The Brief History of the Undergraduate Program
International Relations undergraduate program, which was officially established in 2005 with the decision of YÖK dated 18/03/2005 and numbered 524-005474, provides education in English instead of Turkish starting from 2021 with the approval of YÖK (with the letter of the Presidency of the Council of Higher Education dated 19/03/2021 and numbered 20238). Thus, the education period of the program has increased to five years in total, including one year of compulsory English preparatory class.
The education in the undergraduate program started when the number of professors had increased to three and so far a total of 497 undergraduate students graduated from the program since 2013, when it produced its first graduates.
The International Relations has three divisions: International Politics, International Law and Organizations, and Political History. There are currently three professors, two assistant professors, and three research assistants holding academic positions and serve as academic members. There are two professors, an assistant professor, and two research assistants in the Division of International Politics, a professor in the Division of Political History, and an assistant professor and a research assistant in the Division of International Law and Organizations.
The department of International Relations also offers a master’s program, which was established in the fall semester of 2010 and has been educating postgraduate students for 13 years. Depending on the expansion of the program's faculty staff, it is planned to open a doctoral program in the upcoming years.
The program offers an interdisciplinary education and training opportunity with giving emphasis to issues such as the history of the international system formed by the world states; the phases it has gone through; the political, economic and legal structure and functioning of the system; as well as Turkey's place in this system and its foreign relations.
Vision, Mission and Objectives
The vision of the department is to be a department of International Relations known for its qualified education and academic publications at the regional and national level.
The mission of the department is to raise individuals who are knowledgeable about national and global issues, have leadership skills, are proficient in at least one foreign language, can look at international events and problems critically and impartially, and have social responsibility awareness. Also, the department aims to be known for its qualified national and international publications in its region in the line with its mission as a research university.
Within the framework of this vision and mission, the aims of the program are:
To train graduates with the qualifications and skills appropriate to the needs of both the public and private sectors.
To provide students an international relations education that approaches to the issues of the discipline such as the history of international relations, the political, economic and legal structure and functioning of the international system and Turkey's foreign relations from an interdisciplinary perspective.
In addition to curriculum courses, to organize extra-curricular academic activities and to develop comprehensive international collaborations with foreign universities and academic institutions on this subject.
To attract students with higher scores and rankings and to be competitive internationally after the transition to English as the language of instruction.
To ensure that students act with an understanding of social and ethical responsibility both within the scope of the curriculum and in extra-curricular activities.
