Greece charges no tuition for a bachelor's degree at a public university, and the rule holds whatever passport you carry — but it covers the programmes taught in Greek. Foreign applicants do not sit the Panhellenic examinations that decide places for Greek school leavers: they enter through a separate national category, ranked on the average mark of their school-leaving certificate, and the whole intake is settled in one application week in July. The catch is the language. You have to hand in a Greek-language certificate when you enrol, and if you do not have one you can take the place up only in the following academic year. The English-taught bachelor's catalogue is the alternative — more direct, far narrower, and paid.
Line item
Figure or rule
Public tuition, Greek-taught bachelor's
0 USD per year for every nationality, EU and non-EU alike; the exemption covers programmes taught in Greek, not the foreign-language ones (Eurydice fee data, reference year 2023/24)[1], and Eurydice's 2026 description of the system still states that public higher education is free of charge[2]
English-taught bachelor's
5,085-19,210 USD per year, and the catalogue is small — 17 English-taught bachelor's programmes in the Study in Greece application catalogue when we checked it on 30 September 2026, five of them six-year medical degrees at 13,560-19,210 USD[3][4][5]
Public master's
Part of the catalogue stays free; where a fee is charged it averages 3,390-7,910 USD per year[6], with a fee exemption for low-income students who graduated with at least 7.5 out of 10[7]
Non-state university branches
UNIC Athens, the one 2025 branch the August 2026 court rulings did not touch, charges non-EU students 20,814-22,035 USD per year for its bachelor's programmes and 34,374 USD for medicine in 2026/27[8]; seven more branches were licensed on 28 July 2026 for the 2026/27 year and set their own fees[9]
Language of instruction
Greek by default. A Greek-language certificate is required to enrol, not to apply; an admitted candidate without one may enrol in the following academic year instead, and loses the place if it is still missing then[10]
Degree lengths
Bachelor's 4 years (at least 240 ECTS)[11]; engineering, architecture and agriculture run as 5-year integrated programmes that usually award a master's-level qualification, veterinary medicine takes 5 years and medicine 6[12]; master's at least 2 semesters and 60 ECTS[13]; doctorate 3 years minimum, 6 years maximum[14]
Where a non-EU applicant applies
Bachelor's: the Ministry of Education portal at exams-foreigner.it.minedu.gov.gr, not the university, with the signed printout and the file couriered to the ministry afterwards. Master's and doctorate: directly to the department[15]
Main bachelor's deadline
One week in early July. The 2026/27 round ran 2-9 July 2026 online, with 10 July as the postmark deadline for the paper file and results on 28 August[15]. As of 30 September 2026 the ministry had not posted the 2027/28 notice; the application notices for 2024, 2025 and 2026 all appeared on 1 or 2 July[16]
Credential recognition
Not a prerequisite for a Greek master's or PhD: the university checks your institution and degree type against DOATAP's national registers[17]. Where formal DOATAP recognition is needed, it costs 203 USD for a foreign bachelor's and 147 USD for a master's or doctorate[18], with an indicative 1-2 months for a complete file[19]
Visa
National type D visa for a degree programme, converted to a residence permit after arrival. Short courses under 90 days use a Schengen type C visa at 102 USD for adults[20]
Residence permit
Since Law 5275/2026, published on 6 February 2026, it is issued for the maximum length of the programme rather than year by year, with a progress check every two years, for a 169 USD fee[21]; holders of Greek state, foundation or exchange scholarships come in on a separate scholarship permit that carries no fee[22]. The card itself costs 18 USD, payable even when the permit fee is waived[23]
Proof of funds and insurance
At least 734 USD per month, set by joint ministerial decision for both the first permit and its renewal[24]. The visa needs travel medical insurance of at least 33,900 USD valid for the visa's length, as the consular checklists that universities circulate set it out[25][26]; the permit then needs health insurance meeting the ministry's minimum cover[27]
Work during study
Part-time only, outside teaching hours, capped at 20 hours per week by Law 5275/2026, with no separate full-time allowance for the holidays[28]
After graduation
A 1-year H.11 residence permit to look for work or start a business, granted without the national entry visa otherwise required[29]
Studying abroad doesn’t break the bank anymore
Universities for any budget
Scholarship options
Installment plans up to 2 years
from5,482 ₽per month
What Greece gives you that its neighbours mostly do not
The Greek-taught public track charges no tuition to anyone
Greece does not run a two-tier fee system: a Greek-taught bachelor's at a public university costs 0 USD per year whether you hold an EU passport or not[1]. Your budget then turns on living costs and paperwork, not on fees.
Admission is decided on your school grades, not an entrance exam
Greek school leavers compete through the Panhellenic examinations. Applicants in the separate category for foreign nationals of non-Greek origin do not sit them: the ranking runs on the overall mark of your school-leaving certificate, converted where necessary to the Greek secondary scale of 0 to 20, with 20 the top mark[10]. You are ranked against other foreign applicants, not against Greek candidates, so a strong transcript translated and certified in time does more for you here than any test score.
A few fields where Greece is a first-choice destination, not a fallback
Greek universities are mid-table globally — the National Technical University of Athens is the country's highest entry in the QS World University Rankings 2027 at 378th[30], and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the top Greek entry in the THE World University Rankings 2027, sits in the 451-500 band[31]. By subject the picture changes: Athens is 34th in the world for Classics and Ancient History in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026[32]. Archaeology, classics and the history of the Eastern Mediterranean are studied here next to the sites and collections themselves.
The permit rules moved in the student's favour in February 2026
Article 119 of the Migration Code (Law 5038/2023) lets a graduate stay for a year to look for work or start a business[33]. Law 5275/2026 then made the study permit itself run for the maximum length of the programme instead of being renewed every year[21], raised the part-time ceiling from 15 to 20 hours a week[28] and let the job-search permit be issued without a fresh entry visa[29]. Neither permit is automatic — you file for both — but the yearly renewal is gone for students on a full-length permit.
What the free degree costs you somewhere else
Free means Greek, and the certificate gates your enrolment
The tuition exemption covers the programmes taught in Greek, and you cannot register without a Greek-language certificate. Turn up without it and the ministry's rule is blunt: you may enrol in the next academic year instead, having obtained the certificate by then, or you are disqualified from enrolling at all[10]. That is a year of living costs that counts for nothing towards the degree. The English-taught alternative is 17 paid bachelor's programmes in the Study in Greece catalogue, five of them medicine[3].
The undergraduate application window is about a week long
Bachelor's applications in the foreign-national category open and close inside a single week in early July — 2 to 9 July for the 2026/27 intake, with the signed printout and the supporting file due at the ministry by courier the following day[15]. Every certificate must already be translated, certified and in hand when the window opens. Miss it and the next round is a year away.
The non-state university sector is legally unsettled
A branch's licence is not a settled fact: the Council of State annulled the licences of three of the four branches licensed in 2025 in rulings of 13 August 2026[34], and the ministry re-issued licences to two of them, the York and Keele branches, on 28 August after re-running the procedure[35]. Confirm the current licence with the ministry before you transfer a fee, and read the branch's refund terms first.
Apostilles, translations and degree checks add months before you start
Every foreign document in the undergraduate file needs an apostille or consular validation and an official Greek translation by an accepted translator[10], and each step has its own queue. At master's and doctoral level a Greek university checks your university and degree type against DOATAP's registers itself; if either is missing from them, the university refers the case to DOATAP[17], whose indicative time for a complete file is 1-2 months[19].
A thin graduate labour market and a narrow EU work channel
The national minimum wage rose from 880 to 1,040 USD per month gross on 1 April 2026, and it is the honest floor to plan entry-level pay against[36]. Greece issued 95 EU Blue Cards in 2024, a fraction of the EU total[37], so treat the Blue Card as a narrow channel here rather than a default exit route.
Study in Greek for free, or pay for an English-taught place
The tuition-free headline attracts people it does not actually fit, so test yourself against the three things that decide the outcome here — the goal, the budget and the language.
Greece fits if you want archaeology, classics, history, philosophy, Byzantine or Mediterranean studies, and you are willing to study in Greek. It also fits if you are set on an EU degree, your family can cover living costs but not five figures of tuition, and you are prepared to spend a year getting to a Greek-language certificate before the degree starts.
Greece fits at master's and doctoral level if your field has a department that teaches or supervises in English and your university appears in DOATAP's register of recognised foreign institutions, which is what a Greek department checks. At these levels the language question is decided programme by programme rather than nationally, and the English-taught catalogue is much wider than at bachelor's.
Look elsewhere if you need to graduate in English at bachelor's level in a field outside the 17 English-taught programmes; if you want a free place but cannot make the one Greek-taught application week in July — only the paid English-taught programmes run their own, longer windows, such as 8 September 2026 to 31 May 2027 for the Aristotle University law degree in English[38]; if your plan depends on part-time earnings, because the cap is 20 hours a week and entry-level pay sits close to a 1,040 USD gross floor[36]; or if the point of the degree is a high-paid graduate job in the country where you studied.
The fork worth naming. If you are within a year of the Greek certificate, apply in the July window and take the deferred enrolment if you need it. If you are starting Greek from zero and cannot fund two years before the degree begins, either budget for a paid English-taught place in Greece or compare the alternatives in the last section of this guide before you commit to the language.
Rent is the largest variable: the University of Athens allocates rooms in its campus residences each September, and everyone else rents on the private market[42]. The academic ID card brings reduced public-transport fares in Athens and discounts at museums and archaeological sites[40].
Higher education in Greece is overwhelmingly public: universities, polytechnic schools, the Higher School of Fine Arts and ASPETE, the school of pedagogical and technological education. Since Law 5094/2024 the ministry also supervises the new non-state branches, together with the Hellenic Authority for Higher Education and EOPPEP[2]. Teaching at public universities is in Greek; English-taught options exist, but they are concentrated at master's level and in a short list of undergraduate programmes. You can browse institutions, cities and fields in our companion guide to universities in Greece.
Levels of higher education
The levels of higher education in Greece correspond to the universal European system, with one structural quirk worth knowing before you apply:
Bachelor's degree — undergraduate. The duration of studies is 4 years, and the qualification is called Ptychio in Greek.
Integrated master's. In engineering, architecture and agriculture there is no separate bachelor's: you study 5 years and 300 ECTS for a single diploma that Greece usually places at master's level, which matters when a foreign employer or evaluator reads your CV[12]. Medicine takes 6 years and 360 ECTS.
Master's degree — postgraduate. At least 2 semesters and 60 ECTS, including a dissertation[13].
PhD. At least 3 years, with 6 calendar years as the maximum for completing the thesis[14].
Academic grading in Greece
University work is marked from 0 to 10: a degree certificate states the grade with its description — 5.00-6.49 "Good", 6.50-8.49 "Very good", 8.50-10.00 "Excellent"[11]. Do not confuse this with the 0-20 scale used for secondary school-leaving certificates, which is the scale your own transcript has to be converted to for the admission ranking[10].
Non-state universities since the 2024 reform
For decades Article 16 of the Constitution reserved degree-awarding to public institutions, which is why older sources state flatly that every Greek university is public. Law 5094/2024, enacted on 8 March 2024, changed that. It allows non-profit branches of foreign universities to operate as licensed University-Legal Entities under the Ministry of Education with quality oversight from the Hellenic Authority for Higher Education. The parent institution must operate in the EU, the EEA, Switzerland or a GATS member country, teach across all three cycles, appear in DOATAP's register of recognised foreign institutions, and lodge a 2,259,977 USD guarantee.
The rollout has been turbulent. The first four branches — of the Open University, the University of York, Keele University and the University of Nicosia — were licensed in August 2025[9]. On 13 August 2026 the Council of State annulled the licences of the York, Keele and Anatolia College branches over how the licensing had been done; the ministry said the ruling left the law itself standing[34], re-ran the procedure and re-issued licences to the York and Keele branches on 28 August[35]. Meanwhile a second wave was licensed on 28 July 2026 for the 2026/27 year — seven institutions from the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Cyprus, six of them in Athens and Iowa State in Thessaloniki[9]. The government set end-September 2026 as its target for settling the already-licensed institutions and end-October 2026 as the deadline for new applications[43]. Fees are set branch by branch: UNIC Athens, for example, charges non-EU students 20,814 USD a year for business, psychology and computing degrees, 22,035 USD for law and pharmacy and 34,374 USD for medicine in 2026/27[8]. If you are considering one of these branches for 2027, verify its licence with the ministry on the day you apply, ask in writing what happens to your enrolment and your fees if the licence is contested, and do not treat a press announcement of an approval as the end of the story.
Keep this category apart from the older private colleges, which teach programmes of foreign universities under a 2008 law and are not Greek higher-education institutions. Since Law 5275/2026 their non-EU students hold a separate H.5.2 permit, may work up to 20 hours a week and can apply for the one-year job-search permit after graduating[44]. The catch comes later: when a Greek university assesses a foreign degree for master's or doctoral admission, it has to rule out that any of the teaching or exams took place at a private provider in Greece[17]. The 2024 law does not turn a college into a university branch — only licensing does.
Greek universities in the QS 2027 table and what they teach in English
No Greek university reaches the global top 300, so choose by department and language rather than by overall rank. Six of the Greek entries in the QS World University Rankings 2027, with the English-taught bachelor's programmes each lists in the Study in Greece catalogue[3]:
Humanities and classics applicants with time to learn Greek
Medicine applicants who want an EU degree in English
Applicants who want English teaching in a field the public catalogue lacks and can pay for it
Admission routes to higher education in Greece
Validation of foreign studies and degrees in Greece
What has to be validated depends on the level, and at neither level is a full recognition procedure a condition for applying.
For undergraduate studies. Your school-leaving certificate, the certificates about your school years and the certificate of your parents' origin each need an apostille or a validation by a Greek consulate, plus an official Greek translation by an accepted translator — the foreign ministry's register, your country's embassy in Greece, a lawyer who certifies the language, or a certified Ionian University translator[10]. Note what Greece does not require at this level: there is no DOATAP step for a school certificate and no minimum number of school years. A CBSE or CISCE Class 12 certificate, a WAEC or NECO senior school certificate, a Philippine senior high school diploma, a US high school diploma with its transcript, the IB diploma or A-levels all work, provided the certificate would admit you to university in the system that issued it and you attended the last two years in full and in person. What the ministry does require is the conversion of your average to the 0-20 scale and, for a technical or vocational certificate, an equivalence decision from EOPPEP before that conversion.
For graduate and doctoral studies. Under Law 4957/2022 you do not apply to DOATAP, the Greek ENIC-NARIC, before a master's or a PhD. You apply to the department, and the university checks whether your university is in DOATAP's National Registry of recognised foreign institutions and your degree type in its registry of recognised title types; if either is missing, the university refers the case to DOATAP[17]. Search the registers at mitroa.doatap.gr before you apply — a missing entry is the thing that slows a file down. Formal academic recognition by DOATAP is a separate procedure for when an employer, a regulator or a later application asks for it: 203 USD for a foreign bachelor's and 147 USD for a master's or doctorate, at the rates in force since 1 December 2024[18], with an indicative 1-2 months for a complete file[19].
If your file has a weak spot
A low school average. On the Greek-taught route your average on the 0-20 scale is the only ranking criterion, and there is no test or interview to make up for it[10]. A weak average is a reason to look at the English-taught programmes, which each university selects for itself.
A degree in a different field. Master's selection weighs your grades in modules relevant to the programme, your thesis and your research experience[13], so show the relevant modules, projects or work in the file rather than relying on the overall grade.
A certificate or degree that may not count. A school certificate must entitle you to university admission in the country that issued it, and distance-learning certificates are refused outright[10]. For a degree, a university missing from DOATAP's register means a referral to DOATAP, and teaching done partly at a private provider in Greece rules the degree out[17].
No Greek yet. Apply anyway if the field is right: admission comes first, and you have until the following academic year to produce the certificate. If a year of language study is not affordable, the English-taught catalogue is the realistic alternative.
On the Greek-taught route the preparation that matters is language, not an academic foundation year. You can be admitted without knowing Greek — the language certificate is checked at enrolment, not at application — but you cannot register without it. The ministry's rule for candidates who arrive without one is that they may enrol in the academic year after their admission, provided the certificate is in hand by then; otherwise the place is lost[10]. In practice that is a year on a university language course, paid for out of your own living budget and counting for nothing towards the degree.
Three certificates are accepted. Two universities examine for their own: the Modern Greek Language Centre of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, which sits candidates around May and September, and the School of Modern Greek Language at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, which sits them in June and October. The third is the B2 certificate of attainment in Greek issued by the Greek Language Centre, examined in May. If your school certificate shows that you were taught and examined in Greek, no separate certificate is required[10].
The Athens centre runs an eight-month, 20-hours-a-week beginners' course reserved for students admitted through the ministry or holding a scholarship: in 2026/27 it runs from 5 October 2026 to 14 May 2027, aims at B2 and costs 1,113 USD, with registration from 24 August to 16 September[41]. Its certificate exams in 2027 fall on 17-22 May and 6-11 September[50]; plan on the May sitting and ask your department whether a September result would still arrive in time for its enrolment. Since Law 5275/2026 the student residence permit adds one year for learning Greek when the institution asks for it[21].
Vocational education in Greece
For an applicant from abroad, vocational training in Greece means post-secondary schools rather than a degree: public or private lifelong learning centres, vocational training schools (ESK) and the Higher Vocational Training Schools (SAEK) that replaced the old IEK institutes. A non-EU trainee comes on a separate H.5.1 permit, which requires admission to an in-person programme and a certificate in the language it is taught in[44]. The certificate from such a school is not a university degree, so it does not open the master's route described below, which admits graduates of universities[13].
The bachelor's degree, Ptychio in Greek, is the first step in the system and the only level with a centralised national admission route for foreign applicants. Everything below is about that route.
Admission requirements
Who qualifies. The category is for applicants of non-Greek origin who completed the last two years of upper secondary school abroad, in full attendance, on a certificate that entitles them to university admission in that country. Distance or correspondence certificates are not accepted, graduates of Greek schools in Greece cannot use the category, and anyone who has already taken a Greek higher-education diploma cannot apply again. Candidates admitted in the previous round may file a new application to change faculty or department[10].
Submission of documents. The application goes not to a university but to the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, through its portal for the foreign-national category, with a ranked list of faculties and departments. You then print the form and the solemn declaration, sign every page and courier them to the ministry with the supporting file. Admission follows by ministerial decision to one department from your list.
Competition. There is no entrance examination. The selection criterion is the overall mark on your school-leaving certificate, expressed on the Greek 0-20 scale by a conversion certificate from a Greek authority (see the document list below).
Cost. The ministry's instructions set no application fee, and a Greek-taught programme at a public university charges no tuition, whatever your nationality[1]. English-taught undergraduate programmes are paid. What you do pay for is the paperwork: apostilles, sworn translations, consular certification and courier.
How to time a 2027 application
This is not a rolling admission. The whole foreign-national undergraduate intake is decided in one national round run through the ministry portal at exams-foreigner.it.minedu.gov.gr. The 2026/27 round opened on Thursday 2 July and closed on Thursday 9 July 2026, the signed paper file had to carry a postmark no later than Friday 10 July, and results were published on 28 August, with enrolment of successful candidates announced on 11 September[15]. As of 30 September 2026 the ministry had not published the notice for 2027/28; the application notices for 2024, 2025 and 2026 appeared on 1 July 2024, 2 July 2025 and 1 July 2026, with the 2025 instructions posted on 27 June[16]. Treat the dates below as the shape of the year rather than the calendar, and watch the ministry's announcements page from June 2027. Plan backwards:
12-15 months out. Decide between the tuition-free Greek-taught track and a paid English-taught programme, and pick the field. If Greek is the plan, start the language now: the certificate gates your enrolment, not your application, and the gap between admission in August and a certificate in hand is what costs people a year.
9-12 months out. Order every certificate in the ministry file listed below; they come from different authorities at home — your school, your education or diplomatic authority, and whoever certifies your parents' origin.
4-6 months out. Get the apostilles, then the official Greek translations, then the consular certification. The chain is sequential and each step has its own queue, and only the translators listed in the validation section above are accepted.
The Greek certificate sittings. Athens examines around May and September, Thessaloniki in June and October, the Greek Language Centre in May (details under preparatory programmes). Work backwards from whichever one you can realistically pass.
June. Register on the portal and assemble your ranked list of departments before the window opens, so filing takes an evening rather than a week. Book the courier in advance — the paper file has its own deadline one day after the online one.
Late August to September. Results are published; then apply for the type D visa, and after arrival convert it into a residence permit and register with your department, language certificate in hand.
Documents for a foreign-national bachelor's place
School-leaving certificate, validated by your country's education authority, with an apostille or Greek consular validation and an official Greek translation. Certificates earned by distance or correspondence are not accepted;
Certificate of correspondence issued by a Greek authority — the ministry, a local secondary-education directorate or the education office of a Greek embassy — with your average on the 0-20 scale; a vocational or technical certificate first needs an EOPPEP equivalence certificate;
Certificate from your education or diplomatic authority confirming that you attended the last two school years in full, the country and curriculum of your school, and that your certificate entitles you to university admission at home;
Certificate of your own and your parents' origin, or the family-status, birth-certificate and passport alternatives the ministry accepts;
Two small photographs and a copy of your passport;
Official statement that you hold no Greek secondary certificate from a school in Greece and no Greek higher-education degree.
Foreign documents are submitted as lawyer-certified copies with official Greek translations[10]. In the July courier package you send only the signed application and declaration, the photograph, the passport copy, the school-leaving certificate with its translation and the correspondence certificate with the 0-20 conversion; the rest goes to the department's secretariat at enrolment[15].
Once enrolled, you follow compulsory, elective-compulsory and optional modules over at least 8 semesters and 240 ECTS. Attendance and a pass in every compulsory module are conditions for the degree, and a failed compulsory module is re-examined in the following semester[11].
Master’s degree in Greece
A master's programme in Greece runs for at least 2 semesters and 60 ECTS, part of which goes on the dissertation, and may start in the winter or the spring semester. Each programme's regulation, published in the Government Gazette, sets its curriculum, its intake and how long you may take to finish[13].
Admission requirements
Foreign degree check. You do not need DOATAP recognition to apply. The university checks your university and degree type against DOATAP's registers and refers the case to DOATAP only if either is missing[17], so look yourself up at mitroa.doatap.gr before the department's deadline.
Submission of documents. The application goes directly to the department, under the call it publishes.
Competition. Selection follows the programme's regulation and weighs your overall degree grade, your grades in modules relevant to the programme, any undergraduate thesis and any research experience[13]. The weighting is the department's own: in the call shown below the interview alone carried half the marks.
Cost. Master's is where Greece does charge. Part of the public catalogue is free, and where a fee applies it averages 3,390-7,910 USD/year[6]; a branch of a foreign university charges considerably more. Fee-charging public programmes must also exempt students on low taxable incomes who graduated with at least 7.5 out of 10, under ministerial rules that measure income against the national median[7]; since the test is built on Greek tax data, ask the programme how it would assess an income earned abroad before you count on it.
Language. Universities offer master's programmes both in Greek and in English, and the English-taught catalogue is much wider here than at bachelor's. Each call sets its own language requirement; the national Greek-certificate rule and the deferred enrolment described above belong to the undergraduate ministry route.
One Greek master's call in detail: Patras biomedical sciences, 2025/26
Application form;
Degree certificate; for a foreign degree, a DOATAP equivalence certificate if you have one, otherwise assessment against the DOATAP registers plus a certificate of the place of study sent by your university — degrees taught partly in Greece outside a public university were excluded;
Transcript and a copy of your ID;
CV in the European format and evidence of research or professional work;
Places were capped at 30 a year, and selection weighted the degree grade, publications, another master's, research experience and the recommendation letters at 10% each and the interview at 50%[51]. Other programmes set their own documents and weights, so read each call in full.
A PhD in Greece takes at least 3 years, and 6 calendar years is the maximum for completing the thesis. You normally need a master's degree to apply; graduates of a 5-year, 300-ECTS integrated programme may apply where the department's doctoral regulation allows it[14].
Admission requirements
Foreign degree check. As at master's level, no prior DOATAP recognition is required: the university checks your degrees against DOATAP's registers[17].
Submission of documents. You apply to the department's secretariat; universities may also publish calls that set their own terms and deadlines.
Competition. The department's general assembly sorts applications by research field and appoints a three-member committee, which examines them and interviews the candidates; the assembly then decides, taking account of the supervisor's opinion, and fixes the language of the thesis[14]. In practice, find a supervisor before you apply.
Cost. Eurydice's description of Greek doctoral study sets out no national fee, so check the department's doctoral regulation and the call for any charges and for funded places.
Language. The thesis may be written in a language other than Greek where the doctoral regulation allows it, and the decision is made at admission.
What goes into a Greek doctoral application
Application naming the proposed thesis title, the thesis language and the provisional supervisor;
CV;
Thesis proposal;
Any other documents the department's doctoral regulation lists[14].
Teaching posts and the academic ladder in Greece
Law 4957/2022 sets three ranks of permanent teaching and research staff, each requiring a doctorate and original publications beyond the thesis:
Assistant professor (Epikouros Kathigitis). At least 3 years after the doctorate of independent university teaching, research at a recognised centre or professional work in the field.
Associate professor (Anaplirotis Kathigitis). At least 5 years of such experience after the doctorate.
Professor (Kathigitis). At least 6 years of independent teaching after the doctorate, at least 3 years of postgraduate teaching or of running a recognised research centre, and service on the advisory committees of completed doctoral theses.
Selection weighs international research presence, research projects, patents and spin-off companies as well as publications[52].
Scholarships and grants in Greece
Greek-side money for incoming students is scarce and mostly tied to studying in Greek. Be careful with the famous names in particular: the main Onassis Foundation call for 2026/27 is for Greek citizens, or for graduates of a Greek university who also hold a Greek school diploma and live legally in Greece, and it funds study mainly abroad[53]; its separate programme for international scholars was not announced for 2026/27 at all[54]. The Greek-side routes worth checking:
Greek foreign ministry scholarships. For 2026/27 the ministry offered 50 scholarships for Greek-taught bachelor's programmes and tuition-free Greek-taught master's programmes, paying 734 USD a month, with a funded year of Greek to B2 first where needed. Citizens of the countries on that year's list applied through the Greek embassy by 27 July 2026, and the allowance continues only if you pass a rising share of your courses each year. Ask the Greek embassy in your country whether it is on the list and when the 2027/28 call opens.
IKY scholarships for Modern Greek language and culture courses. The State Scholarships Foundation funds an eight-month course, usually October to May, at a Greek public university, for foreign nationals who hold a degree from a university outside Greece and do not live permanently in Greece[55]. As of 30 September 2026 IKY's page stated neither a stipend nor a deadline, so confirm both directly before you plan around them.
For most applicants the realistic funding comes from home or from an exchange:
Erasmus+ exchange. If your home university takes part in Erasmus+ and has an agreement with a Greek university, you can spend 2 to 12 months there on a grant towards travel and living costs, paying no tuition, registration or exam fees at the host. There is no central application: you go through your own university's international office[56].
Home-country education loans. In India, for example, SBI's Global Ed-Vantage loan covers full-time regular courses at foreign universities, can be sanctioned before the visa and is repaid over up to 15 years[57]. Check whether your lender accepts a Greek public university, or a language year, as the course it funds.
Employer sponsorship. If you are working, ask whether your employer will pay for a fee-charging master's; Greek public programmes that charge average 3,390-7,910 USD a year[6].
Treat any scholarship as a bonus rather than a line in your budget. For the wider picture of international funding, see our overview of scholarships for international students.
Students from countries outside the EU need a special visa to study in Greece. There are two types of student visas:
Short Stay (Type C). Issued to students who visit Greece for the purpose of studying in preparatory or language courses, as well as for participating in conferences, symposia, and olympiads. The main condition for a type C visa is to stay in the country for no more than 90 days.
Long-term (type D). Awarded to those who have been admitted to a Greek university as a full-fledged student in an undergraduate, MBA, graduate, or doctoral programme. It is the entry document: once you are in Greece you convert it into a residence permit rather than renewing the visa. The national visa fee is set per consulate, so check the fee schedule of the post handling your file.
Students who are not citizens of an EU or EEA country apply online for the residence permit for studies within 90 days of arrival, and retrieve a "blue certificate" (μπλε βεβαίωση) confirming that the application is pending[58]. The permit costs 169 USD[21] plus 18 USD for the card[23], and you prove at least 734 USD a month for living costs, by bank deposit, transfer, grant, scholarship or, at renewal, part-time pay[24]. The health insurance you file must meet the ministry's minimum cover; the University of Athens quotes Greek policies from 78 USD a year, and a home-country policy is accepted if it meets the same cover and is officially translated[27].
What changed on 6 February 2026. Law 5275/2026 amended the student provisions of the Migration Code. The permit for studies is now granted for the maximum duration of the study programme rather than for one year at a time, and it can be extended by a further year where the institution asks for time for Greek language study. In exchange the ministry checks your progress: every two years you file an enrolment certificate and a full transcript, or a supervisor's progress report for postgraduate and doctoral work, and failing to produce them leads to revocation. Your institution is also obliged to report within three months if you stop attending. After a bachelor's or master's you can renew the same permit for the next degree without leaving Greece for a new visa[21]. The practical effect for a 2027 entrant is fewer permit queues and one more reason not to drift out of a programme quietly.
Documents for the type C visa
Application form;
A valid passport with 2 blank pages ;
Two 35x45 ICAO photographs;
Receipt for payment of the Schengen visa fee — 102 USD for adults and 51 USD for children aged 6 to 11, the same across all Schengen states since 11 June 2024[20];
Travel medical insurance covering the whole stay;
Letter of invitation from the Greek side;
Personal solvency certificate or a sponsorship letter with a document confirming the sponsor's solvency.
Documents for the type D visa
Application form;
A valid passport with 2 blank pages ;
Two 35x45 ICAO photographs;
Receipt for payment of the national visa fee. This one is set per consulate rather than EU-wide, so check the fee schedule of the Greek consulate handling your file instead of relying on a single published figure;
Travel medical insurance valid for at least the length of the visa, covering repatriation, urgent medical care and hospital care, with minimum cover of 33,900 USD[25];
Official letter of acceptance from the Greek university;
Personal solvency certificate or a sponsorship letter with a document confirming the sponsor's solvency;
Copies of parents' passports, if they provide financial support, and proof of relationship ;
A document stating the intended place of residence in Greece;
Criminal record certificate from your country;
Medical certificate that you have no disease posing a public-health risk.
Opportunities to work while studying in Greece
A student residence permit allows part-time work only, outside teaching hours, and Law 5275/2026 caps it at 20 hours a week in every case[28]. There is no separate full-time allowance for vacation periods, so do not build a budget on 40-hour summers: plan on 20 hours all year, at a national minimum wage of 1,040 USD gross a month[36], and treat anything above that as luck rather than policy. Once you work you fall under Greek labour law: you pay social security contributions and file a tax return[59], which means getting an AMKA social security number first[60]. If a Greek scholarship brought you in on a scholarship permit rather than a study permit, the same 20-hour ceiling applies[22].
Internships during and after your studies
For a paid internship in your field arranged through an exchange body — a Greek university with a bilateral agreement, or an international student-exchange organisation — Greece issues a national visa marked "B.10 Intern" for up to six months, with no residence permit needed. The file includes the internship contract between the institution and the host, full health insurance, sufficient means, a 169 USD fee, and proof that you are still studying or graduated within the last two years; you leave Greece when the visa expires[61]. If your home university takes part in Erasmus+, a traineeship abroad can also be combined with an exchange, with extra support for trainees[56].
Article 119 of the Migration Code (Law 5038/2023) lets a holder of a study permit who has completed a higher-education degree stay for one year to look for work or set up a business at the level of the degree. You apply at least 30 days before the study permit expires, with your diploma as evidence, and the permit can later be converted into an employment or business permit (types E.1, E.3, E.4 or B.2)[33]. Law 5275/2026 named it the H.11 permit and dropped the need for a new entry visa, so you apply from inside Greece[29]. It is still not automatic, so the paperwork belongs in your final semester.
Judge the right and the odds separately. The EU's EURES service describes tourism as Greece's heavy industry, with a season from April to October, and its most-wanted list for Greece is made up of hotel, catering, guest-service and customer-service jobs[62]. Those are the openings a foreign student or graduate meets first; graduate-level jobs are fewer, and entry-level pay sits close to the statutory floor.
Greek degrees are built on ECTS credits and come with a diploma supplement describing the programme[11], which makes them easier to read abroad, though recognition is still decided by the country you move to. Regulated professions are the exception everywhere: practising medicine or law abroad needs separate licensing wherever the degree came from. Work elsewhere in Europe also means the local language or strong English.
How Greece compares with the usual alternatives
If you are drawn to Greece for a specific reason — classics, medicine, shipping, family ties to the language — the trade-off answers itself. If you are shopping for an affordable EU degree in general, compare before you commit:
Cyprus — a closely related language and culture, with far more programmes taught in English. Tuition is charged rather than waived, so you trade money for time.
Italy — public fees that scale with family income and a large English-taught catalogue.
Hungary and Czechia — English-taught degrees at moderate fees, and in Hungary a government scholarship scheme for international students.
Germany — little or no tuition at public universities, but most bachelor's programmes are in German, and the guide explains which school certificates give direct entry.
The honest question is whether you are choosing Greece or only choosing "inexpensive". A tuition-free Greek-taught degree with a language year in front of it costs you a year of your life; that is the real price, and it is worth paying when the country, the language and the field are the point.
Choose the route: the free Greek-taught degree through the July ministry window, a paid English-taught programme with its own call, or a non-state branch whose licence you have checked with the ministry.
For the ministry route, confirm that your school certificate admits you to university at home and that you attended the last two school years in full.
Order every certificate, then the apostilles, then the Greek translations by an accepted translator, and finish before June 2027.
Watch the ministry's announcements page from June 2027: the last three application notices appeared on 1 or 2 July.
Book a Greek-certificate sitting you can pass before the deferred enrolment runs out.
For a master's or PhD, look up your university and degree type at mitroa.doatap.gr before the department's deadline.
Budget at least the 734 USD a month the permit requires, plus 169 USD and 18 USD for the permit and card and the insurance the permit needs.
After the results, apply for the type D visa, and file for the residence permit within 90 days of arrival.
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