According to a research conducted by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), Ibn Haldun University ranked first among the foundation universities that provide "full scholarship" to their students. Evaluating the research, Professor Recep Şentürk, the President of Ibn Haldun University said, "Our goal is to bring together the best students, the best professors and to provide a quality education and to serve our country and humanity in the future."
Noting that all 150 students educating in the university have full scholarship Professor Şentürk said, "We deal with education in the context of foundation culture and we are not after a commercial purpose." Professor Şentürk emphasized that as a university, they are aiming to attract succesful students and one of the ways to make it possible is offering full scholarships. "We awarded 100% of scholarship to all our undergraduate students. Those students who are awarded scholarship are not only exempted from tuition fees, but they also receive funds according to their achievement levels. We also offer free accommodation at undergraduate levels." he added.
Professor Şentürk said 95% percent of graduate and PhD students are also awarded scholarships. He also underlined that at the lastest exam conducted by Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM), most of the departments at Ibn Haldun University started to compete with the well-known universities in Turkey. "Our aim is to bring together the best students, most successful scholars, give them a high quality education, training people who will serve our country and work for our people in the future. In this context, our scholarship opportunities are not limited by undergraduate students. 95% percent of students in our graduate and PhD programs also receive scholarships." Professor Şentürk also noted that Ibn Haldun University School of Languages is currently the best in Turkey. "Prep classes in our School of Languages consist of 10 students. It is a great advantage to learn foreign language in this ten-student classes. Unlike other universities, we offer English language education in five courses. The students who succesfully complete this education also get the opportunity for a summer school in a country where this language is spoken." he added.
Emphasizing the importance of teaching Arabic besides English, professor Şentürk said, "At our university we give importance not only to English but also to Arabic. Therefore, all students who graduate from Ibn Haldun University will have a good command of Arabic, as well as English."
Professor Şentürk underlined that all students will continue to be awarded 100% percent scholarship in the coming term. Declaring the Department of Comparative Literature is formed Professor Şentürk said, "Ibn Haldun University is a research university and we focus on MA and PhD programs. Almost 30 graduate programs are accepting applications. By the fall the number of PhD programs will reach to 10."
Professor Şentürk also underlined that studies initiated to develop a new model of financing 100% percent scholorship opportunities have come to an end. "The majority of the students studying in the well-known universities in the world are receiving scholarships, especially in masters and PhD programs. We will apply the same model here in Turkey as well." he added.
Sharing the details of the new financial model Professor Şentürk said: "The financing system of the world's leading universities including Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Columbia have a model in which tuitions fees received from the students constitute a maximum of 10% percent of the budget. The rest is absorped by the real properties. We are planning to apply this system to our university. We call this financing model 'Permanent Donation, Conditional Foundation.' When people want to make a donation to our university, they may set conditions that their donation would be permanent and used as an endowment. For example the grantor can say; 'I donate this amount of money or property, but you can not use it in any way. You can only use the income.' Or a grantor can decide to support the annual salary of a certain scholar. If that happens, the name of the grantor or the mini-foundation, would be mentioned alongside the name of the certain scholar." Professor Şentürk also reminded that such system was successfully used during the Ottoman Period and the work is about to finish in adopting the revised version of this system.
