Edirne, formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated 7 km (4.3 mi) from the Greek and 20 km (12 mi) from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1369 to 1453, before Constantinople became its capital.
East Thrace or Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the part of Turkey that is geographically a part of Southeast Europe. It accounts for 3.4% of Turkey's land area but comprises 15% of its total population. The largest city of the region is Istanbul, which straddles the Bosporus between Europe and Asia. East Thrace is of historic importance as it is next to a major sea trade corridor and constitutes what remains of the once-vast Ottoman region of Rumelia. It is currently also of specific geostrategic importance because the sea corridor, which includes two narrow straits, provides access to the Mediterranean Sea from the Black Sea for the navies of five countries: Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia. The region also serves as a future connector of existing Turkish, Bulgarian, and Greek high-speed rail networks.
The Medical University of Varna (MU-Varna) is a Bulgarian state school for higher education dedicated to training specialists in the fields of medicine and healthcare who graduate with the educational and qualification degrees of Master, Bachelor and Professional Bachelor. The university has a legal entity status with the following scope of business activities: training of cadres and professional qualification; training of PhD students; postgraduate education for medical and non-medical cadres; conducting medical diagnosis, prevention, consultation, rehabilitation, and expert services at the university hospitals; scientific research and applied sciences; international cooperation in the field of education and science; administrative, social, sport, publishing, information, and other activities.
Trakya University, was established on July 20, 1982. The university is located in Edirne, at Turkey's European side. Trakya University is a regional university with institutions and schools spread over the Thrace region. Trakya University runs scientific activities related to regional development and has international relationships especially within the Balkan Universities Network including more than 40 Universities from Balkan countries and the University Loerrach in Germany. Erhan Tabakoglu was elected and confirmed as new Rector of the university in July 2016.
Enver Duran is a Turkish medic specialising in thoracic-cardiovascular surgery, a university professor and Chancellor (Rector) of the Trakya University, Edirne 2004-2012 (July) and since 2013 Dean of the Fakulty medicine of the Istanbul Arel University.
Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University is a public university in Tekirdağ, Turkey. The university was founded 2006 under the administration of the Trakya University Rectorate Enver Duran. The Faculty of Agriculture, opened in 1982 and the Çorlu Faculty of Engineering was founded in 1992.
The first World Universities Congress (WUC) was organized and hosted by Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University between October 20–24, 2010 to discuss the question of the responsibilities and duties of universities in the face of global problems.
Hilmi İbar is professor of chemistry, former dean of the pedagogic faculty and former head of the International Office at the Trakya University in Edirne. He is also vice president of the Balkan Universities Network.
The Kırklareli University was founded at 2007 under the administration of the Trakya University Rectorate Enver Duran. The university is based on a strong background of the Faculty of Engineering, built at 1992.
Yener Yörük is a Turkish physician specialising in thoracic surgery, a university professor, and Chancellor (Rector) of the Trakya University, Edirne 2012-2016.
Istanbul Arel University is a private nonprofit university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was established in 2007 by the Kemal Gözükara Education and Culture Foundation. Teaching is done mostly in English, and there are bachelor, masters and doctoral programmes.
Manfred Gustav Raupp is a German agricultural scientist and economist. He is honorary professor of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague active in the Department of Agricultural Research and International Management. He is a member of the management team of the EU research project Biofector as a specialist in agricultural- and biological-informatics, responsible for training and information.
Recep Gürkan is a Turkish politician and member of the CHP. He was previously a member of the Grand National Assembly and has been the mayor of Edirne since 30 March 2014.
Erhan Tabakoğlu is a Turkish professor of medicine at Trakya University. He was elected as the new rector of the university on 12 July 2016 by a majority vote, and at the end of July the election was confirmed. He defeated the incumbent rector Yener Yörük, who was also a candidate. In 2016 he was elected as General Secretary of Balkan Universities Association and in 2020 Tabakoglu was confirmed as rector for a second term until 2024.
Loerrach International e.V. is an association of citizens, educational, sport and cultural institutions, service clubs, municipal administration and local council in Lörrach in southwestern Germany. It has the goal of fostering relations with the town's partner towns. Its structure has long been a model for similar town partnership organisations in other European cities.
Marjan Dema is a professor of mathematics. He was involved for many years in the Balkan Universities Network and from March 2016 until September 2020 he was Rector of the University of Pristina
Aneliya Dimitrova Klisarova is a Bulgarian medical scientist and professor. In addition to her career as an academic and as doctor, she has also been elected for various political posts.
The Black Sea Universities Network (BSUN) began in 1998 as part of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. The goal of this merger is the mutual exchange of experience in research and teaching and mutual recognition of qualifications, promotion of the mobility of teachers and students and the utilisation of international programmes to promote student exchanges. The organisation is based in Constanța in Romania (2018). Pericles A. Mitkas has been President of BSUN since 2018. A current goal is to increase cooperation with the Balkan Universities Network.
Kemal Gözükara is a mathematician and businessman, and is also a benefactor and president of the Istanbul Arel University.
Nevnihal Erdoğan is a Turkish architect and professor of architecture at the University of Kocaeli in İzmit.
