This new department is based on the rapid developments that the tools, systems and the institutions of modern communications are undergoing regarding their dimensions and contents and above that, the social transformations that these developments bring about.

It is well known that progress in communications is analogous to the course of development and complication of social life. It is clear that the functions of communication attain an increasingly extensive scope due to the changes in cultural and political spheres as well as those in the fields of production, technology and trade.

While discussions focused solely on radio, television, press and films by the end of the Second World War, today we encounter new complicated, varied and astonishing tools of communication.

Audiovisual material assumes the defining role among these various new tools. Today's technology offers latest models of color television, cable television, cassettes, video tapes, video-phones, stereo-phones, tele-conference, machines based on laser technology, electro statics, electronic based type setting, printing and education machines, electric based micro-films, machines that print via radio, time sharing computers, data banks, telematic applications, inter-satellite connections and various other technologies.

All these developments justify calling our era "the age of information". The communication technologies ranging from mail and the telegraph to the computer networks that reach all settling areas have created an "information society".
As time is highly precious for today's people, success in daily life is dependent on rapid access to information. The systems and methods for attaining information are varied and the problems can be solved by finding the answers for the questions "who, what, where, how and when". Even though the social and economic structures of individual countries are of significance, the problems are fundamentally universal and not bound up on social characteristics, region or form of media. It is necessary to structure, direct, systemize and organize the vast amounts of information on economy and ecology.

Information technology, while resolving many confusing and important tasks, creates new problems in developed and developing countries alike. While the issues in developed countries include information wastelands, security matters, decision-making and alienation; developing countries additionally face matters such as technologic, economic, cultural, political-juridical dependence and accomplishing functional use of imported technology.
Regarding these issues and their scope, this subject (and department) necessitated inter-disciplinary collaboration. For this reason, an approach that is widely inclusive and a system of thinking that foresees the whole (general systems approach) is needed. Information reliant both on technical applications and assumptions has to be combined through systems, information networks and communication. System sciences and informatics are fields that are cross-scientific and multi-disciplinary by nature and they include elements of social and behavioral sciences, engineering, natural sciences and cultural knowledge. Technological, social, cultural, political, legal and economic aspects of the subject matter must be taken into account, and it must be evaluated regarding general system sciences, informatics and cybernetics approach.
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

For the Graduate Program in Visual Communication Design applicants are accepted who have a full academic degree regardless of university, faculty, subject, line, section, disciplinary track or specialization. The program is especially suitable for those who have one of the following basic educations:

* Visual Communication Design, Interactive Media Design, etc.
* Basic Engineering Sciences
* Design (Industrial Design, Architecture, Interior Design, etc.)
* Psychology, Sociology, Linguistics, Anthropology.

REREQUISITES

* A degree in undergraduate studies
* Good command of English
* ALES score of 55 and above