Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University (MAKÜ) added a new one to its social contribution projects by implementing the 'Village University' project, which is a first in Turkey. Within the scope of the project, 25 villages connected to the central district of Burdur were selected as pilot regions. The first training started with Büğdüz village.
Rector Dalgar: “Our state sent us here. We were raised with the resources of this nation, and now we want to share this accumulation with our people. We will do our best to meet all the needs of our villagers”
Trainings will be given in three categories
In the project, villages were divided into three categories as 'child village', 'youth village', and 'elderly village' according to their population densities. The first training started in Büğdüz village, where both child and elderly populations are dense. Due to the month of Ramadan, Dr. Lecturer Necati Aykon from the Faculty of Theology gave a training within the scope of spiritual development before the Tarawih prayer. The training organized after the prayer attracted great interest from the villagers. In the first training, the topic of 'Positive Aging' was addressed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Umut Yanardağ, a faculty member of the Social Work Department of the MAKÜ Social Sciences Institute.
MAKÜ Rector Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Dalgar emphasized the university's mission to contribute to the villages in his speech at the opening of the training. Stating that Büğdüz village is contiguous with the university's land and that the first training started here because it is the nearest village, Rector Dalgar said, “Büğdüz is a village located right next to our university. Starting from here was meaningful for us. We consider it our duty to support the citizens living in the village and to touch their lives.”
The young population is migrating from rural areas
Rector Dalgar pointed out that the population engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry is gradually aging, “Who will produce in rural areas? The young population is largely migrating to cities. However, if production does not continue in rural areas, there may be significant problems in food supply,” he said. Rector Dalgar stated that as a university, they aim to support citizens living in rural areas in every field.
Training support from expert academicians
Rector Dalgar stated that all academicians voluntarily support the project, saying, “Our state sent us here. We were raised with the resources of this nation, and now we want to share this accumulation with our people. We will do our best to meet all the needs of our villagers”.
In the project, MAKÜ's expert staff will provide training in different fields. In the first training, the topic of 'Positive Aging' was addressed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Umut Yanardağ, a faculty member of the Social Work Department of the MAKÜ Social Sciences Institute. In the upcoming period, Yanardağ stated that topics such as physical therapy, oral and dental health, agriculture and animal husbandry, economy, healthy living, emergency management, preventive health, spiritual development will be covered, and they aim to both bring academic knowledge together with the public in rural areas and contribute to social and economic development in rural areas with the project. He also stated that the trainings will continue in other villages by being shaped according to the needs of the local people.