Delegates of Anadolu University visit Ministry of Education
Baku, September 7 (AZERTAC). Azerbaijani Minister of Education Misir Mardanov met with the delegation headed by Davut Aydin, rector of the Anadolu University of Turkey.
Stressing that the Anadolu University is known as a great and authoritative educational institution, Azeri minister said that Azerbaijani teachers and students work and study in this university.
The rector of the Anadolu University Davut Aydin expressed his pleasure with the meeting and added that they are interested in the development of mutual ties. The rector informed about the university and noted that the university has distant education network.
Aydin said that nearly 2 million student studies in the Anadolu University and it is the 3rd high education center of the world. Speaking about the meetings held with several university chairs, he highly appreciated the interest for development of mutual cooperation.
Other matters, as well as the interuniversity cooperation were discussed at the meeting.
The ambassador of Turkey in Baku Hulusi Kilich also took part in the meeting.
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. As the Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences was founded earliest (in 1958), Anadolu University has adopted that year as their date of establishment.
Most of Anadolu University's faculties and schools, including the Open Education Faculty, are located at the Yunusemre Campus in the centre of Eskişehir.
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.
The Higher Education Act of 1981 nominated Anadolu University as the national provider of distance 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." 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.
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 National 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.