Kastamonu University (KU), which aims at having a distinguished place among national and international universities, was founded in 2006. Since then, KU has established itself as a “Developing Young University” with its innovations in social, cultural and sports areas as well as its physical developments. The main campus, Kuzeykent Campus, is located on an area of 237 hectares on the north of the city, Kastamonu.
With an increasing number of qualified academic and administrative staff, KU carries out its academic activities within 14 faculties, 3 institutes, 2 schools of higher education and 13 vocational schools. Moreover, KU offers rich academic, research, social, cultural and sports facilities to its students and staff. 82 student clubs within KU also enrich and add dynamism to university life. The student clubs are open to the participation of all students. The students can be members of these clubs and participate in activities appropriate to their skills or areas of interest and can establish different clubs. The numbers and activities of student clubs increase continually.
KU continues to diversify and improve the educational services it provides with the new faculties, institutes, schools and research centres. KU promises a stress-free, calm and healthy environment where theoretical education is put into practice, the cooperation and communication between the academic staff and students are effective and strong.
Kastamonu University, located in a rural area where there are not enough employment opportunities, is trying to find solutions to meet the needs of the both city in particular and region and country in general. To this end, the university stated in its 2020-2024 strategic plan that after deciding on the requirements of the market and determining the areas of specialization, it will sign protocols with the other organizations to strengthen the education-employment relationship. Thus, the quality and quantity of entrepreneurship activities will increase in order to give priority to the specialization area by using the outputs of qualified education and research activities. In 2018, KU is recognised as the only university in Turkey that specialises in the field of forestry and nature tourism.
The university is becoming a “World University” by increasing the number of bilateral, Erasmus and Mevlana agreements. As is highlighted in its strategic plan, KU aims to promote scientific and critical thinking, problem solving and creativity and to raise awareness of individual differences (disabilities and cultural diversities). KU also shares its expertise and the knowledge it produces and the workforce it cultivates, primarily in the fields forestry and nature tourism, to the service of humanity for regional, national and international sustainable development. KU aims at becoming an innovative and respected university at national and international level, playing a pioneering role in the development of the region by conducting qualified research and collaborations. To this end, KU focuses on internationalisation and inter-institutional cooperation in its institutional strategic plans since 2010, and sets realistic and fruitful goals for its future. In its new strategic plan (2020-2024), KU underlines the importance of its existing international relations with other institutions abroad and aims to build new collaborations by adopting Erasmus as an essential part of its strategy for modernisation and internationalization.
Kastamonu University Turkish Teaching Application and Research Center (TÖMER) has been teaching Turkish to foreign students since 2012. TÖMER has been successfully teaching Turkish to thousands of international students with its expert staff since its inception. In addition, TÖMER organizes certificate programs in cooperation with various institutions related to digitalization and online education in language teaching.