Sector Collaboration and On-Site Practice (Internship) Model
The Istanbul Aydın University Public Administration Program possesses a comprehensive sector collaboration and on-site practice structure aimed at reinforcing students' managerial competencies and enabling them to establish early contact with public-private sector dynamics. Thanks to the three-semester mandatory on-site practice courses integrated into the curriculum, students find the opportunity to experience the public administration theories, legal knowledge, and financial analysis skills they acquired during their undergraduate studies within central administrative units, local governments, non-governmental organizations, and regulation-oriented private sector institutions. This process prepares a systematic ground for students to develop professional skills—such as crisis management, ethical reasoning, bureaucratic communication, and digital government applications—within real work environments.
On-site practice and elective internship processes are coordinated by the relevant units of our university through digital platforms in a transparent, traceable, and auditable manner. Through strategic collaborations established with the business world and public institutions, our students are guided toward organizations suitable for their merit and areas of expertise. Stakeholder satisfaction surveys and student feedback, administered regularly at the end of each semester, are meticulously analyzed by our department and related application centers to be used as a data source for the continuous improvement of applied learning processes. This holistic structure strengthens the program's alignment with modern governance expectations and contributes to our graduates' agile transition into the labor market with a "candidate manager" identity.
Our External Stakeholders and Quality Assurance Vision
The Department of Public Administration at Istanbul Aydın University possesses a robust network of external stakeholders to blend educational quality with field experience at local and national levels. Our department’s strategic advisory board includes prominent figures from the public and private sectors, such as Dr. Hacı Uğur Polat, an experienced local administrator who served as a Mayor in the Malatya region; Dr. Adem Yazır, Deputy Mayor of Büyükçekmece Municipality; Ayşe Demir, owner of Atakent Magazine in Küçükçekmece and a former Member of the Municipal Council; and Abdullah Demir, Board Member of Demir Construction and Antik Hotel Tourism Management. This broad diversity of profiles—extending from political decision-making mechanisms to the application fields of local government, and from media and civil society to the business world—ensures that our students gain a multidimensional managerial perspective and that public administration theories are tested against real-sector dynamics.
Our external stakeholders constitute one of the most fundamental components of our department's quality assurance system, playing a key role in updating our curriculum, reflecting sectoral expectations in the program, and increasing the employability of our graduates. The strategic feedback provided by these individuals during the determination of program outcomes and educational goals serves the operation of a transparent, participatory, and evidence-based governance model. This pool of experience, situated at the intersection of the public and private sectors, supports the sustainability of our accreditation processes and carries the Public Administration Department’s social contribution-oriented educational vision into the future through merit and professional networks.
