University of Thessaly: A Guide for International Students

The administrative heart of the University of Thessaly is not a quad or a gated campus but a long stone building on the seafront of Volos, where the Pagasetic Gulf meets the town and Mount Pelion rises green behind the rooftops. Students cross the waterfront promenade between lectures, the fishing boats come in, and in the tsipouradika along the harbour the meze arrives plate by plate with each small glass of tsipouro. This is a different Greece from the Athens of the Acropolis or the student crush of Thessaloniki — slower, cheaper, framed by mountain and sea — and it is the setting for one of the country’s youngest and most distinctive public universities. Founded in 1984, the University of Thessaly grew up not in a capital but across the towns of central Greece, and that regional character runs through everything it does.

Here is the bottom line. The University of Thessaly (UTH, Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλίας) is a public, multi-campus research university of roughly 45,000 students, with 8 schools and 37 departments spread across Volos, Larissa, Karditsa, Trikala and Lamia (uth.gr). Like every Greek public university, its Greek-taught undergraduate degrees are tuition-free for EU and non-EU students alike; its main fee-paying offer for internationals is a six-year, English-taught Medical Degree at €12,000 a year, with around 50 places, based at the Larissa medical school (medical.edu.gr). It is not a global-ranking heavyweight — Times Higher Education places it in the 1001–1200 band for 2026 — but it is genuinely strong in sport science, agriculture and the life sciences, carrying an OpenAlex h-index of 292 and more than 1.4 million citations. In the families we advise at College Council, UTH comes up the same way every time: not as a brand name but as the answer to a specific question — where can I get a recognised EU degree in my field, in a Greek city I can actually afford?

This guide is the companion piece to our complete guide to studying in Greece: there you get the national picture — the two admissions routes, the visa, the costs across the whole system — and here we go deep on one university. I will cover what UTH is actually good at, how its English-taught and Greek-taught routes work, what the medical degree really costs and how to apply, the living costs of being a student in Volos and Larissa, and what the degree is worth afterwards. Every figure here is drawn from the university’s own pages, QS and Times Higher Education, ETER and the College Council Atlas, and checked in June 2026.

University of Thessaly, Key Data 2025/2026

Source: University of Thessaly (uth.gr); QS Top Universities; Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026; CWTS Leiden Ranking 2025; OpenAlex; ETER. Student counts vary by basis — see “How big is it, really?” below.

Why the University of Thessaly?

The case for UTH is not that it tops a league table — it does not — but that it does a handful of specific things very well, in a setting that costs a fraction of Western Europe. Start with cost. As a Greek public university, it charges nothing for Greek-taught undergraduate study, EU and non-EU alike, and hands out textbooks free. That is the same deal you get anywhere in the Greek public system, but UTH pairs it with some of the lowest living costs in the country: Volos and Larissa are provincial cities, not capitals, and a student room runs well below what you would pay in Athens. Even the fee-paying English Medical Degree, at €12,000 a year, is a fraction of what a private medical school charges across most of Europe.

The second reason is what it is genuinely good at, and here the research record is unusually clear about a regional university’s identity. UTH’s single most-cited cluster of work is in sport, exercise and physical-education science — exercise physiology, sports performance and the psychology of motivation — built around its Department of Physical Education and Sport Science in Trikala, which is one of the best-known of its kind in Greece. Close behind sit agricultural, plant and insect science, a natural fit for a university rooted in the Thessalian plain, one of the country’s great farming regions, and medicine and the health sciences around the Larissa medical school and the University Hospital of Larissa. If your field is one of those, choosing UTH is a positive decision, not a fallback. The numbers back the reputation: an h-index of 292, over 1.4 million citations and roughly 31,400 indexed works on OpenAlex, with 77% of its output open-access on OpenAIRE — strong figures for an institution of this size and age.

The third reason is the place itself. UTH is deliberately spread across central Greece — Volos on the coast, Larissa in the plain, Trikala and Karditsa inland, Lamia to the south — so the experience is genuinely regional rather than metropolitan. Volos gives you a working port city under a mountain, with the beaches of the Pelion peninsula and a ski centre both within an hour, and a food culture (the tsipouro-and-meze ritual) that students adopt fast. It is the antithesis of the big-city study experience, and for a certain kind of student that is exactly the appeal: a real EU university, in an affordable Greek town, where you can actually live on a modest budget. For the wider value comparison across the whole country, our tuition-free and low-cost universities in Greece guide sets UTH in context.

How big is it, really? Reading the student numbers honestly

One figure trips up everyone who researches UTH, so let me deal with it head-on. You will see the university described as having anywhere from 27,000 to 45,000 students, and both are “right” — they simply count different things. Times Higher Education and the European ETER register report around 27,000 students (ETER’s 2020 figure was 26,457; THE’s 2026 profile shows roughly 27,000), which reflects active, enrolled students. QS, meanwhile, lists about 45,443 total students, and the university’s own enrolment summary for 2024/25 counts 45,660 undergraduates, 4,920 master’s students and 1,736 doctoral students — a figure that includes the large body of registered-but-inactive students common to free Greek public universities, where there is little cost to staying on the books.

The honest read: UTH is a large university by registration and a medium-large one by active headcount, with a long tail of registered students who graduate slowly or not at all — a structural feature of the Greek free-tuition system rather than anything specific to Volos. For your purposes as an applicant it makes little practical difference; the teaching cohorts, especially in the small English-taught programmes, are far smaller than either headline number suggests. I flag the gap only because a guide that promises every number is verified should explain the ones that look contradictory.

Academic strengths and notable programmes

UTH is organised into 8 schools — among them Agricultural Sciences and Engineering (both seated in Volos), Health Sciences and Economics and Business Administration (in Larissa), the School of Sciences, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the School of Physical Education, Sport Science and Dietetics — across 37 departments. The shape of the university owes a lot to a 2019 reform, when UTH absorbed the former Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Thessaly, folding its applied departments in Larissa and Karditsa into the university and roughly doubling its footprint.

For an international student, three offerings matter most. The first is the English-taught Medical Degree — a full six-year, 360-ECTS ptychio in medicine, taught entirely in English at the Larissa medical school, with clinical placements in the University Hospital of Larissa. It is the university’s flagship international programme, and the only undergraduate degree here built from the ground up for non-Greek-speakers. The second is the English-taught master’s offering, which includes specialised programmes such as the M.Sc. in Host–Microbe Interactions in the life sciences; master’s level is generally the easiest way into a Greek university in English. The third is the university’s research identity in sport and exercise science, which extends to an international doctoral programme in physical education, sport science and dietetics — a strong draw for students who want to do a PhD in a field where UTH genuinely competes internationally.

Beyond those, the agricultural and life-science departments deserve a mention because they are where UTH’s research is most distinctive. The university’s most-published topics on OpenAlex are in insect and pest-control strategies, plant science and agricultural biology — the kind of work that flows naturally from a university sitting in the middle of Greece’s most important agricultural region. If you are weighing UTH against other Greek institutions by field, our best universities in Greece and study medicine in Greece guides line the options up side by side.

The University of Thessaly at a Glance

Source: University of Thessaly (uth.gr); QS; Times Higher Education; CWTS Leiden Ranking 2025; ETER.

Admissions — the two routes into UTH

Getting into the University of Thessaly works the same way it does across the Greek system: there are two completely separate routes, and the one you use depends on the language of your programme. Our national guide covers both in full; here is how they apply specifically to UTH.

The English-taught medical route (direct application). This is the path most international applicants to UTH actually take, and unusually it does not go through the central Greek portal — you apply directly to the programme. The process runs in four steps: an online application with your documents; an entrance examination in biology and chemistry; an interview; and a deposit on acceptance. You are exempt from the entrance exam if you hold A-levels at AAB including Chemistry and Biology, or qualifications such as BMAT or MediTest-EU. You need a high-school leaving diploma or the IB, and proof of English at IELTS 6.0 or TOEFL iBT 79. The application window typically closes in mid-May, with the entrance exam in late May, for an October start — but confirm the year’s exact dates on the programme site, because they move. There are around 50 places, so apply early and treat it as competitive.

The Greek-taught route (Ministry portal). For the free Greek-taught degrees — the great majority of UTH’s programmes — you apply not to the university but through the Hellenic Ministry of Education’s foreign-student portal, in a tight window that usually falls in the first ten days of July, and you mail a physical file of certified documents to the Ministry. Diplomas need an Apostille and a certified Greek translation, and the genuine gatekeeper is Greek at B2 level — the academic bar is gentler than the UK’s, but the language requirement is firm. Greece joined the Lisbon Recognition Convention in 2024, so a Polish matura, a German Abitur or an IB diploma is recognised for admission; the language, not the grades, is what stops most international students on this route.

Admissions at UTH — Two Routes at a Glance

Source: University of Thessaly medical programme (medical.edu.gr); Hellenic Ministry of Education foreign-applicant instructions, 2025/26. Dates recur annually — verify the current year’s window before applying.

Costs — tuition and living in Volos and Larissa

Let me be precise, because the cost of studying at UTH swings entirely on which route you take. On the free Greek-taught route, tuition is genuinely €0, for EU and non-EU students alike, with textbooks provided free — your only academic cost is reaching Greek B2. On the English-taught Medical Degree, tuition is €12,000 a year for the full six years, paid in two instalments (a €6,000 first deposit within 15 days of acceptance, the balance by mid-January), plus a one-off €200 application fee for the entrance exam and interview (medical.edu.gr). English-taught master’s fees are lower and set per programme. Note that the Atlas records a wider €1,500–€9,000 institution-set band for non-EU bachelor’s study, but that figure is flagged as pending verification; the two numbers you can rely on are free Greek-taught and €12,000 medicine.

Living costs are where the regional setting pays off. Volos, Larissa and the smaller UTH towns sit below the Greek national student average, itself among the lowest in the EU. A realistic all-in living budget runs roughly €7,000–€9,000 a year: a student room costs around €250–€400 a month in Volos or Larissa — less than central Athens or even Thessaloniki — and food, transport and daily life are cheap, with the standard Greek student discounts of up to 50% on transport, travel and culture. Put the routes together and the picture is stark: a Greek-taught student lives and studies for roughly €8,000 a year, all in (essentially living costs only), while an English-taught medical student lands around €20,000 a year including the €12,000 fee — less than a single year’s international tuition at a UK university. Our cost of living for students in Greece guide breaks the monthly budget down line by line.

Annual Cost at the University of Thessaly (International)

Tuition + living, 2025/26. Living figure ≈ €7,000–€9,000/year in Volos/Larissa.

Source: University of Thessaly (medical.edu.gr); QS Study in Greece; College Council Atlas. Living costs are estimates for central-Greece cities and vary by individual.

Student life in Volos — sea, mountain and a slower Greece

Student life at UTH is shaped by geography more than by any single campus, because the university is spread across five cities and there is no single quad where everyone gathers. The centre of gravity is Volos, a port city of around 85,000 people wedged between the Pagasetic Gulf and Mount Pelion. It is compact and walkable, built around a long seafront promenade where students run, cycle and sit out over coffee, and its defining ritual is the tsipouradiko — small glasses of tsipouro arriving with plate after plate of meze, a cheap and sociable way to spend an evening that newcomers pick up within a week. The setting is genuinely unusual for a university town: beaches on the Pelion peninsula and a small ski centre on the mountain are each within about an hour, so the same weekend can offer sea and snow.

The other campuses each have their own feel. Larissa, home to the medical school and the business faculty, is the largest city in Thessaly and the practical, workaday centre of the region — flatter, busier and cheaper, with the University Hospital where medical students train. Trikala, the seat of the sport-science department, is a green, river-running town that consistently scores as one of Greece’s most liveable; Karditsa is known as a cycling city; Lamia sits to the south on the route toward Athens. Wherever you land, two truths hold. First, costs are low — this is one of the most affordable parts of an already affordable country, and your money goes noticeably further than in Athens or Thessaloniki. Second, Greek matters more here than in the big cities: English will carry you within the university and the medical programme, but provincial central Greece is less anglophone than the capital, and even basic Greek transforms daily life. For the bigger-city alternatives, our best student cities in Greece guide compares Volos with Athens, Thessaloniki and the rest.

Careers and reputation — what a UTH degree is worth

Be clear-eyed about the trade-off, because it is the flip side of the low cost. The Greek domestic graduate market is smaller and pays less than those of Germany, the UK or the Netherlands, and a regional university like UTH does not carry a global brand that opens doors on name alone. If your plan is to study at UTH and walk straight into a high salary inside Greece, calibrate expectations accordingly. That honest caveat made, there are real strengths to build on.

The first is portability. A degree from UTH is from an accredited Greek public university, recognised across the EU under the Lisbon Convention and the ECTS system, so an EU student can take a free or cheap UTH degree and carry it straight into a stronger home labour market — graduating with little or no debt is itself a career advantage. The second is field strength: in sport and exercise science, agriculture and the life sciences, and medicine, UTH competes on substance, and its research output and the University Hospital of Larissa give graduates in those fields a credible platform. The third is the English-taught medical degree specifically: an EU-recognised medical qualification at €12,000 a year is a serious value proposition for students who intend to practise across Europe — provided, and this matters, you verify licensing recognition in the country where you ultimately want to work. UTH’s membership of the INVEST European University Alliance also links it to partner universities across the EU for joint programmes, exchanges and mobility, widening the network beyond Greece.

The practical framing is the same one we give families for Greece as a whole: study at UTH for the value, the field strength and the recognised EU credential, then treat the wider Union — not just Volos — as your job market. A graduate who leaves with a solid degree in a field UTH is good at, near-zero debt and an EU passport is in a strong position.

In my experience advising on the English medical degree, the families who get this right do one thing before they pay the €6,000 deposit: they check, in writing, how the country they actually want to practise in treats a Greek primary medical qualification — the GMC route in the UK, the Approbation in Germany, the relevant medical chamber elsewhere. The Lisbon Convention and EU professional-recognition rules make a Thessaly degree portable in principle, but “recognised for admission” and “recognised for a medical licence” are two different gates, and the second one is the one that decides whether €72,000 over six years was a bargain or a dead end. Settle that question first; everything else about UTH is the easy part.

How College Council helps

We built College Council to take the guesswork out of applying abroad, and a university like Thessaly is exactly where good information is hardest to find. Two parallel application routes that share almost nothing; a direct-apply medical programme with deadlines that move year to year; the wide gap between a free Greek-taught degree and a €12,000 English one; a student-number that reads as 27,000 or 45,000 depending on who is counting. Those are the details we work through with each family, drawing on the same university data that powers this guide. UTH has its full profile in the College Council Atlas — programmes, location, rankings and admission data in one place — and you can explore it alongside every other Greek university. Start by creating a free account and running your profile through our chances tool to see which UTH programmes, and which alternatives across Greece and Europe, actually fit you.

On the testing side, the English-taught route into UTH runs on a solid TOEFL or IELTS score — the medical degree wants TOEFL iBT 79 or IELTS 6.0 — and many of our families apply to Greece alongside the US or the UK, where the SAT matters. Our TOEFL app delivers full TOEFL iBT practice tests with AI-graded speaking and writing feedback, the closest thing to a real mock exam you can do from home, and our SAT app runs the full digital SAT with adaptive practice, so you can prepare once and apply broadly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Summary — is the University of Thessaly right for you?

The University of Thessaly is the kind of university you choose for a specific field and a specific kind of life, not for a place on a global league table. Its strengths are real and identifiable — sport and exercise science, agriculture and the life sciences, and an English-taught medical degree — and they come with the economics of the Greek public system: free Greek-taught tuition, a €12,000-a-year medical degree that undercuts almost every comparable programme in Europe, and living costs in Volos and Larissa that sit below an already cheap country. The honest trade-offs are a smaller domestic job market, a mid-table world ranking, and the fact that outside the medical programme you will need Greek to B2.

If your subject is one UTH is genuinely good at, and you value an affordable, recognised EU degree over a brand name, it is a smart and under-the-radar choice — and a graduate who leaves Volos with that degree, near-zero debt and an EU passport has options most of their peers will spend years paying off. Start with the national picture in our study-in-Greece guide, then build an honest shortlist.

Next Steps

1. Pick your route — the direct-apply English Medical Degree (mid-May deadline, October start) or the free Greek-taught path (Ministry portal in July, Greek B2 required); your subject usually decides for you.
2. Build a balanced shortlist — create a free College Council account and run your profile through our chances tool to see how UTH and its alternatives fit.
3. Book your English test — UTH’s medical degree wants TOEFL iBT 79 or IELTS 6.0; prepare in our TOEFL app.
4. Explore the profile — open the University of Thessaly page in the College Council Atlas to see programmes, location and admission data.
5. Sort documents early — for the Greek-taught route, get your diploma Apostilled and translated into Greek well ahead of the tight July window.

Read Also

• Study in Greece: complete guide for international students — the national picture: routes, visa, costs and recognition
• Best universities in Greece for international students — how UTH compares with NKUA, Aristotle, NTUA and the rest
• How to study medicine in Greece — all five English-taught Greek medical schools side by side
• Cost of living for students in Greece — a realistic monthly budget by city
• Best student cities in Greece — Volos and Larissa against Athens and Thessaloniki
• Tuition-free and low-cost universities in Greece — where the free Greek-taught route leads

Sources and Methodology

The University of Thessaly’s structure, history and programmes are drawn from the university’s own pages and its medical programme site, cross-checked against the College Council Atlas (a Wikidata-keyed canonical record for the institution, ROR 04v4g9h31, ETER GR0023). Rankings are reported by their source authority — Times Higher Education, QS and the CWTS Leiden Ranking — and research metrics come from OpenAlex and OpenAIRE. We lead with subject and field strength rather than an overall world position because, for a regional university like UTH, that is far more informative; where two sources give different student counts, we explain the basis rather than pick one silently. Tuition, fee and admissions figures were verified in June 2026, but the English-taught sector and its deadlines change yearly, so always confirm the current figure on the relevant programme page for your intake.

1. University of Thessaly — official site (uth.gr) and schools and departments (founded 1984; 8 schools, 37 departments; campuses in Volos, Larissa, Karditsa, Trikala, Lamia; 2019 TEI of Thessaly merger)
2. University of Thessaly Medical Degree (English) — admission and fees and programme FAQ (six-year, 360-ECTS degree; €12,000/year; €200 application fee; €6,000 first deposit; ~50 places; IELTS 6.0 / TOEFL iBT 79; A-level AAB / BMAT exemption; mid-May deadline, late-May exam, October intake)
3. QS / TopUniversities — University of Thessaly profile (≈45,443 total students; ≈3% international; Europe #446; QS by-subject 251–300 band)
4. Times Higher Education — University of Thessaly World University Rankings profile (2026 world band 1001–1200; ≈27,000 students; subject 601–800 in Business & Economics, Education and Life Sciences)
5. CWTS Leiden Ranking 2025 — open edition (#652 by publication output; 3,305 publications, 8.7% in the global top 10%)
6. OpenAlex — University of Thessaly institution record (h-index 292; ≈1.44M citations; ≈31,400 works; top topics in insect/pest science, agricultural biology, sport and exercise science)
7. ETER (European Tertiary Education Register) — institution GR0023 (public university; founding year 1984; ≈26,457 students, 2020 reference year; INVEST European University Alliance member)
8. Study in Greece (Hellenic Ministry of Education / @SiG) — Medical Degree by University of Thessaly and English-taught bachelor’s programmes (English-medium medical degree listing; national application routes)
9. College Council — Atlas higher-education dataset (UTH identity, location, programme and ranking records) and internal advising experience with international applicant families