61-year-old academic pursues his fourth degree

KAYSERİ

A 61-year-old member of a university’s Veterinary Faculty is studying for his fourth bachelor’s degree as he wants to improve himself in the field of social sciences.

Kaan İşcan, residing in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri, graduated from Ankara University’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 1986 and started working as a faculty member at Erciyes University 30 years ago.

İşcan, who has been working since then, graduated from the Vocational School of Justice in 2018.

After he graduated from the vocational school, İşcan started to study economics at Anadolu University’s Faculty of Open Education four years ago, while he entered the university, where he teaches as a student, in the Sociology Department this time.

İşcan, who teaches veterinary candidates during the day, attends classes in the Sociology Department in the evenings.

“The Veterinary Faculty, where I am a member, belongs to humanities. Fields such as medicine, veterinary, pharmacy and dentistry are evaluated within the field of health sciences. However, after a certain period of time, I noticed that I lack in social sciences,” İşcan stated.

“I intend to specialize in political sociology. I have six years left until my retirement. As a person who loves life, I do not think of myself as a retiree, so I aim to make plans for retirement in accordance with my education,” he noted.

Stating that he feels different in the classroom environment, İşcan stated that the most challenging issue for him, as a person who study at a university at the age of 61, is that his classmates and academics are much younger than him.

“Most of my classmates are in their 20s. My teachers are also quite younger than me. I feel very different in the classroom as I have passed these stages long before.”

“In fact, I would like to mingle with my classmates as generation Z is a generation that I want to observe in sociological terms,” he noted.