In March 2024, the Hellenic Parliament enacted Law 5094/2024, which allows private institutions to establish non-state universities in Greece. Following the passing of the law, four private universities, including the University of Nicosia (UNIC), have opened campuses and begun offering degrees in the country.
UNIC undertook a phased construction program to deliver their campus in Athens, and the program’s first phase comprised the conversion of an existing Olympic Airways data center and operations hub into a 12,500 SM academic and research facility. Located adjacent to the landmark Ellinikon development, the new building features classrooms, amphitheaters, specialized laboratories and simulation-based learning environments, a library, a cafeteria, administrative offices, auxiliary spaces to support daily academic operations, landscaped outdoor areas, on-site parking, and more. From their new facility, UNIC offers degrees in business administration, law, and psychology, with future expansions and degree offerings planned. Notably, UNIC Athens also offers medical degrees as the first non-state medical school in Greece.
GISI Consulting Group firm Hill International, Inc. provides project management services for UNIC’s ongoing campus development program. During the program’s first phase, Hill’s project management professionals helped UNIC overcome challenges associated with first-of-its-kind project delivery to open the Athens campus in time for the 2025 fall semester.
Planning a First-of-Its-Kind Project
The largest and oldest private university in Cyprus and one of the highest-rated institutions in Cyprus and Greece for research quality, UNIC also has the designation of being the non-Greek university to have enrolled the most Greek students. Because of UNIC’s large population of Greek students, as well as the historical ties between Greece and Cyprus, the University had commenced planning for a potential campus in Greece even prior to the passing of Law 5094/2024.
In fact, UNIC engaged Hill International in beginning of 2024 to support early project planning activities. Hill Operations Director Georgios Tsolakidis says that, at this stage, the project team faced many risks, as well as uncertainty related to the pending legislation. “It’s typical for first-of-their-kind developments to have significant upstream complexity,” he says. “Evolving regulatory frameworks, for example, introduced many changes during planning. We also had to evaluate existing academic and operational standards and potential permitting requirements and identify suitable compliance pathways for multiple different scenarios.”
Georgios adds that Hill collaborated with UNIC during planning to define preliminary budget and schedule expectations and coordinate with authorities and other stakeholders, conduct feasibility studies, and advance concept designs, so that, by the time the law passed, the project team was ready to transition to implementation.
The Power of Partnership
UNIC envisioned highly specialized, technology-enabled medical education and research facilities for their Athens campus. To support UNIC’s vision during design, the Hill team drew on experience managing healthcare and higher education projects in Greece and throughout Europe to forecast and catalogue potential risks and support the development of new operational standards for non-state medical schools in Greece. Hill also facilitated UNIC’s partnership with the Hellenic Healthcare Group (HHG), the largest private healthcare organization in Greece.
By coordinating UNIC and HHG’s input on clinical requirements, operational workflows, and fixtures and equipment during design, Hill helped the client’s project team develop high-fidelity clinical simulation environments to facilitate medical training. Throughout the process, Hill managed communications, processed submittals, and made certain that the healthcare organization’s guidance was incorporated into the project’s design, as well as all procurement documents.
UNIC’s partnership with HHG also forged connections between the University and hospitals in Greece. Georgios explains that this has allowed the University to develop clinical training programs that expose students to real healthcare environments and professional mentors.
Promoting Project Success Throughout Construction
Evolving regulatory frameworks and a lack of established standards for private medical schools in Greece contributed to changes throughout the project. Hill led change management efforts to incorporate stakeholder feedback and adjustments in accordance with regulatory developments while maintaining alignment with UNIC’s budget, schedule, and quality goals.
In addition to change management, Hill coordinated with authorities and the general contractor, tracked progress, reported to the client, and managed risk to maintain momentum throughout construction. Hill’s hands-on approach enabled timely decision-making and the early identification of potential issues, and the team leveraged expertise in healthcare and higher education project delivery to propose effective resolution measures as needed.
Hill’s construction support was crucial in making certain that UNIC could open the Athens campus in time for the 2025 academic year. A key schedule risk involved permitting, says Georgios. “Permitting was tied up in the changing regulatory environment,” he explains. “To prevent or mitigate related delays, we focused on proactively expediting the permit issuance process through liaison with Greek authorities and the implementation of other targeted risk management strategies. I’m proud to say that, in this way, Hill helped our client navigate regulatory complexities and accelerate approvals, all of which was essential to maintaining the overall project timeline.”
Hill also continued to coordinate with UNIC and monitored the installation of medical fixtures and equipment, as well as the laboratory spaces’ mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems to control quality, confirm that all performance requirements would be met, and reduce the need for rework.
Just What the Doctor Ordered
UNIC Athens opened on time to welcome students for the 2025 fall semester, and in April 2026, the Hill team and company leaders, including Vice President & Managing Director Southeast Europe Panos Efstathiou, joined UNIC, the rest of the project team, and Greek and Cypriot dignitaries to officially inaugurate the Athens campus. With the new academic building, UNIC is now able to serve their Greek students in a new way and in a new, convenient location. UNIC’s project also reinforces ties between the institution and the country and helps shape the future of healthcare and higher education in Greece.
“UNIC’s campus development program shows how early alignment and partnership can help project teams overcome complex challenges associated with regulatory uncertainty and first-of-their-kind projects,” says Panos. “Moreover, by bringing together educational, healthcare, and infrastructure expertise, UNIC has successfully delivered an exceptional educational facility that unites academy and industry in an innovative learning ecosystem to catalyze further investment and innovation. The new building and the project team’s efforts and solutions set the standard for future higher education developments by private institutions in Greece. Kudos to our client, UNIC, to the Hill project management team and all of our project partners on this achievement!”
Hill continues to support UNIC on the second phase of the campus development program. Future projects are expected to expand the campus footprint within Ellinikon, deliver more technology-enabled training environments for students in a variety of fields, and strengthen UNIC’s presence in Greece and Southeastern Europe.
Hill International provides program, project, and construction management and advisory services for clients in a range of sectors undertaking major construction projects across the world. Hill is the 3rd largest project and construction management firm in the U.S., as featured in Building Design + Construction magazine. Hill is also ranked as the 8th largest overall U.S. construction management firm by Engineering News-Record. The team has participated in more than 90,000 project assignments with a total construction value of over $1 trillion, and operates in more than 100 offices across 42 countries.
Learn more about UNIC’s campus development program on Hill’s website: https://www.hillintl.com/project/unic-athens-campus-phase-i/.