Dear students and valued scholars;
Welcome to Informatics Department’s web site, which is one of the youngest departments of Istanbul University. You will be able to get to know us, our department, and our activities when you visit our web site.
Informatics is a popular subject abroad compared to Turkey. It is defined as “the discipline involved in researching systems and technology designed to gather and store information, processing, categorization and organization of data” by Turkish Institute of Standards. Informatics is also interested in changes technology and its impacts on human life.
Our department was found in 1997 and our masters degree was introduced in 2003. Currently our department has 74 masters, 6 masters (distant education) and 48 PhD students. Our department, which has close relationships with information technology industry, was also able to host various national and international conferences.
Various advantages our department include the following:
Our department has a dynamic structure involved in various multi-disciplinary activities. Our students have also different backgrounds such as mathematics, physics, biology, astronomy, computer science, business administration etc. The students that apply from different programs for our master degree usually are offered a preparatory stage program before they were accepted to the masters degree.
Every year during the beginning of the semester we arrange an orientation program that involves meeting with scholars. That way our students are able to meet our faculty, acquire information on different lectures and select the courses with their advisors.
Because most of our students are already employed in the industry, the schedules of courses are designed to their needs and the lectures are collected in two-three days in a week, so that they would be more flexible.
PhD students are also able to enroll in different lectures offered in various other departments as well based on rules established by the institute. Scientific Research Projects Unit also offers up to 7000 TL for masters and 15.000 TL for PhD students for their thesis. Our department is also involved in various exchange programs such as Erasmus, Farabi and Mevlana that offer various funding for national and international mobility.
Students have also the opportunity to work as part-time students.
These students are determined at the beginning of each semester based on objective criteria and responsible for execution of different duties given by faculty for a symbolic amount of financing.
I once again welcome all of our students to this warm education environment. I wish you all success
Sincerely Yours,
Prof. Sevinç GÜLSEÇEN (PhD)
Istanbul University Department of Informatics – Chair
What is Informatics
Informatics, defined by the Turkish Standards Institution as “a discipline of science that involves the collection, storage, processing, organization, classification, distribution, and use of information, through necessary systems and technologies,” is also a discipline that focuses on how people change technology and how technology changes people. Informatics includes research, development and educational activities related to the establishment, maintenance, and use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based Information Systems that perform functions such as collecting, classifying, storing, processing, transmitting, and presenting information. Informatics, as a profession, aims to bring the necessary professional skills for development and use of Information Systems.
History of the Department
The Department of Informatics was founded in 17/06/1997 in accordance with the law 97.19.1429. In 2003, it started offering Master’s degree education within the Institute of National Sciences, followed by the commencement of doctoral education three years later. Since then, in line with the mission and vision of our department, significant information systems that required by our university have been developed and made available for use by our administrative and academic staff. Some examples include:
• Document Tracking Automatization System
• Reconstruction Information and Communication System in Education (EYYBIS)
• Outgoing Erasmus Students Tracking System
• Institute of Natural Sciences Web Portal (Information System)
• Institute of Social Sciences Web Portal (Information System)
• Institution of Eurasia Web Portal (Information System)
• Conference Management and Tracking System (For international Future Learning Conferences) COMAS
Currently, some of these systems have been incorporated by ISKOP and continue to be developed. Informatics Coordination Committee, which has coordinated these development process for two years, was also established in the direction of suggestions of our department and carried out its works.
Our department, which has a close relationship with the sector of IT industry and IT non-governmental organizations, has organized and continues to host important national and international events. Some of them are; the Future Learning Conference (International Conference on Innovations in Learning for the Future), International Congress on Studies within the Frame of Informatics (ICSFI), R and Data-mining Summer and Winter Schools, Internet in Turkey (Inet-tr), Internet Week Activities (InfoDay), ISSEP 2014, and International Semiotics Conference 2015: From Authentic to Informatics.
For Prospective Students
The number of students have been increasing day by day and here are some of the opportunities offered by our department:
• Our department has an open and dynamic structure that encourages interdisciplinary education, teaching and similar activities with academicians from various disciplines. Therefore, we have many students with backgrounds in maths, physics, biology, astronomy, computer engineering, computer and instructional technology, management etc. Students from other fields who apply to our master program, if they are accepted by our department, are given the opportunity to take Scientific Preparation courses to help them establish the necessary foundation for our program.
• At the beginning of the academic year, a meeting is held to introduce all students and faculty members. This allows our students to meet with our lecturers, get information about the courses, and select the courses in the beginning of the year.
• Since our department is frequently preferred by professionals who are working in the industry, the timetables are flexibly arranged according to the students’ availability. In master and doctoral programmes, the lectures are collected in two or three days.
• Students in our department have the opportunity to take courses from different programmes within our university and other universities, following the rules set by the department.
• During the thesis stage, our students can apply to thesis projects by Scientific Research Projects Unit of our university. They can be supported financially during their study of master and doctorate degrees.
• Students can gain different experiences domestically and internationally by participating the exchange programmes such as Erasmus, Farabi and Mevlana. Our department has agreements with many countries, and some of our students have been in France, Luxemburg, Poland and Lithuania through exchange programs.
• Our departure has been a member of “Oracle Academy – Advanced Computer Science” since November 2012, which gives opportunities to the students. In this context, our students and lecturers can have:
o Free educations organized by Oracle Turkey
o %50 discount for the lectures of Oracle University
o %25 discount for Oracle certificate exam
o Oracle Press publications with 50% discount.
Students have the opportunity to work as a part-time student in our department. In every semester, these students are selected based on the responsibilities and skills specified in the announcement. They fulfill the tasks assigned by our lecturers and awarded with a symbolic wage.
Our department of Informatics, which raised the awareness about the importance of Informatics, aims to be a focus in interdisciplinary cooperations.
As you are viewing this page, it means we will also touch you as well. Welcome!
Our department will implement the e-learning process in Istanbul University’s evolution to become an “e-university”.
Our university has a key role in becoming an e-university, ICT education, research and application development.
Our principles are;
- An interdisciplinary approach.
- Sensitiveness to the needs of IT sector.
- Being attentive to sharing information.
- Committment to ethic principles.
We are constructing our basic policies and priorities in line with the afore-mentioned fundamental principles.
To support Undergraduate and Graduate students and academic and administrative staff of the University, through training in Information and Communication Technology; to support the development of Information Systems and Automation Systems in various units of the university needing it.
To support the efforts of our country in becoming an information society and cooperate with civil society organizations and the IT sector and perform collaborative activities with NGOs.
