Ibn Haldun University Department of History
Understanding the Past, Thinking Historically, Asking New Questions
History is more than the study of what happened in the past. It is an intellectual endeavor to make sense of humanity’s long and complex journey, to explore connections across societies, periods, and geographies, and to ask new questions about the world we inhabit today. With this understanding, the Department of History at Ibn Haldun University offers a comprehensive education grounded in Islamic, Ottoman, and Modern Turkish history, yet extending well beyond these fields. Our wide-ranging curriculum spans prehistory, Ancient Greece and Rome, Byzantium, medieval Europe, and the modern world, complemented by a strong emphasis on world history and historiography. We encourage our students to develop expertise in particular periods and regions without losing sight of the broader historical picture: to situate local developments within global contexts and to understand the past through the diverse experiences of human societies.
At our Department, studying history is not simply a matter of acquiring established knowledge. Our aim is to educate independent, critically minded scholars who question received interpretations, examine historical evidence with intellectual rigor, and pursue their own research questions. Our undergraduate program combines a solid foundation in historical knowledge with critical thinking and methodological training, while our master's and doctoral programs place original historical research at the center of academic formation. Working directly with primary sources written in different languages and scripts, analyzing and interpreting historical documents, and contributing new knowledge to scholarly debates are fundamental to this process. Through research seminars, guided readings, independent studies, and teaching assistantship opportunities, our students do not merely learn history; they experience first-hand how historians think, investigate, debate, and ultimately write history.
Underlying all this is perhaps the most distinctive feature of our Department: its academic culture. Our international faculty, educated and trained within diverse scholarly traditions, brings intellectual breadth and a wealth of experience to a close-knit academic community. Open doors, approachable professors, lively discussions, and a genuine spirit of collegiality foster an environment in which questions are welcomed, ideas are challenged, and intellectual curiosity is cultivated collectively. Here, academic rigor and a warm, supportive atmosphere are not competing ideals; they go hand in hand. What we seek in our students is not simply diligence, but curiosity, patience, intellectual courage, and an enduring desire to learn. After all, a good historian is not someone who knows all the answers, but someone who knows how to pursue questions that have yet to be asked. The Department of History at Ibn Haldun University invites all those who aspire not merely to explore the boundaries of the past, but to expand the horizons of their own intellectual world.
