The Technical University of Crete was established by the Law 545/77 on the “Establishment of a Technological Institution under the title Technical University of Crete and other provisions”. On July 17th 1977, the first Executive Committee of the Institution convened under the presidency of Professor Perikles Theoharis and in the presence of the then Minister of National Education G. Rallis, consisting of the Mayor of the City of Chania and the President of the Western Crete Section of the Technical Chamber of Greece, representing the local element which had shown great interest in the establishment of the University.

The main task of this first Executive Committee in 1977 was to find land for the erection of permanent university facilities by commencing the expropriation procedure of 350 hectares of land. It is worth mentioning, at this point, the immense support of the local community on this matter. At the same time, the Executive Committee also dealt with the organization and recruitment of the university services but mostly with the legal framework for its operation. As a result of the Executive Committee’s dedicated work, a great number of decrees were issued, the most important of which is the Presidential Decree 1140/80 on the “Establishment of Higher Education Schools, Departments and Research Institutes as well as posts of Professors at the Technical University of Crete”, which provided for the establishment of three Schools: a) Technical Sciences, b) Applied Sciences and c) Architecture and Spatial Planning. Each School would comprise four Departments