The University of the Aegean represents the continuation of the vision of one of Greece's leading internationally renowned scientists, the mathematician and collaborator of Einstein, Konstantinos Karatheodory, who proposed to Eleftherios Venizelos the establishment of a Ionian University in Smyrna. Indeed, Venizelos called him in 1919 to organize a university that would serve as a bridge between East and West. However, the plan was derailed by the Greco-Turkish War and the subsequent Catastrophe of 1922.
The idea would be realized many years later with the founding of the University of the Aegean in 1984, a regional university that stands as a beacon of educational quality, both locally, regionally, and nationally. The presence of the University of the Aegean across the islands of the Aegean gives it a distinctive character, derived from its geopolitical and geoeconomic significance, extensively across the Southeastern Mediterranean.
Specifically, the Department of Mediterranean Studies (DMS), which has been functioning in Rhodes for over twenty years, offers high-quality undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The Department of Mediterranean Studies has secured a position as an equal and valuable partner in the developmental trajectory of the Dodecanese region and plays a special national role, which the State should recognize.
In the current era of instability and restructuring of international relations in a highly strategic area where the University of the Aegean is located, the Department of Mediterranean Studies serves a special national purpose by facilitating the mutual exchange of knowledge, research, and proposals, providing a framework of comparative advantage to the city of Rhodes and its surrounding islands.
The Department of Mediterranean Studies at the University of the Aegean, in collaboration with the Department's Graduate Programs, publishes the annual Yearbook of Mediterranean Studies. The cultivation and promotion of knowledge regarding ancient and modern history, ancient culture, language, and the economic and political structures of Mediterranean countries and European integration is the primary goal of issuing the Annual Yearbook of Mediterranean Studies, coordinated by two faculty members of the Department of Mediterranean Studies at the University of the Aegean, Sotiris Dalis (Chair of the Department) and Manolis Stefanakis (Deputy Chair).
