The University of Athens welcomed 77 international students from more than two dozen countries who will begin their studies toward the school’s first-ever undergraduate degrees in the English language

Forty students have enrolled for the medical school’s maiden program while 37 have enrolled for the philosophy school’s flagship degree in ancient Greek archaeology, history and literature.

“One of the goals of these programs is to attract the best students from all over the world,” University of Athens Rector Thanos Dimopoulos told the students during the welcoming event.

The students enrolled in the first year of the medical school’s program come from countries including Albania, Cyprus, Egypt, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, the Philippines, South Africa and the United States.

Greek Minister of Education Niki Kerameus posted a celebratory tweet with photographs from the launch ceremony.

“Students from all over the world today at the University of Athens,” Kerameus wrote. “Students from 26 countries at the launch ceremony of two English-language undergraduate degree programs – a new English-language medical program and the English-language Archaeology, History and Ancient Greek Literature program.”