The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) is the oldest (1836), largest and arguably the most prestigious Technical University in Greece. It is divided into 9 academic Schools, covering all major engineering specializations, including engineering science. The School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering of NTUA was founded in 1969 as an evolution of the course in Marine Engineering, which was once offered by the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. The history of the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering is closely related to the development of the Greek shipping and shipbuilding industry.
Today, the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering claims a top per capital research position within the NTUA. Being the only academic institution in Greece in its field, the School serves all national research needs in the naval architecture, marine and ocean engineering fields and can be considered a National Research Centre. It is one of the largest and most active schools in Europe, consisting of over 600 students, 35 doctoral candidates and a regular staff of 34, of which 24 are faculty members.
The major investments in shipyards during the ’60’s and the rapid growth in shipping after the Second World War contributed to the appeal of a university degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. This brought great demand for the relatively small number of School positions offered to prospective students. Thus, first-year students were of exceptional quality, having obtained the highest scores in the countrywide university entrance exams.
Today, Greece is the world’s leading shipowning nation, controlling around 23% of world shipping in deadweight and tonnage. According to data from the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS), for the most strategic ship type categories, Greek owners control more than 70% of the total capacity of the EU-controlled fleet. Based on the same report, Greek shipowners invested in some 241 newbuildings. According to an earlier 2022 UGS report, inflows to the Greek Balance of Payments by sea transport surpassed EUR21 billion, the largest contribution recorded in the last 20 years. Currently there are more than 800 shipping companies and more than 1500 marine supporting companies and organizations in Greece, mostly concentrated in Piraeus and the greater Athens area.
Thus, the largest percentage of School graduates work in shipping companies (25%) rather than shipyards (5%). In recent years, the percentage of new graduates which find first employment in the shipping industry reached 50% and the demand is increasing. This ensures 100% absorption of School graduates into the shipping job market for the years to come.
The school has a record of attracting externally funded RTD projects and leads the NTUA in per capita income of external research funding.
NTUA participates in the SAFeCRAFT project with three (3) laboratories (Laboratory for Maritime Transport, Shipbuilding Technology Laboratory, Laboratory of Marine Engineering) and five (5) faculty members, supported by researchers and PhD students of the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.
NTUA contributes to many aspects of the project, such as model-based systems engineering studies, auxiliaries systems design, structural studies and techno-economic evaluations of the proposed solutions, both for the demonstrator and the desktop applications, aiming to promote the adoption of Sustainable Alternative Fuels (SAFs) in waterborne transport, pioneer in integrated ship design, engineering and demonstration of these solutions, and support academic research and knowledge.
