Background and experience
Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (COMU) has 49.791 students, is one of the most competitive universities in Turkey. The reputation and popularity of COMU in Turkey is based on the high quality teaching and learning experience available to students at the university. COMU actively seeks to propose and develop projects within international research programmes. COMU attracted millions of Euros in research grants and contract income from a variety of funders, including the EU, the Turkish Science and Technology Research Council (TUBITAK), the Turkish Ministry of Development, the Turkish Higher Education Council and various NGOs. The Agriculture Faculty initiated its BSc programs in the 1995-1996 academic year. At present, the Faculty of Agriculture is located in its own building on the Terzioglu Campus. There are 10 departments in the faculty; Horticulture, Plant Protection, Landscape Architecture, Agricultural Biotechnology, Agricultural Economy, Field Crops, Agricultural Machinery, Agricultural Structure and Irrigation, Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, and Animal Science. All of these programmes have undergraduate and graduate programmes and several scientific research activities are being carried out by 99 academic and 10 administrative staff. Faculty has; 74 offices, 22 classrooms, 17 laboratories, 1 amphitheatre, 1 seminar room, 1 computer laboratory with 30 computers, 1 technical drawing room with 20 drawing tables, 1 common room for staff and students, 1 student cafeteria and 9 cold storage warehouses. Practical studies for undergraduate and graduate education programmes are conducted at the Sarıcaeli and Dardanos Campuses. At the Dardanos Campus, research and practical studies, including plant production, are carried out on 160 thousand square meters of irrigated agricultural land. At the Sarıcaeli Campus, for scientific research activities there are two livestock buildings for goats of the Animal Science department and warehouses and mechanical workshops of the Agriculture Machinery department. There are also 160
thousand square meters of grassland and an area of 40 thousand square meters for field crop production. In the faculty laboratories, there are several devices supported by the TÜBİTAK, DPT and BAP research institutions, which make it possible to analyse soil, plants, water and animal feed and it is also possible to detect the quality of agricultural products and plant diseases and pests. Our faculty not only has many international agreements (e.g. Erasmus Programme) for the exchange of students and academic staff all around the world but also a lot of international research activities.
