Anadolu University

Infobox University
name = Anadolu University
native_name = Anadolu Üniversitesi


motto =
established = 1982
type = Public
rector = Fevzi Sürmeli
city = Eskişehir
state = Eskişehir Province
country = Turkey
staff = 1,729 full time, 952 part timecite book |last=Jung |first=Insung |editor=Christopher McIntosh (ed.) |title=Perspectives on Distance Education: Lifelong Learning & Distance Higher Education |origyear=2005 |url=http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=42883&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |format=PDF |accessdate=2007-06-22 |publisher=UNESCO/COL |isbn=1-894975-21-9 |doi= |id= |pages= |chapter=Quality Assurance Survey of Mega Universities]
students = 884,081| postgrad = 2,200 [cite web
url=http://www.anadolu.edu.tr/en/universitemiz/hakkinda.aspx
title=About Anadolu University
accessdate=2007-06-22]
website = [http://www.anadolu.edu.tr/en/ anadolu.edu.tr/en]

Anadolu University (Turkish: Anadolu Üniversitesi) is a public university in Eskişehir, Turkey and the fourth largest university in the world by enrollment.

History

Anadolu University was created in 1982 from the union of four existing higher education institutes in Eskişehir: the Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences of Eskişehir, the State Academy of Architecture and Engineering, the Institute of Education, and a medical school. [cite web |url= |title=Anadolu University: A Brief History |url=http://www.anadolu-uni.de/ing/main.htm |accessdate=2007-06-21 |format= |work= ] As the Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences was founded earliest (in 1958), Anadolu University has adopted that year as their date of establishment.

Campus

Most of Anadolu University's faculties and schools, including the Open Education Faculty, are located at the Yunesemre Campus in the centre of Eskişehir. The Yunesemre Campus also contains student housing, Anadolu's university hospital, and most of the university's administration buildings.

Ikieylul Campus, just outside Eskişehir's city centre, houses the School of Physical Education and Sports, the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, and the School of Civil Aviation, along with the associated Anadolu University Airport.

In addition to these two campuses, the Porsuk Vocational School is located separately in Eskişehir, and the Bilecik and Bozüyük Vocational Schools are both located in the town of Bilecik.

To serve its distance education students, Anadolu University operates 88 administrative centres, or bureaus, in urban areas throughout Turkey, many of which offer academic counselling and optional evening classes. [cite web |url=http://www.anadolu.edu.tr/en/aos/aos_tanitim/buro_hiz.aspx |title=Bureau Services |accessdate=2007-06-22] [cite web |url=http://www.anadolu.edu.tr/en/aos/akademik_danismanlik/yuz_yuze_danismanlik.aspx |title=Face-to-Face Academic Advising Services |accessdate=2007-06-22]

Open Education

The Higher Education Act of 1981 nominated Anadolu University as the national provider of distance education (which it calls open education), upon which it has placed strong emphasis since its creation in 1982. The university's goal is to educate Turks who live in rural areas and others "who do not have the time or resources to enroll in conventional schools."cite journal | author =MacWilliams, Byron | year =2000 | month =September 22, | title =Turkey's Old-Fashioned Distance Education Draws the Largest Student Body on Earth | journal =Chronicle of Higher Education | url =http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr/cronicle.htm | accessdate =2007-06-22] This effort has been largely successful, as enrollment in open education programs has increased from under 30,000 in 1982-83 to over 870,000 in 2005-06 and is now also available to Turkish communities in Northern Cyprus and the European Union. [cite journal
first =Latchem
last =Colin
coauthors =Ali E. Özkul, Cengiz H. Aydin and Mehmet E. Mutlu
year =2006
month =November
title =The Open Education System, Anadolu University, Turkey: e-transformation in a mega-university
journal =Open Learning: the Journal of Open and Distance Learning.
volume =21
issue =3
pages =222 ]

Programs offered via distance education include 4-year Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degrees in Economics and in Business Administration and nineteen 2-year associate degrees in a variety of fields. Anadolu University has received a mandate from the Turkish Ministry of Education to educate Turkey's preschool and English language teachers and does so by distance education, though students in the latter program are also required to take two years of in-person classes.

Courses are delivered by a variety of methods, including pre-recorded television and radio broadcasts, videoconferences, and via internet. Students can also access academic counseling or attend optional evening classes at some of the Anadolu University bureaus located throughout Turkey.

Faculties and Schools

Faculties

* Open Education Faculty
* Faculty of Pharmacy
* Faculty of Humanities
* Faculty of Education
* Faculty of Science
* Faculty of Fine Arts
* Faculty of Law
* Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences
* Faculty of Economics
* Faculty of Communication Sciences
* Faculty of Business Administration
* Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

Schools

* School of Physical Education and Sports
* School of Music and Drama
* School of Industrial Arts
* School for the Handicapped
* School of Civil Aviation
* School of Tourism and Hotel Management
* School of Foreign Languages

Vocational Schools

* Eskisehir Vocational School
* Bozüyük Vocational School
* Bilecik Vocational School
* Porsuk Vocational School

Notable alumni

*Beyazıt Öztürk - Actor, Comedian
*Levent Üzümcü - Actor
*Fethi Heper - Football player
*Yılmaz Büyükerşen- Eskişehir Mayor
*Nurgül Yeşilçay - Actress
*Ayşe Hatun Önal - Model, Actress and Singer-songwriter

Honorary doctorates

* Sakıp Sabancı, 1984
* Betül Mardin, 1998
* Turgut Özakman, 1998
* Alp Erkin Çakmak

References

External links

* [http://www.anadolu.edu.tr/en/ Anadolu University Website]
* [http://www.bbasaran.net/ bbasaran.net]