(1880–1959) (standing to the right) The first department to operate, in the academic year 1984-85, was the department of
Business Administration, on the island of Chios. In the following year, the Department of Primary School Education, in Rhodes, and the Postgraduate Course on Environmental Studies began operating. At the end of the first five years of operation, the University comprised 7 departments and 1 postgraduate course, "
however, in 1997 a remarkable development was initiated by exploiting available [european] funding opportunities". The university was officially founded in 1984, although its historical roots date back to the early 1920s, to the
Ionian University of Smyrna (
Ex Oriente Lux, Light from the East) which while established never operated. The foundations of the University of the Aegean date back to October 1918, when Greece had expanded its geographic borders to the wider
Smyrna area after
World War I. At the time,
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens was the only
University in Greece. Professor
Constantin Carathéodory who was a professor at the
University of Berlin at the time proposed the establishment of a new University – the difficulties regarding the establishment of a Greek university in
Constantinople led him to consider three other cities:
Thessaloniki,
Chios and
Smyrna. Despite the political turbulence of the era over the city of Smyrna, the famous mathematician constructed a "plan for the creation of a new University in Greece", named “Ionian University” on 20 October 1919. The city of
Smyrna in
Asia Minor was one of the cultural centres of the
Ionian civilisation closely associated with
Ancient Greek philosophy. Consequently, the Greek government decided to materialize Carathéodory's vision and establish the Ionian University, based in Smyrna (today's city of
İzmir,
Turkey) on 1 December 1920.
Constantin Carathéodory was the first dean of the university. However, the Ionian University stopped its operations due to the
Great Fire of Smyrna in 1922. The new Greek University in the broader area of the Southeast Mediterranean region, as originally envisioned by Carathéodory, finally materialised with the establishment of the
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1925.
Expansion plans In 2026, the University launched its first bachelor's program taught in English, BA in Eastern Mediterranean Studies. Archaeology, History, Culture. The Department of Tourism Economics and Management started its operation in 2017, admitting its first students in October 2017. During the fall semester of 2012 a number of administrative employees were laid off as a result of downsizing policy in the public sector. The main administrative body issued an official statement of protest. ==Research==