course, a mature and massive political conflict with the dictatorship and its supporters. Beyond its historical dimension and its role in the establishment of Democracy, the Polytechnic uprising inspired and mobilized the entire society to claim common demands and brought a new ethic to the social and political life of the country.