Department of Psychology

I am Associate Professor Selim Günüç, the Head of the Department of Psychology. The Department of Psychology is in its third year and is one of the first established departments of İzmir Bakırçay University. Therefore, our department is now in its third year. Currently, there are seven teaching staff members in our department, four of whom are faculty members and the remaining three are research assistants. Generally speaking, the courses are running quite parallel to psychology trainings in Turkey. We just have some differences. We would like our graduates to follow international publications because of this we care deeply about vocational English and that is why we have a Vocational English course. Besides this, we also have some courses which have become increasing important in the last few years, such as Technology Addiction and Social Media Psychology that include the combination of technology and psychology. In view of this, we see our department as quite privileged in comparison to others in Turkey. There is a Neuroscience Laboratory in our university which is used by the Department of Psychology. We have two separate rooms. We use a single-sided mirror in one of these rooms. The other is a room in which we mostly carry out observations, interviews and psychological tests. We haven’t started an internship program yet. In the summer of 2021, the following summer, our first students will complete their 6-week compulsory internship. In the following years, they will have lessons in the form of graduation projects. Another important issue is the opportunities abroad. We place grave importance on this issue as a department. We are having meetings with some European countries for our students to take part in the Erasmus student exchange program along with higher education institutions in America. We are planning to introduce this very soon as it is a matter we deeply care about. We want our students to have experiences abroad where they can gain various perspectives. That is why we plan on launching our Erasmus opportunities very soon. Our agreements are currently in the preparation stage and will be finalized.
Our students have the opportunity to find jobs in a wide range of business areas after they graduate. They can work in many public institutions and organizations such as ministries, schools, hospitals and courthouses along with private institutions. They can also create their own job opportunities by choosing their Master’s and especially the areas they would like to specialize in. Of course, this issue is also a little about our students developing themselves and continuing their education after they graduate.
We offer them as many opportunities, guidance and support as we can during their time with us and even after they graduate. I can say the following for those who will specifically choose İzmir Bakırçay University’s Psychology Department: we have a young and dynamic team here. That is why we follow the latest developments in the field of psychology and shape our education a little more accordingly by following international publications. This allows us carry out studies which are similar to the education received around the world and communicate these results to our students. Another important issue of note is how being a new university has some benefits. One of these benefits is that we have good values along with future goals, and we want to include our students in our future goals. In addition, we have a team that specializes in some of the most important issues of the future, which I have just mentioned, such as technology addiction and cyber psychology. If they wish to do so, our new students will have the chance to receive this education with Master’s degrees upon their graduation. For these reasons, we are awaiting all candidates to Izmir Bakırçay University’s Department of Psychology. We hope to work well together and contribute to psychology in our effective environment.