Welcome to the Psychology Department at İstanbul Bilgi University! I would like to start out by mentioning how lucky we feel as a department. Since 1997, we have been educating students who come to us because they are passionate about studying psychology and who have made a conscious decision to do so. Our various graduate programs are also increasing the attraction to our department. Since 2005, we have been running a highly reputable and competitive Clinical Psychology MA program that provides excellent training to individuals wanting to specialize in clinical psychology. As of the 2012-2013 academic year, the MA program will also have a track in child-adolescent psychotherapy, the first of its kind in Turkey. In 2011, we also instituted an Organizational Psychology MA program with the goal of training experts in an area which is gaining increasingly more recognition in Turkey. This program is run in collaboration with Alliant International University in the US, and in addition to an MA degree from İstanbul Bilgi University, offers students the opportunity to receive a certificate from Alliant University.
Psychology is a comprehensive and dynamic discipline that involves gaining a thorough knowledge of human emotional, mental and behavioral processes by way of scientific studies, and applying this knowledge towards solving social problems. Therefore, the subject matter of psychology spans a wide spectrum. It is possible to connect psychological processes with societal dynamics on the one hand, and with nervous system activity on the other. For example, prejudiced attitudes are being investigated in the context of societal relationships by social psychologists while, at the same time, they are also being investigated in the laboratory environment by neuroscientists, using new advanced neuroimaging technologies.
As İstanbul Bilgi University Psychology Department, our aim is to acquaint our students with the basic theoretical, research and applied areas of psychology, and to provide an environment wherein the contemporary science of psychology can be studied and discussed in all its diversity. As a scientific discipline as well as a profession, psychology is developing rapidly in Turkey just as it is in the rest of the world. We are hoping to educate students who will want to contribute to these developments, who will be able to use their knowledge and analytical skills in a creative and meaningful way, and who will approach issues related to human life from a critical, objective and analytical perspective.
During the last decade, the interest in psychology has grown increasingly in Turkey. The fact that almost all new universities have a psychology department is perhaps the most concrete example of this phenomenon. In this context, it becomes imperative that the potential psychology students examine very closely the programs in which they are interested. We think that the İstanbul Bilgi University Psychology Department has a privileged status among the many other psychology departments in Turkey. Obviously, keeping up with recent developments in psychology is increasingly important in the context of globalization. As with other departments in the university, we believe that the formation we provide our students prepares them well for the rapidly changing world. The majority of our faculty have received their doctorates from universities abroad. Our faculty follow developments in their fields very closely and are actively engaged in research projects. Our curriculum offers a wide spectrum of courses and is based on a fairly flexible structure that offers students many options. The electronic data bases in the area of psychology that are made accessible by our library are the envy of other universities. We place great importance on activities in which we host academicians from Turkey as well as from abroad, in activities coordinated jointly with NGOs that are aimed at translating learning into real life. Sensitivity to and responsibility for finding solutions to social problems are among the highly valued priorities of our faculty. Violence against women, children on the street and adolescents at risk are examples of societal problems for which we frequently host activities and generate projects with NGOs like SHÇEK. Finally, our students find the opportunity to become acquainted with respected academics and their research by working as student volunteers at national and international psychology conferences such as the one we hosted at our university in July 2011, the International Society for Political Psychology (ISPP).
We invite all student candidates interested the various programs in our department to visit our classes and to experience closely the advantage of what it means to be a psychology student in our department.
Department Head
Hale Bolak, Prof.
