KazNU gives oppotuniries & Diary of Hacettepe

I am Tokenova Akerke, a 2^nd-year master's student of KazNU, studied academic mobility in Hacettepe University, in Ankara, Turkey from October 2019 to January 2020. During my stay in the Republic of Turkey I increased my knowledge of the Turkish language. Communication with native speakers allowed not only to learn the language, but also to better understand the culture and modern lifestyle of the country of the language being studied.

In Turkey, I did not really feel the cultural shock, as Turkey is a very hospitable country. Here people are always ready to help. While in Ankara, I never heard the word “no, we can’t”, because they always try to solve the problem by any means. Most people are monolingual, especially in Ankara, I can said that it is impossible that you will meet a person who understands Russian or English or other languages. I would advise foreign students who are going to go to Turkey,  to study Turkish at a basic level.  

Hacettepe is one of the most popular and best universities in Turkey. University takes 1^st place among Turkish Universities in academic performance. The University consists of 5 campuses. We lived in campus Beytepe, which is out of town. The campus Beytepe consists of 6,000,000 m2 (600 ha) of green land and woodland. The University has a very good campus that has everything you need for everyday life. We had the opportunity to use a sports hall, a swimming pool built according to Olympic standards, and a library. There is a very good library here, where you can find many books in different languages. I was surprised that the University library works around the clock, which allows students to prepare for exams, collect materials for the dissertations at any time.

In my free time, I regularly visited the National Library of the Republic of Turkey (Milli Kütüphane) in order to collect material for a master's dissertation. The library has five reading rooms, two of which have more than 400 seats. On the library website you can reserve a place in the reading room, or a book. In the library catalog you can find all editions of books, all issues of educational journals. All the sources, materials that I did not find in the Beytepe library of the University of Hacettepe, were easily found there.

In contrast to our country, you will often find people reading books on public transport in Turkey. Comparatively, book prices are very cheap.

Turkey has a very serious approach to education. There is actually a great education here, and very good professors. What I particularly liked is that every teacher in Hacettepe has his own small office, his own personal space where the teachers can work with the students or write a scientific articles and etc. I especially liked the fact that there are a lot of books in the teachers ' rooms. In most cases, they emphasize scientific work, writing articles, books, dissertations, and theses. I think it is a great experience for master students to listen to lectures by Turkish professors about writing scientific work. Therefore, I advise everyone to attend even extracurricular lectures, conferences and symposiums.

Basically, in Turkey, there are no problems with documents, reports, or bureaucratic matters. This is a very big advantage of the Turkish Universities. Because the collection of documents, signatures, and seals is very exhausting and distracting from studying and takes a lot of time.

Fortunately, we were not required to submit any documents other than the learning agreement. However, before leaving for Kazakhstan, you should carefully collect all the necessary documents according to the list that you must pass when entering the University, since many problems with documents may arise in Kazakhstan.

We studied, and at the same time had a great time. At the beginning of the semester, the Hacettepe University arranged for a meeting with Erasmus students. At this event, we met with students who came from Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Hungary, Jordan, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy and etc. We learned a lot about the educational system in these countries.

The Student`s Organization of Hacettepe are very active. They regularly arrange tours to other cities. At the end of the week, they often organize language clubs with entertainment, cultural events, hikes, and charity events.

Such cultural and educational events contribute to the establishment of friendly relations between representatives of different countries and peoples. And also, due to them, our perception of the world is becoming wider.

To sum up, I am immensely glad that I studied under the Erasmus program. In fact, Erasmus software is quite difficult to obtain because the requirements are very high. Ms. Shadkam Zubayda, my research supervisor, was the person who helped me get an invitation to study. Since January 2019, she sent a letter directly to universities in Turkey, sending my documents and offering to accept me for study. A few months later, we received invitations from all the universities to which we sent a letter. I, of course, decided to go to the University of Hacettepe depending on the level of education of the University. It is noteworthy that the professors and teachers of Hacettepe University know Ms. Zubayda very well and highly value her as a qualified specialist. During my first visit, the head of the Department introduced me to all the teachers in the Department as a student of Ms. Zubayda. I can't convey the feeling of pride at that moment.

Don't forget how worried I was about studying in a foreign country when the invitation came. But the head of the Department, Ms. Kydyrbayeva Umit, expressed support that she believes in us and has high hopes. During the educational trip to Turkey, we were in direct contact with the head of the Department for any questions. I am grateful that I had teachers who are always ready to support, and made a great contribution to the development of our education.

Thanks to KazNU, the faculty of Oriental Studies, I had a great chance to learn about another culture. Most importantly, I have gained invaluable experience which I will need in the future in my work.