or inter-departmental postgraduate courses, coordinated by NTUA Departments, leading to the respective Post Graduate Specialization Diploma, with a minimum duration of 17 months, including one in Business Administration (in collaboration with the Athens University of Economics and Business). Moreover, NTUA participates in nine post-graduate programs coordinated by other Greek Universities. After the acquisition of the Post Graduate Specialization Diploma, the student can proceed towards submitting a doctoral thesis. Academic staff Academic evaluation An external evaluation of all academic departments in Greek universities will be conducted by the Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (HQAA) in the following years. School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (2012) School of Mechanical Engineering (2012) School of Civil Engineering (2013) School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (2013) School of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering (2013) School of Chemical Engineering (2013) School of Applied Mathematical & Physical Science (2013) School of Rural and Surveying Engineering (2014) School of Architecture (2014) Research and innovation NTUA boasts high research activity, as research and education are both its goals. Research is managed by administrative and education personnel, but can be conducted by graduate and sometimes undergraduate students as well. Research is administrated by five different offices: The Special Accounting for Research Office (ΕΛΚΕ) The Liaison Office The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Unit The Internship Programme The Office of Researchers The Interdisciplinary Research Center The Interdisciplinary Unit for Reusable Energy Research is funded by the NTUA endowment, or often directly through public or private funds. Ranking The National Technical university of Athens is ranked 338th in the world, 116th in the European Union and third in Greece by the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities website. NTUA was ranked between 551 and 600 by the QS World University Rankings in 2012, with the corresponding faculty area ranks being 152nd for Engineering & Technology and 352nd for Natural Sciences respectively. The 2012 performance ranking of scientific papers for world universities released by the National Taiwan University (NTU Ranking) ranked NTUA as excellent. NTUA has the highest citation impact score (0.88) among the Greek universities, based on a ranking prepared by the Directorate General for Science and Research of the European Commission in 2003 (updated 2004) that was compiled as part of the Third European Report on Science & Technology Indicators. Campus Patission Complex The Averof building is one of the most important and elegant buildings of the Athenian Neoclassical period located in the