In the presence of distinguished guests from Greece and abroad, 64 graduates from 11 countries (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Moldavia, Romania, Serbia and Greece) were awarded their postgraduate degrees at the first graduation ceremony of the International Hellenic University, held at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall on Saturday May 2010. The multinational puzzle of the 64 graduates reflects the character of the University as the first state international university in Greece.

In a period of crisis and insecurity, the first graduates of the university prove that Greece can be competitive and effective in various sectors, such as education, as long as efforts are based on serious strategic planning and a consistent orientation towards standards of excellence, as demonstrated by the International Hellenic University. This was a key point underlined by the President of the University’s Governing Board, Professor Costas Grammenos, in his welcoming speech.

The International University has endeavoured from the first to offer excellence in research and in the quality of teaching at the university so that its graduates are prepared both with the knowledge and skills required but also with an excellent work ethic, needed today more that ever. Commitment to excellence is not just so many words. The selection and planning of the postgraduate programmes to be offered by the university was based on research carried out into more than 4,000 programmes at 256 universities in 19 countries, to ensure that they would be competitive and attract students from abroad.

Top academics in their field from abroad, both members of the Greek Diaspora and foreign nationals, were invited to contribute to the teaching and research work, while gradually a new generation of young Greek academics dedicated to excellence is being developed.

The choice of postgraduate rather than undergraduate study programmes to start with was dictated by the need to achieve recognition of the university as a centre of educational excellence as soon as possible. The completion of an undergraduate programme lasting four years would have inevitably delayed the process.

The President thanked all the members of the Governing Board for their contribution and efforts in the creation of the University and especially for the work of the Dean of the School of Economics and Business Administration, Professor Mario Levis, given that the first graduates are from the programmes of study of the school. He also referred to the new postgraduate programmes which are due to start in October of this year in the School of Humanities (MA Black Sea Cultural Studies) and the School of Science and Technology (MSc Energy Systems, MSc Information and Communication Technologies Systems) and which have already attracted the interest of a large number of candidate students from Greece and abroad.

Concluding his speech, the President asked the graduates to act as ambassadors for the University in the course of their careers and assured them that the University aims to maintain a consistent and meaningful relationship with them through the Alumni network.

The School of Economics and Business Administration commenced its postgraduate programmes of study with the first intake on the Executive MBA programme in March 2008, closely followed by the first intakes on the MSc in Management and MSC in Banking and Finance in January 2009.