Nutrition and Dietetics

Aim of the Program

The aim of our department is to train respected and highly qualified dietitians and health educators who serve to protect, maintain, and improve public health in our country and region, who are sensitive to social problems and possess social responsibility, who are innovative and prioritize scientific, humane, and ethical values, and who take an active role in health policies.

The vision of our department for the future is to be a respected, leading department that is recognized and preferred at national and international levels in its field through the research it conducts and the education and services it provides.

Information on the Program Curriculum

• The curriculum of the Nutrition and Dietetics department consists of 4 years / 8 semesters.
• In the first two years, nutrition and dietetics field courses, along with anatomy, physiology, and microbiology

and similar basic medical science courses are included in the curriculum

• The third year generally consists of core departmental courses
• In the fourth year, internships make up the greater part of the education.
• In addition, the curriculum offers plenty of elective course options that allow students to take courses

in areas outside the department that interest them and thereby develop themselves.

Internship Opportunities

The Nutrition and Dietetics department generally consists of 4 main disciplines. These are adult nutrition, child nutrition, food service systems, and community nutrition. In their final year, our students undertake internships in each of these 4 fields at institutions we designate, located in the province of Gaziantep. In this way, they gain field experience before they even graduate. The institutions where internships take place are as follows;

Adult nutrition internship: public and private hospitals

Child nutrition internship: public and private hospitals

• Food service systems internship: Hotels, catering factories, various institutional, school

and hospital cafeterias

Community nutrition internship: family health centers

Laboratory facilities

There are 3 fully equipped laboratories in our department. These are;

• Nutrition principles laboratory: The practical sessions of the Nutrition Principles course, which is included in the first year of the curriculum and is the most fundamental departmental

course, are carried out in this laboratory. The laboratory consists of 10 fully equipped kitchen units. Each unit contains all the equipment needed, from spoons to pressure cookers, from ovens to stoves. Activities such as correct cooking techniques, the changes that occur in foods during cooking, and calculating the nutritional content and energy value of the prepared menu are carried out here

• Food chemistry laboratory: It has all the equipment and apparatus that should be present in a food chemistry laboratory. Experiments such as the chemical changes and reactions occurring in foods, and protein, carbohydrate, and fat analysis in foods, are performed in this laboratory. The practical sessions of the Basic Chemistry and Food Chemistry courses in the curriculum are conducted in this laboratory.

Anthropometry laboratory: This laboratory is used within the scope of the Assessment of Nutritional Status in the Community course and the Epidemiology course. All the devices required for body measurements are available, such as weight and body composition analysis with professional scales, height measurement, and skinfold thickness measurement.

All our laboratories are made available to students for use in student projects outside of classes.

Academic Staff

Unlike many Nutrition and Dietetics Departments in the country, at the Hasan Kalyoncu University Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, the core nutrition and dietetics courses are taught by faculty members with a Nutrition and Dietetics background. The academic staff of our department consists of academic personnel who are experts in their field, dedicated to constantly renewing and improving themselves, student-centered, and always aiming to provide students with the best and most up-to-date education.

Erasmus Opportunity

Our department has agreements with the nutrition and dietetics departments of many universities abroad, and thanks to this, our students easily benefit from the Erasmus Student Exchange Program every year.

Support for Student Projects

The goal of our academic staff is not only to educate students but also to develop them in every aspect of the academic field. For this reason, our department attaches great importance to student projects. Preparing TUBİTAK projects together with students who wish to develop themselves in this area has become a tradition for our department. In addition, these students are permitted to use all of our laboratories and, if necessary, are assisted in using other laboratories at the university as well.

Graduate Education Opportunities

Our department has offered a thesis-based master's program since 2015 and a doctoral program since 2017. This is a great advantage for our students who wish to develop themselves academically after their undergraduate education.

Accreditation

Our department is an educational program accredited by SABAK for a period of two years, covering 2025–2027. Accredited programs offer students both the knowledge to be learned in courses and the opportunity to practice. In this way, education becomes stronger and more reliable. It can be said that graduates of such programs have an advantage in finding employment and in their academic careers. Accreditation is a particularly important advantage for students who wish to work abroad. When you graduate from a department that has earned accreditation, your diploma is valid both in our country and abroad. Employers place more trust in graduates of accredited schools. Moreover, this can also be seen as proof that the chosen university is constantly working to provide ever better education.

10. Employment opportunities are as follows.

• Educator Dietitian in educational institutions
• Research Dietitian in research institutions
• In hospitals
• Therapeutic Dietitian
• Diabetes Dietitian
• Renal Dietitian
• Oncology Dietetics
• Bariatric Dietitian
• Enteral-Parenteral Unit Dietetics
• Outpatient Clinic Dietitian (Consultant Dietitian)
• Other (heart diseases, gastrointestinal system diseases, pre- and post-surgical nutrition, etc.)
• Administrative Dietitian in institutions
• In schools
• In banks and public institutions
• In all establishments providing food and beverage services (hotels, restaurants, etc.)
• In catering factories
• Consultant Dietitian in institutions requiring special care
• Elderly care homes
• Daycare centers, kindergartens, etc.
• Mother and Child Health Centers
• Community Health Dietitian (Ministries, Community Health Centers)
• In the food industry as a product development dietitian, in food-advertising consultancy, and as a consultant dietitian in public relations departments
• Consultant dietitian in centers such as health clubs and fitness centers
• Sports Nutrition Consultancy
• Nutrition writing in newspapers and magazines
• Producing nutrition programs on radio and TV
• Faculty membership in the Nutrition and Dietetics Departments of universities upon completing master's and doctoral studies