DECE History
The Department of Electrical Engineering was founded in 1975 and was the second Department to be founded as part of the Engineering Faculty of Xanthi, when the first batch of 40 students was admitted. In the first two years it was operated with scientific staff from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In 1977 the first regular and temporary Professors (the latter with a three-year service) were elected to reach up to a total 37 members of Teaching and Research Staff (TRS) nowadays. There are also 1 member of Scientific Teaching Staff (STS), 3 members of Laboratory Teaching Staff (SLTS) and 5 members of Special Technical Laboratory Staff (STLS). Specifically, the TRS counts 21 Professors, 11 Associate Professors and 5 Assistant Professors. Moreover, apart from the four Sectors that were formed by law 1268/82, a fifth one was added in 2003 with one new Laboratory. Today the Department’s Sectors are the following:
- Power Systems Sector
- Electronics and Information Systems Technology Sector
- Telecommunications and Space Science Sector
- Software and Application Development Sector
- Physics and Applied Mathematics Sector
The continuous and rapid expansion of the science of Electrical Engineering resulted in changes regarding the degree of specialization required for the education to be provided. Thus, since 1989 there have been two distinct different specialization areas; Energy Electrical Engineer and Electronics Electrical Engineer, with individual directions. As of 1999 a third specialization area was added to the training, namely, Telecommunications Electrical Engineer. Recently, in the relevant legislation, the three areas were renamed directions of study. In 1993 and by presidential Decree 266 the Department was also renamed to Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DECE), formally recognizing the growing needs concerning the Information and Computer Engineering that the Department always tried to get covered with the continuous updates and the development of its own curriculum.
In the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering there has been a fully organized Postgraduate Studies Program since the academic year 1994-95 that leads to a Ph.D. title. As of 2000-01 it is also possible for students to acquire a Master’s Degree.
After a long period of using specific buildings all around the city of Xanthi, in 1983 the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering alongside with the rest Departments of the Engineering Faculty were housed to a single complex of prefabricated buildings downtown. At the same time, a new building complex was under construction at the University Campus of Kimmeria, a few kilometers outside the city of Xanthi. The first buildings to be operated there included an auditorium, classrooms, dorm student rooms and a restaurant for the alimentation of the students.
During the academic year 2007-08 the migration of the Department to the Campus of Kimmeria had started and during 2008-09 the majority of the Department’s activities were carried out at the new two buildings, the Auditoriums / Classrooms / Secretariat Building (Building A) and the Offices / Laboratories Building (Building B). Nowadays, in the single complex of prefabricated buildings downtown, the Department uses only one of the buildings (Building XIII) where the majority of the laboratory equipment is stored and operated.