Foundations Development Directorate

Foundations Development Directorate

Foundations Development Directorate (FDD) coordinates the common courses that constitute the unique educational model of Sabancı University. This core curriculum model is referred to as the Foundations Development Program (FDP) and it also makes our university’s major declaration after-enrollment possible. The FDP’s language of instruction is English, and students are required to complete the Foundation Development Year (FDY) if their level of English is inadequate. The FDD has a director, administrative staff, visiting scholars, and instructors who all collaborate with faculties and the School of Languages for the design and conduct of our University Courses (UCs) that constitute the FDP.

Therefore, FDD coordinates the FDP and is involved with the following:

Coordinating, developing, and overseeing the University Courses,
Coordinating Foundation Development Year courses in collaboration with the School of Languages,
Coordinating Civic Involvement Project courses (CIPs) in collaboration with the CIP unit,
Developing and overseeing initiatives that promote our unique educational design and philosophy.

The Sabancı Core-Curriculum Model: Foundations Development Program

Students who would like to study at Sabancı University initially choose their faculty (FASS, FENS or SBS) rather than a major, based on their University Entrance Examination score or other relevant scores for non-Turkish students. Our students then take the necessary examinations, or provide the relevant documents for exemption, to see if they have an adequate level of English to start their undergraduate studies.

Those who do not have an adequate level of English start our FDY. This is essentially a program designed to develop students’ English and academic communication skills.

Those who successfully pass their examination start our FDP by being enrolled to our UCs. They take about 1/3 of our students’ total credit load required for graduation.

This core curriculum program, which makes our flexible and interdisciplinary education system with freedom to choose any specialization / major possible, aims to set a benchmark and improve the academic skills and backgrounds of our diverse students so that they are able to make an informed decision about their major program of study and establish a general framework of scientific and critical thinking that is essential for all fields. Our FDP designs, adapts, and improves its core curriculum design in consultation with our faculties and the School of Languages. The content of the design takes into consideration an everchanging globalized world with global challenges such as the global warming, income disparity, artificial intelligence, gender roles, mass migration, digitization, and others so that our students are equipped with the basic intellectual knowledge to broaden their horizons to comprehend these rather complex issues.

In summary; the distinguishing features of the education we offer is based on two essential steps:

Foundation Development Year aims to develop students’ English and communication skills,
Foundations Development Year that constitutes of the University Courses, which aim to develop a basic framework of scientific and critical thinking by exposing students to multi-disciplinary courses, give them the opportunity to familiarize with all undergraduate programs and make more informed specialization choices.