Abstract:

The new form of the universities that are shaped by the pressures of keeping up with the economic, political, social and cultural changes that the societies face is multiversity. The concept of multiversity attracts attention to the fact that the institution has transformed into a multifunctional form dependent to the evolution of society. Universities are no longer institutions which were indifferent to their social environment and buried into their ivory towers. The new university is sensitive to the needs of the community and carries its services beyond campus boundaries. With this structural differentiation, the universities have become the actors involved in social and cultural development of their regions. The universities in Turkey are also seen as institutions that will contribute to reduce inequalities between regions by improving social, economic and cultural structure of the cities into which they were born. The aim of this research is to determine the changes/improvements that the universities -spreaded all over the country with the slogan of "an university in every city"- have created in the social and cultural structure of the cities where they were established as means of development for removing interregional inequalities and to define the attitudes and the opinions of urban residents in the case of Adıyaman city and Adıyaman University. The research in which mixed method used reveals that –when the net balance of functional consequences is considered- the university has positive functions in the social and cultural change/development of the city.

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