FACULTY OF FINE ARTS, DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE

Established on 1 April 2012 and renamed the *Faculty of Fine Arts, Design and Architecture* by the decision dated 8 April 2016, our Faculty aims to provide educational opportunities grounded in creative, innovative, and contemporary approaches through academic and artistic activities at both national and international levels.

Within our Faculty, it is our mission to cultivate individuals who carry forward our country’s artistic, design, and architectural heritage into the future; who uphold the values of humanity’s cultural legacy; who are creative, innovative, and capable of operating in artistic and design fields at national and international levels; who embrace and preserve their unique cultural identity; and who are open to development, entrepreneurial, and well-suited to teamwork.

In line with this vision, our Faculty seeks to establish creative and collaborative academic staff that support national development by integrating science, art, and technology within a professional knowledge-based educational framework; to conduct research contributing to science and art at the international level; to educate specialists capable of sustaining such research; and to ensure the continuity of these objectives.

Within the Faculty, four departments have been established: Visual Communication Design, Painting, Architecture, and Traditional Turkish Arts. The Department of Painting includes the Major Art Branch of Painting; the Department of Architecture includes the Division of Restoration; and the Department of Traditional Turkish Arts includes the Major Art Branch of Illumination (Tezhip). The Department of Visual Communication Design, which commenced its educational activities in the 2018–2019 academic year with 60+2 students, includes the Division of Visual Communication.

The Master’s Program in Visual Communication Design adopts a holistic approach that integrates theoretical knowledge with practice-based production in the field of visual communication. Within the scope of the program, students acquire academic and creative production skills in areas such as visual culture, semiotics, design theories, digital media, new communication technologies, and interdisciplinary design approaches. The program aims to equip students with competence in academic research processes while enabling them to critically evaluate professional design practice.

DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION DESIGN

The Department of Visual Communication Design, which admitted its first students in the 2018–2019 academic year, aims to provide students with the theoretical courses necessary to build a strong intellectual foundation, alongside practical courses that enable them to visualize and apply theoretical approaches. The curriculum integrates theoretical knowledge with practical applications and incorporates next-generation communication tools in order to educate the designers of the future.

The primary objective of the Department is to educate undergraduate students who will contribute to artistic and industry-specific fields through its academic structure, thereby cultivating entrepreneurial, specialized, and highly qualified professionals.

The educational framework focuses on creative problem-solving grounded in design principles, visual thinking, strong and effective communication skills, content development and conceptual thinking, corporate identity design, brand creation processes, and the design and use of advertising media. Accordingly, students are trained to utilize communication tools such as creative text, imagery, motion, and sound across new media, television, computers, smart mobile communication devices, interface/interaction design, printed products, and all communication platforms.

Graduates of the Department of Visual Communication Design may pursue careers in various fields of the communication design sector, benefiting from their interdisciplinary creative skills and proficiency in new communication technologies. They may work as content creators/designers in advertising agencies, film and video production companies, multimedia and animation studios, marketing firms, and graphic design companies. Furthermore, graduates may continue their academic careers through master’s and doctoral programs.

In its first year of educational activities, the Faculty established Erasmus+ exchange agreements with institutions in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Bulgaria. Bilateral Erasmus+ agreements are currently in place with Jan Evangelista Purkyně University (CZ USTINAD 01) in the Czech Republic, Hochschule Anhalt (D KOTHEN 01) in Germany, Universidad de Zaragoza (E ZARAGOZ 01) in Spain, and the University of Rijeka (HR RIJEKA 01) in Croatia.

The Department of Visual Communication Design conducts its educational activities in accordance with the learning outcomes defined within the Turkish Qualifications Framework (TYÇ).

DEPARTMENT OF PAINTING

The Department of Painting aims to contribute to the social and cultural development of our country by providing art education in accordance with universal standards and by training creative, sensitive, knowledgeable, and well-equipped young artists.

The curriculum includes courses in fundamental art education, visual perception, color, anatomy, studio practice, philosophy, and art history, aiming to equip students with contemporary and current competencies in the field. In addition, throughout the course of study, studio courses incorporating various techniques are designed to enhance students’ abilities in creating and analyzing works of art.

Within the Department of Painting, the Major Art Branch of Painting has been established. This branch seeks to develop candidates’ creative and intuitive capacities—the foundation of creativity—while fostering the cultural knowledge necessary to understand the nature and logic of art. The program aims to educate researcher-oriented, original artist candidates who possess aesthetic values, can interpret contemporary and traditional art from an interdisciplinary perspective, and are equipped for both individual and collaborative work.

DEPARTMENT OF TRADITIONAL TURKISH ARTS

The aim of education in the Department of Traditional Turkish Arts is to document historical examples of our traditional arts, which constitute both national and universal cultural heritage; to carry out their restoration; and to ensure their preservation, integration into daily life, and transmission to future generations through the training of qualified specialists.

Within the Department, the Major Art Branch of Illumination (Tezhip) has been established. The program seeks to preserve this centuries-old artistic tradition and transmit it to future generations by reinterpreting its unique cultural heritage through modern perspectives, while providing comprehensive theoretical and practical training. The Department prioritizes educating designers who can accurately interpret traditional data, adapt it to contemporary contexts, integrate it with modern technologies, and create platforms for the universal application of these designs.

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

Architecture is a discipline dedicated to enhancing the environment and urban life, improving living spaces and public areas, and designing space and place with the awareness that it shapes human life. Accordingly, the fundamental mission of the Department of Architecture is to educate qualified architects who are sensitive to people, nature, and culture, and who possess professional knowledge, skills, and ethical values.

Its primary objective is to train architect candidates who can monitor and anticipate developments and transformations in design and production processes parallel to social, economic, cultural, and technological conditions, and who can conduct the necessary contemporary research in alignment with global living standards.

Within the Department of Architecture, the Division of Restoration has been established. The program aims to educate architect candidates with sufficient knowledge and expertise to protect and transmit cultural heritage—bearing aesthetic, historical, and documentary value—to future generations. By integrating theory and practice concerning the built environment, particularly cultural heritage, the program seeks to provide an architectural education that unifies education, practice, and research within platforms shaped by both local and universal interactions.