The Department of Chemistry at the University of Crete was established in 1985 emphasizing both research and teaching. The ascending success of the Department is primarily due to the high level of pioneering research work conducted by its faculty members and its remarkable ability to incorporate new and exciting findings into the teaching and laboratory curricula. The increasing collaboration of the Department with Industry and Public Sector for implementation of knowledge gained through research, constitutes a potent driving force for seeking excellence in research and teaching.
The Department, presently, has 24 faculty members. They all participate in Graduate as well as Undergraduate teaching and research. Currently, the undergraduate Chemistry majors at the Department are approximately 250. The Graduate student body enumerates 80 students.
The majority of the research activities of the faculty members are conducted at facilities provided by the Department of Chemistry. Multidisciplinary work, however, as well as specialized research work are also carried out by faculty members at the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FO.R.T.H.) in a nearby location in Heraklion. The aforementioned research activities are carried out to the fullest thanks to the existing hardware and software infrastructure. Hardware and supporting software are continuously upgraded and/or new technologically advanced versions of them are acquired. Such an incessant contact with modern technological advents provides the Department with the necessary credentials to participate in European Union Educational programs procuring training and mobility of students and researchers. Programs of high visibility in which the Department participates actively include the ERASMUS and more recently SOKRATES and underline the will for amelioration and improvement of the competitive nature and advanced level of the education offered at the University of Crete. Moreover, the Department of Chemistry has been chosen to participate in the ECTS program since the early days of the program pilot implementation. It therefore belongs to a group of Chemistry Departments of European Universities among which students can freely move, through SOKRATES, for educational purposes with automatic recognition of teaching course credits.
Complementary to the educational strength of the Department of Chemistry is the close collaboration developed with Research and Production Sectors of the National Industry over the years. The interwoven and complex nature of Academia and Industry necessitate the existence of collaborative efforts targeting new products, novel technologies and improving the competitive participation and viability in developing specialized knowledge and global markets. The Department of Chemistry seeks after such endeavors with the Industrial Sector and supports member faculty involvement in common research projects with short and long term positive consequences for science and society.
