Department of Political Science and International Relations

Hello friends, my name is İlyas Can Doğan and I am a 4th year student at Ufuk University, in the Department of Political Science and International Relations—about which I will give you some information. The Department of Political Science and International Relations is an interdisciplinary department, as its name suggests, and is a combination of political science and international relations. What we call political science is a branch of management science and what we call international relations helps us to understand and interpret states and international actors. In short, this department aims to improve the ability to analyse and comment in political, social, cultural and economic fields. At the same time, our department aims to improve the presentation skills and increase self-confidence. Our department is located on the Incek Campus. Generally, the courses we take are not only related to political science and international relations because it is an interdisciplinary department. Psychology, sociology and economics are also among the courses we take. So, the courses we receive are very varied. To give an example, we have courses in the field of law, International Law, Public Law— or more correctly—Administrative Law and Constitutional Law. Or, for example, from the field of sociology, we study Political Sociology. Apart from this, we have separate statistics lessons. We have lessons in various fields. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the most common institution to work in after graduation. You are more likely to work in public institutions, however you can also work in the private sector. Other than that, you can work in media outlets and in think tank organisations. However recently we see that large international ompanies such as the ‘Big Four’ want to include international relations students. Therefore, we can say that job opportunities are very broad. Political science and international relations have been my field of interest since my childhood. I especially like readings about history and political science. So I wanted to combine my hobby with my work. In this context, I saw that Ufuk University was the best university I could choose, so I selected it. Ufuk University is better in terms of facilities, not just when compared with state universities, but also with many other private universities. It is superior in the following respects: as it is located in Ankara, it can ben efit not only from its own staff but also from the staff of Gazi University, Ankara University and Middle East Technical University. At the same time, Ufuk University has a library that is open 24/7 and this library has memberships of important scientific journals. For example, we can access all the articles written in DergiPark free of charge. Apart from that, they help us a lot with the materials we need for our lessons. For
example, Apart from that, they help us a lot with the materials we need for our lessons. For example, in the Central Asia course, they can show the map of Central Asia to us whenever we need it and provide a three-dimensional projection of it. We can benefit from such opportunities. Currently my goal upon graduating is to complete an graduate degree. I have determined my own field as China, so my field of study will be China. A Chinese Research Center will be established in Ufuk University in the near future. As you may know, this is a bilateral project with Çankaya University. Therefore, Iwould like to study in China because my master’s degree will be on China. I want to do my doctorate in Taiwan. Then I want to become an academic and work in a think tank. I want this think tank organisation to be either the Ankara Centre for Crisis andPolitical Studies or the Eurasian Review Center. Firstly, candidates who start the course must seek part-time jobs in the companies known as the ‘Big Four’. To give and example of these companies, I can name Deloitte and PWC. They should learn how these things work in the private sector. They should do summer internships in various think tank institutions. The Ankara Crisis and Political Research Center or the Center for Eurasian Studies, the International Turkish Culture Organisation or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey could be given as examples. They should not only limit themselves to think tanks. Apart from that, they can apply to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to understand how the state works. At the same time, various internship applications are now open on ‘e-devlet’. An example of this is the Capital Markets Board. They can undertake an internship at the Capital Markets Board. In other words—because there is a wide range of employment opportunities and to see where they want to work —they have to do an internship or work part-time. First of all, it should be said that since the Department of Political Science and İnternational Relations is a social science, candidates who prefer this department must definitely like reading. At the same time, people who prefer this department should follow current affairs. This is because every moment something new can happen; a new order of the day occurs and our perspective on events may change. At the same time, as you know, there are so many new ideologies that have mushroomed in postmodernism, that require our active endeavour. They need to know these new ideologies; these new current ideas. I wish success to those friends who choose our department.