History

The Gaziantep Education and Service Foundation was established in 1980 under the leadership of the late Hasan Kalyoncu together with entrepreneurial philanthropists devoted to education. Hasan Kalyoncu and his friends set out believing in the importance of civil society organisation in education, aid and charity to fight ignorance, poverty and division. The fact that a handful of idealistic people chose the difficult path and focused on long-term, costly activities and projects requiring patience, such as education, was an indication of how great a sense of responsibility towards society they had. Since its establishment, the Foundation has tried to provide all kinds of necessary help, primarily scholarships and accommodation, to intelligent, hardworking and successful but needy students at every level of education. Hundreds of students whom the Foundation supported in serving society and the country are today serving their nation in important positions all over the country.

Not content with this, the Gaziantep Education and Service Foundation also undertook initiatives to establish institutions in order to organise educational services actively. The first project implemented within this framework was the establishment of Özel Erdem College in 1998. Today the College has become a distinguished institution in Gaziantep providing education at all levels from primary school to science high school. The Foundation’s second project was to establish a University that would crown its services. The Foundation’s main aim in this regard was to produce graduates who believe in learning and research at a university with universal quality and standards that combines global trends, our own core values and our strategic position in the region; who can think critically and take initiative; who are equipped with the qualifications to compete in global markets; who are committed to national and spiritual values together with universal law and moral values; and who see differences as richness.

To achieve this aim, Gazikent University, designed in the 1990s as a university focused on “education, research and innovation”, was established in 2008. In 2012, as a requirement of its sense of loyalty to its Founder, the University took the name Hasan Kalyoncu University. Hasan Kalyoncu University was established in Gaziantep, an important crossroads of the historical Silk Road where different religions, languages, races, cultures and civilisations blend, with the aim of being a university focused on “education, research and innovation”. Our University, which started its first academic year with three departments each in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture and the Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences and a School, has continued its education with the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Communication, Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Faculty of Tourism, the Vocational School and the Graduate School of Education.