Istanbul Kent University applies positive discrimination toward female students in tuition fees

ISTANBUL

Istanbul Kent University will for the first time this year accept students and provide a 50 percent discount on tuition fees, with the discount going up to 80 percent for female students who list the university among their top 5 choices. 

“We are assertive in our academic staff and campus. We will for the first time this year accept students. But, by applying positive discrimination for female students, we will provide scholarships up to 80 percent [for tuition fees],” said Prof. Dr. Zehra Neşe Kavak, the university’s rector and a member of its governing board. 

Kavak, who is also an obstetrics, gynecology and perinatology specialist, also provided information on the number of students expected to be enrolled. “There will be 40 students on average in every class and we’ll accept 760 students for 19 departments in total. There are two faculties and one vocational health high school. It will be a university focusing on health,” she noted. 

The number of professors at the university will be 52 and the students will have a chance to do their internships in Istanbul’s Academic Hospital, where Kavak is the chairman of its executive board. “Besides, most of the academic staff in the university are working at this hospital,” Kavak noted. 

“We have planned a university that targets student satisfaction. We believe students should have a say in the management. Student representatives can even have a say in the management. There will be no discrimination against any student. There will be no discrimination among students either. We are aiming to set up a university that does not in any way discriminate against anyone’s language, religion, culture, and the way they dress,” she said.

Speaking about how the idea to establish a new university emerged, she said the idea had initially been put forth by former Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz’s wife, Berna Yılmaz, who serves as the university’s board chair. “This idea was initiated three years ago. Ms. Berna has for a long time been involved in works with the disabled. And we have established a university promoting positive discrimination for girls. It will open its doors this year,” Kavak said. 

The university, established with an act published in the Official Gazette on Sept. 7, 2016, will have its campus in the building of the German Hospital in Taksim, which was previously closed down, on an area covering 22 decares of land.  

Of the newly established university’s seven-member governing board, known also as the board of visitors, six are women.