Moreover, the Faculty of Philosophy was expanded by integrating the Institutes of Foreign Languages (English, French, German and Italian).

Moreover, the university acquired a small number of departments which operated in the past as independent institutes of higher education.

Today, the Aristotle University comprises 12 faculties, 36 schools, and numerous other units (e.g. laboratories, study rooms, libraries, clinics and research centres), which make it the largest university in Greece and southeastern Europe in terms of number of staff, undergraduate and postgraduate students and the facilities offered.

[13] History and affiliations of schools The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki performs a great deal of research in a variety of scientific fields.

The large number of its faculties and its approximately 250 laboratories enable scientists of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki to carry out a variety of research projects with great success.

During the past 12 years, 4500 research programs were undertaken and realized with the participation of more than 10,000 members of the academic community and several external collaborators.

Every faculty, school and department has its own administrative body, the members of which are democratically elected on the basis of collective processes.

[78] Inside the Student Club is a restaurant, a reading room, a medical service, a snack bar, and a hairdresser's shop.

The Aristotle University Seismological Station[84] was founded in 1978 and is used since then for the detection and measurement of earthquakes that occur nationwide and worldwide.

The Station's main objective is to monitor Greece's seismic activity, record and analyze the earthquakes that occur in 24-hour base, and inform the public when necessary.

[84] The University Farm covers an area of 1.9 square kilometres and is located in the south side of Thessaloniki near the city airport.

Inside the farm there are 21 buildings, two of which are used throughout the whole year as convention centres where conferences, events, presentations and lectures take place.

Furthermore, the farm is used by staff and students of the School of Agriculture in order to grow experimental crops, breed animals and conduct laboratory excises.

The camp consists of a restaurant, a small grocery store, a bar, basketball and beach volley courts, and many more sport and entertainment facilities.

It provides support and information about a variety of subjects including: undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Greek or foreign universities, available scholarships, student mobility programs (IAESTE, SOCRATES etc.

These career seminars appear to be very helpful because they give students and graduates a chance to get in contact with people of different professions and acquire information about their experiences and accomplishments.

The Information Technology Centre of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was established in the beginning of 1998 under the financial support of the Greek Ministry of Education and the European Union.

It also provides technical support via email, phone or fax to all AUTH members and takes care of central backup issues, site licensing matters, maintenance contracts, etc.

ITC regularly organizes seminars on topics of computer science, popular software packages and the usage of the university infrastructure.

NOC's main objective is to provide quality network services to the academic community of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

[98] The Social Policy Committee aims at solving a variety of problems the students may face and thus improve academic life on campus.

[100] All students of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greek or foreign, undergraduate or postgraduate) are provided with health insurance which covers free medical care.

The insurance is valid for the entire period of studies, as long as it doesn't last more than one and a half times its normal duration.

Every student who wants to receive free medical care must possess his personal health insurance booklet which is issued and renewed every year by the secretary of the department he/she studies in.

Furthermore, student unions organize and support numerous activities such as political debates, educational lectures, cultural and artistic events, conferences, demonstrations, university occupations and so on.

Nowadays the chorus plays a very important role in the musical and cultural life of the city of Thessaloniki and Greece generally.

Chorus has given the opportunity to more than 4000 students and other members of the academic community to cultivate their musical talent and to develop strong bonds of friendship and collaboration.

Finally it has published numerous CDs and DVDs and made a lot of recordings for the Greek national television and radio.

It actually lasts for three or four weeks and is organized by more than 60 student groups, whose interests include dance, music, theater, cinema, sports, poetry, comics, etc.

[108] There is a variety of student cultural groups that deal with Drama, Fine Arts, Music,[109] Cinema, Chess, Debate, Comics etc.