The curriculum for undergraduate studies defines a single programme based on course work. The courses are of four types: (1) university common compulsory courses, (2) departmental compulsory courses, (3) intra-departmental elective courses and (4) extra-departmental elective courses.

1. The university common compulsory courses comprise those with course codes AİT (Atatürk’s Principles and History of Turkish Revolution), TKD (Turkish Language), and a Foreign Language (usually English, French, German, Italian or Spanish) course. These courses have to be taken by all students registered with the university and the credits gained are not included in the minimum total credits required for graduation. However, credits gained from a foreign language course other than that is taken by a student as a must course included in the minimum total credits required for graduation. Students can take exemption exams for a compulsory Foreign Language course and successful students are granted the full grades they obtain in this way.

2. Departmental compulsory courses comprise those courses which are offered by the Department and which all the sociology undergraduate students must take in order to graduate. There are 24 compulsory courses in the curriculum and they yield a total of 72 credits.

3. Intra-departmental elective courses comprise those courses which are offered by the Department itself, and the students must acquire a minimum of 12 credits from the courses that they select from this group. By a special regulation in force in the Department, first and second year students can take only first and second year electives, third and fourth year students can take only second, third and fourth year elective courses. A further qualification for these elective courses is that, according to a decision of the University Senate, a minimum of ten students must register for an elective course for it to be taught in a particular semester.

4. Extra-departmental elective courses comprise the students’ choice from: (a) all of the courses (must or elective) offered by the departments of Anthropology, History, History of Art, Psychology, Philosophy, Economics, Public Administration, International Relations and Social Work, Turkish Language and Literature, Turkish Ethnology, English Linguistics, German Language and Literature, French Language and Literature, American Culture and Literature, and (b) with the special approval of Departmental Board, any other course offered by any other department within the university.

A student must acquire a minimum of 9 credits from extra-departmental elective courses and should seek the approval of the lecturer giving the course before registering for it. It is entirely left to the student to choose from any of the courses thus determined but the Department, by adopting an interdisciplinary approach, actively encourages the students to take more courses than required with a view to their future professional career and academic interests.  By a special regulation in force in the Department, first and second year students can take only first and second year electives, third and fourth year students can take only second, third and fourth year elective courses.