In 1973, Ankara University Faculty of Agriculture (established in 1969) and the Ataturk University Faculty of Medicine (established in 1972) merged to form Çukurova University, located in Adana, Turkey.
Cukurova University's main campus, Balcali, is on the eastern side of Seyhan Lake, covering an area of 20km². Its name refers to the village that once stood on the campus site. It houses administrative and educational buildings, with research labs in various branches of the hospital complex, a central library, cafeteria, sports facilities, residences for teachers and dormitories, with a capacity of 3,500.
There are 40,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and 1903 administrative staff.
There are seven faculties: the faculty of education, the faculty of arts and sciences, the faculty of economics and administrative sciences, the faculty of theology, the faculty of fine arts, the faculty of engineering and architecture and the faculty of agriculture offering 80 undergraduate programmes, as well as three graduate schools, three colleges and seven vocational colleges.
The university also has a state conservatory and a Foreign Languages Research and Application Centre (YADIM) where both undergraduate and postgraduate students are taught English.
Students at Cukurova University can do lessons in horse riding with CUASK, a club with four thoroughbred stallions used for training and free trail rides throughout the campus.
Adana, where the university is based, is the fifth most populated city in Turkey, with a population of 1.7 million.
It is in the heart of Cilicia, a geo-cultural region locally known as Cukurova (hence the university’s name) - it is Turkey’s most agriculturally productive area, owing to its large stretch of flat, fertile land.
