Location & Transportation
Ankara
Ankara is the capital city of Turkey . The history of Ankara and its surroundings stretches back to the Hatti civilization of the Bronze Age. Two thousand years before the time of Jesus, the Hittites become the dominant power of the region, and were then followed by the Phyrgians, Lydians and Persians. In the 3rd Century BC, a Celtic race known as the Galatians made Ankara their capital city. The name Ankara comes from the word ' Ancyra ', which means ‘anchor.'...
Getting to Ankara
Direct flights to Ankara International Airport are available from many cities in Europe . In addition, the major airlines including Turkish Airlines have international flights landing at Istanbul 's Ataturk International Airport . Domestic airlines provide the connection to Ankara .
Passport/Visa
A passport which is valid for at least six months from the date you travel to Turkey is required.
Nationals of Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Greece , Holland , Israel , Italy , Japan , South Korea , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland can enter Turkey with only a valid passport for a three-month stay.
Nationals of the other countries must buy a visa stamp at the airport. The fee ranges from US$10 to US$20, and the period of validity from 15 to 90 days, depending upon your country of citizenship. Turkish entry regulations are subject to change, please see the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website for up-to-date information.
Currency Exchange
The international arrivals area has currency exchange offices and bank branches, but the exchange rates are usually slightly lower. The best rates are in the banks and currency exchange offices at the city center. Credit/bank cards may be used at ATMs at the airport or in the city to get New Turkish Liras (YTL).
Note that January 1, 2005, marked the introduction of the New Turkish Lira (YTL). YTL1.00 is equal to (old) TL1,000,000. In other words, a million old liras becomes one new lira.
Airport/Transportation
Ankara Esenboga Airport is 33 km (21 miles, about 40 minutes in normal traffic) northeast of the city center, reached by inexpensive (6USD) airport shuttle bus (Havas) to/from the ASTI bus terminal or Ankara Gar train station. A metered taxi would cost about 35USD.
From the airport shuttle bus stations in downtown Ankara (one near the Gar train station, and the other at the bus station ASTI ), one can take a metered taxi to the hotel or METU.
HISTORY
METU is an international university located in Ankara . It was founded on November 15th, 1956 to contribute to the development of Turkey and Middle East countries and especially to train people as to create a skilled workforce in the fields of natural and social sciences. Owing to the quality academic education that emphasizes merit and excellence in scientific, cultural and intellectual studies as well as owing to the accomplished and qualified METU graduates, the University has become one of the distinguished and respectable institutions of Turkey .
Middle East Technical University 's presence brought about new methods and introduced innovations to Turkish higher education system manifesting METU as a pioneer of modern education nationwide. Today, there are a total of 37 undergraduate programs in five faculties of METU.There are 67 graduate programs available in Graduate Schools of Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Informatics, Applied Mathematics and Marine Sciences Graduate Schools.
Contributing to the internationality of the university, the official language at METU is English. Therefore, every service given in the campus can also be mainted in English.
LOCATION
The METU Campus is located on the Ankara-Eskisehir highway, 7 km away from the city center, 45 km from the airport and 4 km from the intercity bus terminal. Transportation facilities are variable. The campus is easily accessible by private car and taxi. Also, access to the campus is available from KIZILAY, ULUS, AYRANCI, KEÇIÖREN, ASTI, TUNUS and SIHHIYE regions at any time till 24.00 by EGO buses, private buses and minibuses. Moreover, access within the campus is mainted through ring buses operating in between 9 am – 16.45 am in every fifteen minutes.
On the other hand METU is a pedestrian campus. It is promoted to travel within the campus on foot or by bike. Hence, it would be a nice journey on foot since METU has a scenic campus.
THE CAMPUS
Among the Turkish cities, when considering the green areas within city limits, Ankara is in a higer rank. In contrast, METU has one of the largest green areas in the city of Ankara . The campus area has been forested entirely through the efforts of the University employees and students since the early 1960's , thus contains more than 10 million trees; the campus area is 4500 hectares and the forest area is 3043 hectares.
It is possible to meet every daily need in the campus. Within the campus, there are suitable shopping and dining opportunities, a variety of banks, a post office, a tourism agent, sport facilities, an olympic pool, dormitorries and guest houses, a medical center, a museum, an observatory, an open-air amphitheater and a technocenter where technological studies are held and many firms are operating in advance.
Shopping facilities: In the Shopping Center one can find drugstore, photography shop, stationery store, billiardsroom, boutique, book store and
some places for dining. Furthermore, one can find a tailor, a shoemaker, a hairdresser's and a barber's shop. One can find newspapers and magazines, in both English and Turkish, from the store at the entrance of the Cafeteria, from the buffet in front of the 3rd Dormitory and from the newspaper stand in the Çarsi Merkezi.
Dining Facilities: METU campus offers a number of dining facilities in the Shopping center, in the Cultural and Convention Center, in the Dormitory region and within the faculties.
Financial facilities: There are six banks available within METU Campus, these are Is Bankasi, Akbank, Vakiflar Bankasi, Ziraat Bankasi, Garanti Bankasi and Yapi Kredi Bankasi. In addition to these branches of banks listed, ATM of Pamukbank, Finansbank and Disbank are also available.
Sports facilities: It is possible to get involed in any kind of sports such as swimming, playing tenis, basketbal, footbal, jogging, squash, wall climbing and indoor activities such as aerobics, step, aikido etc.
Consequently, METU campus offers a sophisticated, dynamic, scenic and a friendly environment availing to spend your whole time without seeking to leave campus for any need. Therefore the Cultural and Convetion Center is an appropriate place to organize seminars, meetings, conferences, congresses and cultural activities.
METU Cultural & Convention Center
METU's cultural and convention center provides a system where a meeting, a seminar or a congress will be an experince in a campus far from the tumult of the city, in a natural environment offering many social and sport facilities, in a center containing all state of the art facilities with striking architecture and superior infrastructure, including units for auxilary services and minimizing per capita expenditures. The center consists of nine hals, two foyers, one restaurant and support units .
The Grand Hall, which has a seating capacity of 850 persons, is designed to accomodate philarmonic orchestra concerts, theaters, ballets and operas. The stage has a surface area of 180 m2 and a back stage of 400 m2. a mechanical systems exists to lower the stage floor to provide space for orchestras of operas and ballets.
The back stage houses a dressing rooms for performers, several administrative offices, a number of small meeting rooms, restrooms and showers. The hall also accomodates three rooms for simultaneous translation. The light towers, sophito tubes, stunuts, the main cinemascope screen and data projector screens are centrally commanded through servemotor controlled mobile systems. Live video transmission is also possible to other halls of the center. The center houses an exhibition hall for fairs and exhibition stands during congresses and conferences. A restaurant adjacent to the building is also built to provide lunch services to the participants.
The A and B halls have been constructed in the form of amphitheaters. Image transfer among halls is also possible via barco; video, comouter and laser CD images may be reflected to on stage screens.
The C hall is constructed in the form of two concentric ‘U' tables and is suitable for small meetings with available technical infrastructure. The hall may also be transformed into a classroom.
The hall D is equipped with all relevant technical infrastructure and is arranged for movie projection. The E, F, G, H halls are designed and can be arranged to hold small meetings and business lunches up to groups os 20-30 persons.
In general, the center can provide service without outside support with its own facilities and benefiting from those abundantly offered by METU campus. Facilities provided by METU Cultural and Convention Center are
*technical equipment for presentation,
*audio equipment,
*image transfer within the entire center via barco and datashow,
*audio recording and live transmission system,
*video recording and live broadcasting system,
*closed circuit tv broadcasting,
*internet connection and video conferencing,
*secretarial services,
*fax-telephone-photocopy and computer systems,
*catering,
*accomodation,
*hotel and flight reservations,
*car rental,
*city and country tours,
*transportation services.
METU Cultural and Convention Center is designed to meet any demand to organize and held a congress, conference, seminar or a meeting. It would be a pleasure for you to benefit the privleges to held commit your special event in METU CCC; hence, it would be a pleasure for us to wellcome and assist you.