AUEB – Athens University of Economics and Business

Age: 91

History: AUEB was founded in 1920 to train up-and-coming Greek business magnates, settling on its current name in 1989. An MBA and MSc in economics started in 1985, and since then 21 graduate programs have been developed.

Address: Downtown Athens, in a lively area full of theatres, restaurants and shops. Should you feel the need to work off last night's dinner, it is right across the street from Pedion Areos Park, and next to a sports complex.

Ambience: The postgraduate building is a modern, nine-storey building with snazzy audio-visual equipment, wireless internet access, computer labs and amphitheatres.

Vital statistics: Made up of eight departments: two in economics; four in business administration (finance and accounting, management, marketing and management science and technology); one in informatics; and one in statistics. Most of the MBAs are taught in Greek but the ever-popular MBA International program is taught in English. The latter has an annual intake of 120 students and more than 40 courses to choose from, with students studying modules for 11 months and then working on a consulting project for a leading company.

Added value: Field study projects, where students rack their brains to solve actual problems for top firms such as Hewlett Packard, IBM, Novartis, Procter & Gamble, Deloitte, Unilever, Craft, Citibank, Grant Thornton. The personal skills development programme develops student leadership skills through coaching and personalised action plans.

Easy to get into? You'll need a university degree, at least three years of work experience and a minimum GMAT score of 550, and there will be an interview too.

Glittering alumni: Bozidar Jovicevic, European Brand Director, Novartis, Geneva, Switzerland; Vladimir Skero, Asst Vice President, Atradius Credit Insurance, Baltimore, USA; Kostas Lafkas, country manager, AlfaLaval Greece; George Fatouros, General Manager (Australia and New Zealand), PZ Cussons; Petros Souretis, CEO, Intrakat International, Athens Greece; John Batsakoutsas, Vice President, Citicorp, London, UK.

Gurus: Spyros Lioukas, business strategy; George Doukidis, e-business; Nancy Papalexandris, human resources; M. Kavussanos, shipping finance.

International connections: On the international programme, half the students hail from outside Greece, and there are plenty of exchange programmes with schools in Europe, Asia and America. A third of the teaching staff are international.

Student profile: Average age on the full-time MBA is 27, with a male to female ratio of 11:9.

Cost: The full-time MBA is €12,000.

Return on investment: Students enjoy a 47 per cent salary hike on average, as well as good job opportunities and a network of international contacts.

Who's the boss? Professor Gregory Prastacos is the program director.

Prospectus: +30 210 8203 660; www.imba.aueb.gr; imba@aueb.gr