Yeditepe University is part of a world-class city centrally located in a geo-politically strategic region with easy access to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The Department of Political Science and International Relations aims to recruit students from the neighboring regions in addition to Turkish nationals, and educate them in the fields of domestic and international politics with skills and abilities to be employed by either the public or private sector at home or abroad. Our department has also had two graduate programs, one at masters, the other at the PhD level since 2004. Only one fifth of the applicants at the PhD level and one third of the applicants at the masters level have been accepted to the programs, as a measure to increase the quality of graduate studies.

The curriculum not only embraces an interdisciplinary approach but also allows room for specialization through elective courses, language classes, and minor and double major programs. The courses are designed beyond the classic lecture format so that students can actively participate in classes through presentations, discussions, projects and so forth. Besides, the curriculum is being reshaped in accordance with the responses given by the advisory board of the department, which was established as part of the Bologna process, and which includes some prominent members of the public and private sectors in Turkey. The board has already begun to play the role of mediator between the department and the general public.