Gazi University

Gazi University is one of the few universities whose history dates back to the 1920s. Right after the declaration of the Turkish Republic, it was decided to establish an institute with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and his friends’ initiative. This decision resulted in the establishment of the 'Secondary Teacher Training School and Civility Institute' in 1926. The institute started its educational activities in the building which is now used as the Rectorate Building. The architect of our building was Mimar Kemaleddin. In 1929, the name of the institute was changed to 'Gazi Secondary Teacher Training School and Civility Institute' and it served under this name for many years.

In 1976, it took the name 'Gazi Institute of Education'. In 1982, with the act numbered 2809, this institution was converted to Gazi University. As a matter of fact, this is the continuation of the tradition under a new name which has started with the Republic. Ankara Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences, Ankara College of Technical Teachers, Ankara Girls' College of Technical Teachers also played an equal role in the formation of the tradition.

Ankara Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences was already like a university when it was united with Gazi University. In those days, today’s departments of Faculty of Economics and Administrative, Faculty of Medicine, College of Dentistry and College of Pharmacology which would later be the College of Journalism and Public Relations whose name would later be changed to Faculty of Communication, carried out education depending upon the academy. Ankara Academy of State Engineering and Architecture was also a part of Gazi University. When it was first built, it had 9 faculties, 12 colleges and 4 institutes. However, the number of the units increased rapidly. Today, Gazi University, with its 15 faculties, 4 colleges, 9 vocational college, 35 research centers and 6 institutes carrying out educational and research activities, maintains its claim to be a higher education befitting to Gazi Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, from whom it got its name. Education is provided in the fields of Education, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Engineering and Architecture, Economics and Administrative Sciences, Commutations, Science and Letters, Law and Fine Arts within the university. Being the national leader in terms of education faculties, Gazi University consists of Faculty of Industrial Arts, Gazi Education Faculty, Faculty of Vocational Education, Faculty of Technical Education, Faculty of Commerce and Faculty of Tourism Education. In addition to the students coming from all around the country, Gazi is the university that accepts the most students from abroad with over 1500 students from other nations including the Turkic states and their communities.

It not only meets the needs of its own academic staff but also trains academic staff for other universities with more than 5 thousand students studying in masters and PhD programmes. Gazi University carries out its education at different campuses. Having three campuses-Besevler, Emek and Maltepe in Ankara- Gazi shows the degree of importance it gives to education. With more than 50,000 students and over 3.000 academic staff, Gazi University demonstrates the standards of the world average in terms of the number of students per instructor. Gazi is one of the largest universities with its faculties from education to communication, fine arts to engineering, sports to forestry, medicine to pharmacy, dentistry to science and economics.