We left the hotel at 9:00 am today to have breakfast with several faculty members from one of the four universities in Kayseri. The group sat at two different tables. At our table was a faculty member from the business school and the Dean. Meliksah University is a brand new university (just 4 years old). (Its named after a Selcuk emperor (pre-Ottoman). Its first batch of graduates will graduate next year. It is a private university. Private universities first started to take off in Turkey in the 1980s and the economy started to grow, that is because many of the private universities are sponsored by big companies in the country. These companies get tax write offs for funding universities. The public universities have a stronger reputation because of their greater longevity, but there are a growing number of reputable private schools too.
Meliksah has about 2000 students (about 50% are from Kayseri) and 70 faculty, including 3-5 int'l faculty. Many of the degree programs are offered in two languages, an English track or a Turkish track. They are also a part of the Erasmus program which is a Europe wide student exchange program.
After visiting we briefly toured campus. It is sparkling new with over 20 buildings constructed in the last 4 years. We got a briefing along with some Kurdish students who were being recruited on scholarship provided by the Gulan movement, and some graduate Nigerian students.
All students must pass an English competency exam before entrance. The university offers intensive English classes in the summer for high school students. The biggest challenge is conversation. Students learn grammar and reading, but don't have enough intensive conversation in their training.
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