With its distinguished history exceeding 130 years, 3.400 scholars and approximately 80.000 students, Marmara University is one of the leading higher education institutions in Turkey, serving scientific purposes from Istanbul, largest city of the country.

In line with European Education Area, vision of Marmara University is being a leading international university, supporting social development through cutting-edge research and education.

Marmara University (MU) is regarded as one of most capable universities by YÖK (Council of Higher Education in Turkey) to reach Turkish Higher Education Internationalization Goals, which are stated in YÖK’s Internationalization in Higher Education Document. MU offers multilingual education programmes in the languages English, German, French and Arabic in various fields such as Economics, Business Administration, Political Sciences, Sociology, Theology, Engineering, Medicine and Dentistry. Taking this into consideration, Marmara University has been designated as a pilot institution by YÖK to reach the mentioned goal

On the other hand, Marmara University’s 2017 – 2021 Strategic Plan designates the fact that ‘’Universities are moving towards strong international integration and cooperation’’ as crucial and considers this fact to have a high potential to create new opportunities. In accordance with this effect, in the Strategic Plan one of the three main strategies is defined as “conducting international researches and developments with high added value.’’ A sub-objective in this strategy is to “increase international academic/administrative staff and student exchanges, teaching exchanges, researches and cooperation.” This objective will be evaluated with the indicators: “Increase in student and staff mobility’’, “Increase in the number of double/joint degree programmes’’, “Increase in international projects’’ and “Increase in the number of researches made in other countries’’. In this regard, ERASMUS Program serves as one of the most important means for our university to reach its stated strategic objectives. MU’s strategic plan emphasizes to proceed with the plans to engage in European Education Area and increase the coherence between MU and Foreign Higher Education Institutions by using Bologna process criteria and programs such as Erasmus that serve as a catalyst for increasing interaction between aforementioned institutions. Moreover, the same plan also upholds the idea of supporting those with a disadvantageous background by encouraging those to participate in mobility programs.

Mobility of individuals through Erasmus Program along with joint programs and projects with other institutions and the business world have positive impacts on both participants, partner institutions and variety of partners. Erasmus actions is expected to provide occasions for students and staff to interact with foreign peers and colleagues, develop strong relations that are likely to be fruitful in terms of academic and social outcomes. MU encourages its students and staff to increase their foreign language proficiency, keep up with other institutions’ academic environment, curriculum and teaching methods. Moreover, getting to know different scientific approaches, increasing intercultural awareness and insight, self-reliance, personal development and employability are other positive impacts Erasmus Program enables our students and staff to obtain.

When it comes to the advantages for institutions, Erasmus Program has been one of the pioneers for internationalization efforts of Turkish universities. Marmara University has actualized many new approaches to use the opportunities offered by Erasmus Program. As a pilot university in Turkey, MU joined Erasmus Program in 2003 – 2004 and since that academic year it began its Curriculum Development works and structured its curriculum in line with European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and National Qualifications Framework aiming  to graduate students to be compliant with the community's economic and social needs. In this regard, an ‘’ECTS Course Catalogue’’ that includes all education programmes was prepared by our university and opened for access. As a result of activities within the scope of implementation of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), Marmara University has been awarded by European Commission with Diploma Supplement Label in 2010 and with ECTS Label in 2012. By using ECTS and DS horizontal/vertical transfers to be realized readily and learning achievements of our students can be transferred between our University and other institutions.

In the environment of global competition, needs and trends for higher education institutions rapidly change, Marmara University dynamically pursues modernization and restructuring to address these needs. Marmara University gives great importance to keeping up with developments around the globe, with this fashion the university intends keep its education models, working process, information systems and administrative structure up the date and even developing innovative approaches. In this regard, our university constantly renovates the works it has started in the past years on fields such as electronic document system, distance learning applications, lifelong learning opportunities, green campuses that are made suitable for people with disabilities, usage of sustainable and renewable sources.

Marmara University administers its information systems in a dynamic fashion. In this regard all students, including mobility students as well are provided with a user-friendly student information system. Students select their courses, follow the announcements, exam results and course grades through this system. They can also access their transcripts online through this system. Student mobility applications and selection processes are also managed online through student information system. In accordance with Erasmus without paper initiative, MU designs its information system in a way that will allow learning agreements and inter-institutional agreements to be prepared and signed online, share these agreements with both home and host universities.

Maintaining its position as a pioneer in multilingual education, Marmara University has 17 faculties and 4 high schools that offer education in 231 undergraduate degrees. Moreover, 12 institutes offer education in 572 graduate degrees. Thanks to its variety in academic fields, Marmara University is often preferred by other higher education institutions and international institutions to develop cooperation or establish projects. Considering the geographic location of MU just between Europe and Asia, we intend to create and further develop cooperations with universities, research centres and similar institutions in below-mentioned regions and countries: Europe, the Balkans, Central Asia, Ukraine, Russia, China, Iran, India, North Africa, the Malay world, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia and the USA. With its mentioned education and research potential MU wishes to actively participate in Erasmus KA103/107 Learning mobilities, KA2-cooperation among organisations/ institutions and KA3-Support to Policy development/cooperation activities with higher education institutions from the regions mentioned above.

Marmara University is one of the forthcoming universities in Turkey with regards to KA1 Learning mobility. It has reached 750 bilateral Erasmus agreements within the programme in various fields.  Approximately 800 students from Marmara University benefits from Erasmus Programme and placed in European universities each year. MU emphasizes on mobility at all levels of education. In order to provide the participation of students from all levels (short, first, second and third), information days are organized in all academic units.

Furthermore, when it comes to incoming mobility, year after year, Marmara University proved that it is capable of hosting foreign students and staff from program countries with gradually increasing numbers.  According to the data shared by Turkish National Agency regarding incoming students and academic staff from Europe, MU has the highest numbers in Turkey. Recently, according to Turkish Council of Higher Education (YÖK), Marmara University was listed the 1st place in “Number of Incoming Students with Exchange Programmes’’ under internationalization category.

The volume of incoming and outgoing students with Erasmus Mobility program is following an increasing trend for Marmara University. MU seeks to keep that trend and increase the quality by modernising its campuses for providing the best experience for students and supporting Erasmus Student Network (ESN) in order to help incoming students overcome daily struggles they face therefore keeping them focused on their academic and social aspirations.

Foreign students’ and staffs’ presence in our campuses helps us to create a multi-cultural environment which enables our local students and staff to adapt social skills of European standards by means of internationalisation at home. Hosting non-negligible amount of foreign students yearly contributes to solving common problems they face more swiftly and helps the university offer satisfying solutions.  

For many years, Marmara University has been successfully managing Erasmus actions under the coordination of Office for International Relations and Academic Cooperation and with the support of faculty and departmental Erasmus Coordinators. Within Office for International Relations and Academic Cooperation there are 12 fulltime personnel that work in the units for outgoing students, incoming students, staff mobility, international partnerships and projects that actively operates Erasmus processes. Our university had been awarded with the highest amount of Erasmus+ KA103 budget for the last 4 years by Turkish National Agency due to its performance of using the budget it receives with a mind-set to help participants get the most of their mobility term.

In order to ensure the quality of cooperation and mobility, our University seeks curriculum compatibility in selection of partner institutions. In this context, academic departments have an active role in selection of cooperation. Departmental Erasmus coordinators consider the program contents of potential partner institutions. Moreover, MU constantly looks for partners for its departments that have fewer international cooperation. We aim to increase the student and staff mobility in these areas.

As well as KA103, Marmara University also gives great importance to KA107 International Credit Mobility, aiming to increase the number of its international partners from all regions of the world. As mentioned in the previous sections Strategic Plan of Marmara University aims for development of partnerships in many regions around the world, KA107 International Credit Mobility will be a very important device for Marmara University to reach these objectives. In 2020 Marmara University has applied for KA107 International Credit Mobility with international partner institutions from 20 different countries and intends to actively use KA107 International Credit Mobility in the future too.

Having a diverse variety of academic units Marmara University is able to develop joint/double diploma programs with universities abroad. Besides, MU has departments that offer graduate degrees in specific areas as well, such as the Institute of European Studies, Institute of Banking and Insurance, Institute for Middle East Studies, Institute of Turkic Studies. Furthermore, MU also has well-known departments that offer graduate degrees, such as the Institutes of Education Sciences, Social Sciences, Pure and Applied Sciences, Health Sciences and Fine Arts. As a result of initiatives made in this scope, our university operates 4 joint degree programmes already. One of these degree programmes is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Degree Project supported by the European Commission. In addition to this, Marmara University’s administration encourages all the mentioned institutes to develop double degree programmes and apply for Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree projects in following ECHE term.

Marmara University is also interested in developing KA2 and KA3 programs in the following years. MU Strategic Plan envisions integration of education and research with the cooperation of universities and stakeholders. MU always demonstrates its will to enhance partnerships with foreign higher education institutions and industrial entities operating in Europe if cooperation is deemed viable mutually by the Legal representatives of both parties. Institutional and Departmental Erasmus Coordinators of MU are consistently exploring such opportunities which will benefit the MU community. Under these circumstances, MU administration fosters any effort to apply for Strategical Partnership and Capacity Building projects. MU intends to increase its participation especially in KA203 action with projects that raise awareness on recent global issues, such as migration, inclusion of individuals with fewer opportunities/with disabilities, environmental friendly practices, digitalization of higher education. Outcomes of the projects will be shared with the academia in the respected subject area and other institutions to achieve sustainability both institutionally, regionally and internationally.