Department of Public Administration affiliated with the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences has begun to run an undergraduate academic program since 2004 and the first graduates of the department finished in 2009. The role of the Chair of the Department was executed by Prof. Dr. Hasan Köni between 2004 and 2005, in the following years, Prof. Ahmet Naki Yücekök was appointed as a chairman and run tasks of the department from 2005 to 2007. After the era of Prof. Yücekök in the department, Assist. Prof. M. Deniz Tansi carried out functions as an alternate chairman till 2009 and, currently, the position of the Chair of the Department is held by Prof. Meral S. Öztoprak.
Department of Public Administration has 14 instructors in total consisted of one full-time Professor and three part-time Professor; one part-time Associate Professor; three full-time Assistant Professor and three part-time Assistant Professor; one doctor and one academic; apart from academic staff, four project assistants support to operational duties in department as a member of the Department of Public Administration.
Lectures in the academic program are performed in English; students who are able to pass the Proficiency Exam held by the Prep School of Yeditepe University or accomplish three different levels of Prep School are entitled to join the department. During undergraduate study, courses in the context of Administrative Sciences, Political Science, Law, Urbanization and Environment will be offered to students to graduate as a specialist on these subjects.
One hand, department support and promote intellectual capabilities of its students in theory, on the other side, to see the reflection of theory in practice, the department organizes several meetings, workshops, and seminars with local administrator such as majors, heads of city councils and provincial administrators such as governors and district governors. Besides all these activities, to create a brainstorming platform, the department hosted the National Student Congress of Political Sciences and Public Administration in 2014.
Within the global world, rapid change and progress lead policymakers to initiate several reforms and re-build administrative structures in the context of governance emphasizing the supremacy of law, principles of transparency, accountability, active civic engagement, participation, and subsidiarity. As a department, when we had considered the rising new phenomenon, we decided to offer a graduate program - M.A. in Local Government and Governance - in English under the name of Institute of Social Science at Yeditepe University.