The Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU; Turkish: Doğu Akdeniz Üniversitesi) is a public university in Northern Cyprus. It was established in 1979 under the leadership of Onay Fadıl Demirciler (then Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education)[3] as a higher-education institution of technology for Turkish Cypriots. In 1986, it was converted to a state university. The campus is located within the city of Famagusta.
Faculty of Arts and Sciences' main entrance
The university has 141 programs (12 Faculties and 4 Schools) offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, as well as a research infrastructure. The languages of instructions are Turkish and English. However, an English Preparatory School is available for students who need to improve their English.[4]
History and status
Mechanical Engineering, one of the oldest buildings in the campus
University is a full member of the European University Association[5] and the International Association of Universities. The university established its accreditation for Turkish students under the Council of Higher Education[6] and Turkish Cypriot higher education organisation, but retains its independent structure via its non-profit foundation.[7]
Library's main entrance. The building was finished in 1994.
Inside view of the library from 3rd floor
Library's EU Corner
A pathway from the library towards central campus
Aerial view of the indoor facility
Sports
The campus includes tennis and basketball courts as well as AstroTurf football pitches, next to an outdoor athletics stadium. Another main sports facility is the Lala Mustafa Pasha indoor sports centre, which serves as the venue for major sporting and cultural events.[10]
Social activities
University owns a radio station on 106.5 FM called Radio EMU broadcasting to whole island.[11]
A North Cypriot Newspaper, Cyprus Today, published two articles in 2008, featuring allegations of mobbing and bullying at the school, particularly against foreign faculty.
In the first article, the newspaper quoted the allegations of an ex-faculty member who claimed that he was forced to resign after he was harassed, professionally sabotaged, and the victim of false allegations (of which he was later exonerated after appealing to international organizations). The School administration denied the allegations and stated that the allegations were "Utterly false and that no such thing has occurred and nothing can be substantiated". A spokesman for the Worker's union said they were not aware of that particular faculty member's situation, but had experienced similar problems concerning other faculty members.[12]
In the second article, the newspaper reported about the penalizing of a British Faculty member, who was removed from the position of department chair for undisclosed reasons. The faculty member declined to comment, as did the university administration.[13]
On 9 September 2009, Eastern Mediterranean University's rector was dismissed by the University Senate. The university's board of trusties unanimously ratified the decision on 11 September.[14] No reason was ever given publicly for the dismissal, as the rector was replaced by Abdullah Y. Öztoprak. The rector's dismissal was finally declared illegal by the Supreme Administrative Court on 14 July 2010.[15] On 13 March 2011, The Upper Supreme Administrative Court rejected the decision of the lower Supreme Administrative Court and decided that the rector of Eastern Mediterranean University is Abdullah Y. Öztoprak.[16]
