Turkish-German University

Turkish-German University (Turkish: Türk-Alman Üniversitesi, German: Türkisch-Deutsche Universität) is a state university located in Istanbul, Turkey. The university was founded in 2013 with the intent of having an institute merging academic traditions from both Germany and Turkey.^[1] The university offers courses in Turkish, English and German.^[1]

Turkish-German University

Türk-Alman Üniversitesi
Established	2013
Rector	Prof. Dr. Cemal Yıldız
Location	Istanbul 41.144467°N 29.100895°E / 41.144467; 29.100895
Website	tau.edu.tr

History

The costs for the university are shared by Germany and Turkey. Turkey is taking care of the costs of the buildings. From 2009 to 2020 around 28 Million Euro were invested from Germany by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.^[2]

Turkish and German education programs have been developed by distinguished Turkish and German scientists. The Turkish-German University Consortium supported this process as a partner. Programs curriculum designed according to the needs of the Turkish and German business sector. The education system of all departments at the university is coordinated by their own partner universities in Germany. The most successful students can get the diplomas of both universities by getting 1 year of education in Germany. For example, all engineering departments except computer engineering are coordinated by Technische Universität Berlin. 37 German universities and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) are members of the consortium. The interstate treaty accepts the Consortium as a German partner of TGU, a state university. Both parties act together for the quality and success of joint research and education. Consortium Board of Directors, consisting of people from the fields of science, politics, culture and economy, supports TGU in its development.^{[citation needed]}

Consortium Members:

ASH Berlin BTU Cottbus FH Aachen FH Bielefeld Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences FU Berlin HBK Braunschweig HDWM Mannheim HS-Bonn-Rhein-Sieg HS-Bremen Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg Hochschule Bochum SRH Berlin TU Berlin TU Braunschweig TU Chemnitz TU Darmstadt TU Dortmund

TU Ilmenau Univ. Augsburg Univ. Bamberg Univ. Bayreuth Univ. Bielefeld Univ. Duisburg-Essen Univ. Erfurt Univ. Göttingen Univ. Heidelberg Univ. Hohenheim Univ. Konstanz Univ. Paderborn Univ. Passau Univ. Potsdam Univ. Siegen Stuttgart Üniversitesi Köln Üniversitesi WWU Münster DAAD

Controversies

In 2016, six academics were dismissed,^[3] including two faulty deans.^[4] As a reaction to the critique stated by academics from Germany, the rector Halil Akkanat stated that academics from Germany only wanted to talk Turkey down.^[5]

In February 2021 it was revealed that the academic Taceddin Kutay, which has a contract with the university, had continuously published racist and homophobic tweets. Students of the university protested against it.^[6][7]

On 7 May 2021 the university social media accounts published a statement that the university has filed a lawsuit against its own member Murat Erdoğan considering him to have insulted the president. Students of the university protested against this decision.^[8][9]

In March 2022, the president of the consortium, Rita Süssmuth, the former president of the Turkish Higher Education Council (YÖK) and current advisor to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Yekta Sarac, and the former overall coordinator of the TDU, Izzet Furgac, received honorary doctorates from the university.^[10]

On May 26, 2022, students protested in front of the rector's building against the cancellation of the annual Spring Festival. Among other things, they accused the rectorate of not having given enough support to the student body at other events. In return, AKP events on the campus were quickly approved by the administration.^[11][12][13]

References

1. Ubit. "Üniversitemiz Hakkında : Türk-Alman Üniversitesi | Türkisch-Deutsche Universität". www.tau.edu.tr. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
2. "Neuer Campus der Türkisch-Deutschen Universität eröffnet" (in German). 24 January 2020.
3. Thomas Vitzthum (1 November 2016), Erdogan: Sechs Lehrkräfte von türkisch-deutscher Uni entlassen (in German), retrieved 19 January 2020
4. "DUZ - Plötzlich ist Schluss".
5. "Heikle Partnerschaft". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German).
6. Evrensel Gazetesi. "Türk Alman Üniversitesi'ndeki homofobik ve cinsiyetçi akademisyene tepkiler büyüyor" (in Turkish).
7. "Türk Alman Üniversitesi'ndeki homofobik ve cinsiyetçi akademisyene tepkiler sürüyor". birgun.net (in Turkish). Retrieved 26 February 2021.
8. "Türk Alman Üniversitesi, Prof. Dr. Murat Erdoğan'a iktidarı eleştirdiği için soruşturma başlattı". birgun.net (in Turkish). Retrieved 8 May 2021.
9. "Türk-Alman Üniversitesi, iktidarı eleştiren Prof. Dr. Mehmet Murat Erdoğan hakkında hukuki süreç başlattı". www.cumhuriyet.com.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 8 May 2021.
10. "Verleihung der Ehrendoktorwürden an der Türkisch-Deutschen Universität". www.tau.edu.tr. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
11. "Son Günlerde Yaşananlara Dair". TAÜHABER (in Turkish). 26 May 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
12. "Video of students protesting in front of the rectorate". Twitter TAU Haber. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
13. "Türk-Alman-Üniversitesi Bahar Festivali "Frühlingsfest 22" iptal etildi". Twitter Tau Haber. Retrieved 6 June 2022.