The Department of Animal Science (DAS) belongs to the School of Animal Biosciences of the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA). The University was founded in 1920 under the name of the Higher Agricultural School of Athens (HASA) and is the first Higher Education Institution in the field of Agriculture and the third in terms of antiquity, after the National and Kapodistrian University and the National Technical University of Athens.
The Department of Animal Science aims to create well-trained scientists capable of applying the principles of biology, technology and economics to issues related to the production, management and conservation of productive animals and aquatic organisms suitable for farming.
The scientific subject of the Department is clearly interdisciplinary as it combines Genetics, Nutrition, Physiology, Molecular Biology, Technology, Hygiene, Biotechnology, Economics, Ethology, and Management. Consequently, the curriculum covers a significant range of subjects such as: Anatomy-Physiology, Nutrition, Genetics, Breeding of farm animals, fish, bivalve molluscs and crustaceans. It also includes the study of breeding of various species of animals, such as: cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, poultry (chickens, ducks, geese, ostriches), pigs, equines, rabbits, deer, roe deer and aquatic organisms, for the purpose of milk production, meat, wool, eggs and fish, bivalve molluscs (mussels, oysters) and crustaceans (shrimp, lobsters).
The graduates of the Department are employed in the public services (Ministry of Rural Development and Food, Public Organizations, Local Government, Banks, Technical High Schools, etc.), the private sector (livestock, fish farming and mussel farming companies, factories, feed industries, etc.) or can operate as freelancers. Some of them are employed as researchers in various Research Centers or Institutes, or in Higher Education Institutions.