As the oldest university of the Turkish Republic, the history and mission of Ankara University has greatly coincided with that of the young state founded by Atatürk. The establishment of the Turkish Republic was much more than just a change in government; it was also a great social transformation based on modern science, contemporary democratic values and institutions. Similarly, the institution of Ankara University can be considered one of Atatürk’s most important statements on the character and objectives of higher education, that should be entrusted the State rather than other institutions. The foundation of Ankara University was a personal initiative of Atatürk, meant to form the basis of his principles and revolutionary ideas; to disseminate, firmly establish and defend these principles and ideas that express modernity, science and enlightenment nationwide. The initial and impressive accomplishments of the new Republic in the area of higher education were to open a new School of Law to educate jurists for a new restructuring of the law in 1925; to establish the Higher Institute of Agriculture to serve the farmers of Turkey in 1933; to open the Faculty of Humanities to gather data on numerous Anatolian cultures and their richness, and to establish international linguistic and cultural ties in 1935; to open the doors of the School of Political Sciences, which had been training high-ranking public administrators under the name of Mekteb-i Mülkiye since 1859 and moved to Ankara in 1936 by Atatürk’s special order . To the institutions mentioned above, the Faculties of Medicine and Science, also initiated by Atatürk, but whose opening was postponed to the late 1940s because of the Second World War, should also be added. The subsequent history of Ankara University, officially established in 1946 with the Faculties of Law, Humanities, Science and Medicine, each of which had important missions in the building of the Republic of Turkey, is as follows:
-In 1948, the university incorporated the Faculties of Agriculture and of Veterinary Medicine which had formerly composed the Higher Institute of Agriculture.
-In 1949, the Faculty of Divinity was founded.
-In 1950 The School of Political Sciences, founded in 1936, became the Faculty of Political Sciences.
-In 1960, the Faculty of Pharmacy was founded.
-In 1977, the School of Dentistry, which was established in 1963, became the Faculty of Dentistry.
-In 1965, the Faculty of Educational Sciences was founded.
-In 1965, the Vocational School of Press and Publication, currently known as the Faculty of Communication, was founded.
-In 2001, the Faculty of Engineering was founded as a separate faculty after a split from the Faculty of Science.
-In 2007, the Faculty of Health Education, which started teaching in 1996, was renamed Faculty of Health Sciences.
- In 2013, the School of Physical Education and Sports, which started education in 1993, was renamed the Faculty of Sport Sciences.
- In 2014, Our Faculty of Applied Sciences was established.
- In 2015, the Faculty of Fine Arts, which was officially established in 1996 but has not started its activities, became active in 2015 as the 17th Faculty of our University.
- In 2018, Faculty of Nursing was established.
- In 2020 Faculty of Open and Distance Education was established in 2020 and the number of faculties reached 19.
You can access detailed information about Ankara University at http://iso.ankara.edu.tr/files/2020/07/About-Ankara-University.pdf