Mustafa Kemal University – Foreign Relations Office

RECTOR’S MESSAGE

Nowadays, it is crucial to create a knowledge-based community, to have a sustainable economic improvement and development, to be able to compete with developed countries in science and technology, and to follow and apply scientific and technological innovations. It is seriously necessary to improve our international relations to train talented labour force and scientists and to compete with the countries that are highly improved in science and technology, such as the United States of America and Japan. It is an important necessity to stop brain drain from our country to those countries and start an opposite brain drain.

On 1 April 2004, Turkey has started participating in the European Union Programmes such as Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci and 7th Framework. Mustafa Kemal University (MKU) has started infrastructure work and created Foreign Affairs Department under rectorship and it signed considerable achievements since the beginning of these programmes in Turkey in 2004.

In the frame of Erasmus Programme, in the direction of the bilateral agreements, 86 students in total went to the various universities in Europe in order to study and at the same time 12 students from Europe came to our University for studying in the periods of 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, and 2007-2008. In terms of teaching staff mobility, in the same period, 24 academic staff members from MKU visited universities in Europe to teach and 3 instructors have come to our university.

In Leonardo da Vinci Programme, which is about vocational education and the 7th Framework Programme focusing on scientific research, our academicians are in cooperation with scientists of other European universities to achieve different projects.

The MKU Foreign Affairs Office realized the first European Union Youth Exchange in Hatay province so as to encourage and promote the youth in Hatay and MKU in the mean of mobility in Europe.

We can say that these kinds of projects provide international experiences, our university’s staff and students as well as to our city both directly and indirectly and that with the scientific part of these projects we brought advanced technologic values to our institutions and their staff.

It is very important to increase the volume of international activities and bring the projects collective together in our institutions to carry our university to a better position and make it internationally-recognized and global university. Today and in the future, Mustafa Kemal University is and going to be open to cooperate with local, national, and international foundations to carry out international projects. By carrying forward our international actions, our University is aiming to become a well-known university not only in Turkey but also worldwide.

Prof. Dr. Şerefettin Canda

Rector