Erciyes University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine was established with the Law No. 3837 dated 3.7.1992. Prof. Dr. Nejat Aydın, a faculty member at the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ankara University, was appointed as the Founder Dean and started his duty on May 30th, 1995. Since there were no other faculty members in the faculty, Executive Board members of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine were composed of Prof. Dr. Şir Ahmet Fazlı, a faculty member at the Department of Microbiology/ERU Faculty of Medicine; Prof. Dr. Osman Günay, a faculty member at the Department of Public Health/ ERU Faculty of Medicine; Asst. Prof. Güner Bayram, a faculty member at the Department of Livestock Raising and Health/ERU Kocasinan Vocational School and Assoc. Prof. Kenan Aycan, a faculty member at the Department of Anatomy/ERU Faculty of Medicine, who were recommended by the Deanery of the Faculty to the ERU Rectorate. A veterinary specialist Nedret Aydin was appointed as a faculty member to the Department of Microbiology according to the decision taken at the first meeting of the Board, which was held on September 11th, 1995. The Rectorate was notified by the Deanery that the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine project should be handled first within the framework of the 1996 investment program for the faculty, which initially continued its foundation works in only one room of the Rectorate Building within the university campus. However, since there was no place with the desired qualifications at the university, education was started in one classroom and in one room within this building. In this period, limited opportunities and lack of the practices of anatomy courses performed in difficult conditions were tried to be eliminated by short-term practices carried out at Ankara University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. The faculty moved to the old building of the Faculty of Architecture-Engineering with a closed area of 5384 m2 located on Sumer Campus since 1997-1998 Academic Year. The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, which continued its educational activities for a long time in this building, moved to its new building with an area of 13947 m2 in 2011, the foundation of which was laid within the Central Campus in 2007 and the construction of which was completed by the TES-Is Union. In 2013-2014, Training, Research and Application Hospital was built right behind our faculty. In the following process, within the framework of obligations and needs, improvement works and renovations were made in a total area of 5972 m2, 2067 m2 in the hospital buildings and 3905 m2 in the faculty and deanery. Our faculty is currently continuing education with all of its units.
The faculty, which has left many development stages behind in a period of quarter century since its establishment, today has all kinds of laboratory and animal hospital infrastructure equipment required for the most advanced education.
ERCIYES UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
Following the establishment of the modern State of the Republic of Türkiye, the universitization has shown a separate development. Ghazi Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK, the Founder of our Republic, clearly demonstrated the importance of the subject by saying “University Education is My Biggest Project.” The fact that more than two hundred universities, where the knowledge needed by the society is produced and new scientists are trained, have been opened all over our country today is a sign of great development. In this new development period that Türkiye has reached, the Council of Higher Education has attached special importance to international collaborations and categorized universities as Research Universities, Specialization Universities, etc. according to their characteristics.
Erciyes University, a Research University with its 42-year history, 19 faculties, 7 graduate schools, 1 school, 2 vocational schools, 42 research centers, 2250 qualified academic staff members, 4795 highly experienced administrative staff members and 52,534 students, has managed to rank among the top ten research universities in Türkiye in terms of development. Erciyes University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine started education in 1995-1996 academic year, and its first graduates were in 2000. In the last 20 years, the total number of graduates is around 900. The faculty, which has left many development stages behind in a period of quarter century since its establishment, today has all kinds of laboratory and animal hospital infrastructure equipment required for the most advanced education. In the faculty, complete education is provided by nearly 100 qualified academic staff members and nearly 40 experienced administrative staff members, and very advanced researches can be carried out.
The most basic characteristic of universities is "BRANDING". Universities that have created their own brands are the main determinants in all matters, including student profile and academic staff. In this sense, Erciyes University is an institution that has created its own brand. By successfully completing the national and international accreditation processes, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine is rapidly taking firm steps with high discipline and faith on its way to branding.
Branding in education has measurable parameters. The first of these parameters is to reach international standards. In this regard, we have aimed to access the standards of the European Association of Veterinary Education Institutions (EAEVE) and the Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Veterinary Medicine Educational Institutions and Programs (VEDEK), which performs inspection and evaluation as a national agency, recognized by the Higher Education Quality Council (YÖKAK). In addition, all of our research laboratories that carry out diagnostic analyses in our Faculty are licensed and authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture. In addition, these laboratories are included in the accreditation process of the Turkish Accreditation Agency (TÜRKAK), and the process is followed with a high discipline. Our faculty has already received VEDEK accreditation. The faculty has also achieved to access the “revisit” status in the EAEVE accreditation process and will undergo inspections at several points in 2021.
As one of Türkiye's leading veterinary faculties, our Faculty is on the way to become a brand with a quality dynamic in education in terms of universitization. Measurable parameters of branding in education are to reach international standards. Therefore, our efforts are to access the standards of EAEVE (European Association of Veterinary Education Institutions) and VEDEK (Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Veterinary Educational Institutions and Programs).
In Veterinary Faculties accredited by EAEVE and VEDEK, the following subjects are guaranteed;
• The public and private sectors are ensured that they can rely on the quality of education and the service provided by veterinarians who graduated,
• The students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine are ensured that they reach international standards in education,
• The faculty members are ensured that their curricula and school infrastructures reach measurable and comparative levels that meet the basic criteria.
As Erciyes University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, which has received the National Accreditation (VEDEK), our efforts to obtain international accreditation (EAEVE) continue.
In addition to the VEDEK and EAEVE accreditations of our faculty, we plan
to provide a fully equipped, licensed and TÜRKAK accredited infrastructure in its laboratory, which can provide the services requested by the breeder and producer and report the results,
to increase the profile of sick animals, diversity and number of cases in our research and application hospital,
to train intellectual and qualified students who have gained experience in their fields, who are competent in their fields by providing a high-quality education based on scientific research and evidence and first-day skills with our advanced technological equipment and simulation facilities, and to raise our student profile to higher levels,
to participate in discussion platforms, to facilitate the exchange of information, academic staff and student exchange and teaching material exchange between other member faculties, to develop cooperation on education and research with public and private sectors and to make institutional contributions to them in order to strengthen cooperation with other member veterinary faculties and to constantly update and improve education with national and international accreditations
