IFMA Foundation Announces Two New Facility Management Registered Degree Programs at Ankara University
HOUSTON, TEXAS, USA – Ankara University – a public university in the capital city of Turkey – undergraduate and graduate programs in facility management (FM) have been accredited by the Facility Management Accreditation Commission (FMAC) of the IFMA Foundation as a Facility Management Registered Degree Program (RDP). IFMA Foundation accreditation assures that academic programs meet standards to produce graduates ready to enter the FM field, leading the way in innovation, emerging building technologies, and anticipating the safety, health and well-being of facility occupants.
Sought worldwide, the IFMA Foundation’s accreditation process is highly respected because it adds critical value to academic programs in the FM discipline. Developed by technical professionals from the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), the FMAC criteria focuses on what students experience and learn. FMAC accreditation reviews look at program curricula, faculty, facilities and institutional support and are conducted by teams of highly skilled professionals from industry, academia and government.
“The IFMA Foundation is dedicated to elevating the FM profession to a career of choice around the world through its Global Workforce Initiative,” said IFMA Foundation Chair Bob Dills. “RDP accreditation is important to academic institutions, enabling them to offer quality facility management education and prepare students for the FM jobs of today and the future. On behalf of the foundation, I would like to commend Ankara University for their educational offerings in both undergraduate and graduate levels and for meeting the global demand of skilled labor in the profession.”
“Ankara University is the first University of the Republic of Turkey, whose foundation was laid by the great Atatürk* himself to form the foundations of Atatürk’s principles and reforms, to spread and root these principles and reforms throughout the nation and to act as an indomitable defender of these values, which are the expression of modernity, science and enlightenment,” said Dr. Harun Tanrivermis, Ankara University Department of Real Estate Development and Management.
Ankara University’s Department of Real Estate Development and Management (REDM) and its graduate programs are considered by many related parties and institutions as the leading and most respected among the few departments and programs active in the real estate sciences field in Turkey. Over the last 30 years, real estate and construction sectors have been increasingly intertwined with capital markets. Foreign investors interested in real estate, asset and facility management have led to the expansion of the industry from a national to an international level.
To learn more about Ankara University’s undergraduate and graduate facility management programs, visit http://ubf.ankara.edu.tr/en/real-estate-development-and-management/ and to learn more about becoming an IFMA Foundation Registered Degree Program, visit https://foundation.ifma.org/students-academics/registered-degree-programs/
About the IFMA Foundation
Established in 1990 as a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation and separate entity from the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), the IFMA Foundation works for the public good to promote priority research and educational opportunities for the advancement of facility management. The IFMA Foundation is supported by the generosity of the FM community including IFMA members, chapters, councils, corporate sponsors and private contributors who share the belief that education and research improve the FM profession. To learn more about the IFMA Foundation, visit http://foundation.ifma.org.
About the Department of Real Estate Development and Management at Ankara University
Ankara University is a public university that unifies and integrates the history and the mission of the Republic of Turkey with those of the nation. Founded by *Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first president of Turkey, it was the first higher education institution established in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The School of Law was founded in 1925 to educate lawyers to support the new legal order of the secular and democratic Republic; the Higher Institute of Agriculture was founded in 1933 to serve Turkish farmers; the Faculty of Language, History and Geography was founded in 1935 to investigate the rich Anatolian culture and establish the language and cultural bridge of Turkey with the world; and the School of Political Sciences, which had been educating senior government executives since 1859, was moved to Ankara in 1936 under special order by Atatürk. The Faculties of Medicine and Science and the Faculties of Law, Linguistics, Science and Medicine were established in the 1940s.
The establishment of the interdisciplinary Department of Real Estate Development and Management (REDM) in Ankara University Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences and the launch of graduate programs were recognized by the Council for Higher Education (YOK) – responsible for the supervision of universities in Turkey – in 2007. Under the 2008 decision of the Council for Higher Education Resolution, combined master’s and doctoral programs in the department were opened to share knowledge related to real estate development; real estate and asset valuation; real estate and construction economics; project and construction management; facility, real estate and asset management; and real estate investment and finance issues with professionals actively working in the real estate and construction industries and to strengthen research in the development of real estate and the capacity of human resources. Following the experience and success achieved at the graduate level, the Faculty of Applied Sciences was established in 2014 and the Department of REDM affiliated to this faculty was established. The department has accepted students for the first time in its undergraduate program in the academic year of 2016-2017 and will be receiving students for the second time this year. REDM graduate programs have been accredited since 2014 and the undergraduate program has been accredited since 2021 by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
To learn more about the department, visit http://ubf.ankara.edu.tr/en/real-estate-development-and-management/.
