General Information and Brief History of the Programme
The undergraduate programme of the Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Bursa Uludağ University, was established in 1990 and began teaching in Block B of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences on the Görükle Campus; at the beginning of the spring semester of the 1998–1999 academic year it moved to the Ali Osman Sönmez Campus. Since the 2003–2004 academic year, the Department has been operating in its present building on the Görükle Campus.
In line with the Bologna Process, the undergraduate programme in History applies the ECTS credit system, which takes the workload of students into account.
Aims, Vision and Mission
The Department of History pursues its activities with an academic approach aligned with Bursa Uludağ University's vision of becoming a research university. Accordingly, the Department's principal aim is to produce scientific output of high added value at both the national and the international level. To this end, faculty members are encouraged to publish in peer-reviewed journals and to increase their citation rates, and active participation in national and international research projects is promoted. At the same time, involving graduate students in research processes at an early stage — and thereby training well-qualified young researchers capable of producing original scholarly work — is adopted as a priority objective.
The Department's second principal aim is the continuous improvement of the quality of its teaching and learning processes. Within this framework, the Department seeks to update course content, diversify teaching methods and build a student-centred learning ecosystem. At the graduate level, the transformation of completed theses into scholarly publications is supported, and the academic environment and mentoring infrastructure needed for research output to contribute to the academic literature are being strengthened.
The third principal aim is to contribute to society by bringing historical knowledge to the wider public. In keeping with a “living history” approach, the Department aims to extend historical awareness and an appreciation of cultural heritage to broad segments of society through collaborations with museums and through panels and public talks open to all. Workshops bringing together academics, students and relevant stakeholders are organised in order to create a space for dialogue, so that the Department's sense of social responsibility acquires an institutional character.
Mission. To educate graduates who are able to access the universal body of knowledge in the field of history, who have developed skills of analysis and critical thinking, who can employ modern methodologies and who have internalised the values of scientific ethics; to contribute to historiography through research at both the national and the international level; and to place the knowledge thus acquired at the service of society.
Vision. To educate graduates who contribute to the building of the future by interpreting the accumulated knowledge of history from a universal perspective, who strengthen social consciousness through studies that process archival documents by modern scientific methods, who approach historiography through interdisciplinary synthesis, and who have internalised scientific principles and standards at the national and international level.
Undergraduate Education: Divisions
The programme comprises six divisions: Ancient History, Medieval History, Early Modern History, Modern History, History of the Republic of Türkiye and General Turkish History.
Ancient History
Covers a broad span of time reaching from prehistory to late antiquity; with its chronological depth and thematic variety, it offers a curriculum that corresponds to national and international history programmes.
Medieval History
Addresses the roughly thousand-year period from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the foundation of the Ottoman State. Byzantium, the rise of Islamic civilisation, the Anatolian Seljuk State, the Crusades and the Turkish-Islamic states are among its principal subjects of study.
Early Modern History
Examines the period extending from the fifteenth century to the end of the eighteenth century along the axis of the classical age of the Ottoman State, the Reformation and Renaissance movements in Europe, the geographical discoveries and early modernisation. Alongside Ottoman state structure, land administration, the economy and social transformations, the European and world-historical dimension of the period is treated from a comparative perspective. Students' skills in historical research are strengthened through archival work and courses in reading Ottoman Turkish.
Modern History
Addresses the period from the end of the eighteenth century to the Second World War within the framework of the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, nationalist movements and Ottoman modernisation. Subjects such as the Tanzimat reforms, the late political history of the Ottoman State, Balkan history and the Eastern Question are treated in an integrated manner from the perspective of European and world history.
History of the Republic of Türkiye
Deals with the Turkish War of Independence and Türkiye's political, economic, social and cultural transformations from 1923 to the present. The War of Independence, the founding of the Republic, the transition to a multi-party system, foreign policy in the Cold War period and social change are examined from a comparative perspective. The emphasis placed on archival documents, oral history and local history enhances its methodological richness.
General Turkish History
Comprehensively addresses the pre-Islamic period, migration movements, the process of Islamisation and the Turkish states founded in various geographies, beginning from the Central Asian origins of the Turks. Assessing the history of the Seljuks and other Turkish dynasties and the Turkish cultural and linguistic heritage from a holistic point of view, this division spans a wide geography and chronology, from the earliest periods to the modern history of Turkestan.
The Department of History delivers its teaching with a staff of expert and accomplished academics, comprising 7 professors, 5 associate professors, 4 assistant professors and 4 research assistants.
7Professors
5Assoc. Professors
4Asst. Professors
4Research Assistants
Under the Erasmus, Farabi and Mevlana exchange programmes, our students have the opportunity to study for one or two semesters within the country or abroad.
The Department has 5 classrooms (E001, E004, E06, E013, E014), 13 offices belonging to academic staff, one meeting room, one student society room and a secretariat office.
The History and Culture Society, founded by the students of the Department, actively pursues its activities, which include conferences and technical excursions within and outside the city, as well as events that give priority to developing the social skills students may need in their professional lives.
Employment Profiles of Our Graduates
Graduates of the Department of History may work as teachers in state schools, private educational institutions and tutoring centres, provided that they meet the requirements set by the Ministry of National Education. In addition, they may be employed in a variety of positions in archival institutions, manuscript libraries, the relevant units of municipalities and the media and publishing sector. For historians who fulfil the necessary certification requirements, opportunities are also available in fields such as culture and tourism, promotion and tourist guiding. Graduates who meet the required academic criteria may pursue an academic career at universities as research assistants, lecturers or instructors.
Graduate Education
Graduate education began with the opening of a master's programme in the Department of History in 1992 and a doctoral programme in 2006. Historians who have graduated from the Department may continue to graduate programmes provided that they obtain a sufficient score in the ALES examination and document their knowledge of a foreign language.
2025 YKS Score Information
Admission scores for the undergraduate programme in History.
You may follow our departmental web page and social media accounts to keep up with the activities of the History and Culture Society and with departmental announcements. A printable version of this page is available as a
PDF brochure.