In 2025, Near East University collaborated with non-governmental organisations to address social, health and educational challenges linked to the Sustainable Development Goals. These partnerships combined student volunteering, research-oriented collaboration and the development of educational resources, enabling students and academics to work directly with civil-society organisations and communities.

Through structured programmes and cooperation protocols, Near East University contributed academic expertise, student participation and practical resources to initiatives supporting educational inclusion, health and well-being, children and older people, while strengthening university–civil society cooperation.

Student Volunteering Programmes

Supporting Adult Literacy through Student Volunteering

In 2025, Near East University launched a literacy programme in cooperation with the Turkish Cypriot Child Protection Institution, a civil-society association working to support vulnerable groups.

Implemented through a formal cooperation protocol, the programme provides a six-month literacy course for mothers, combining basic reading and writing with everyday communication skills. Faculty members and students contribute voluntarily to the programme, with students from the Turkish Language Teaching Department serving directly as instructors. The first group included ten mothers receiving structured literacy education.

By placing student volunteers directly within a community education programme delivered with an NGO, the collaboration supports SDG 4 – Quality Education, SDG 5 – Gender Equality, SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities and SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals.

Student Volunteering in Support of Women Undergoing Cancer Treatment

In October 2025, students from the Near East University Vocational School Hair Care and Beauty Services Department took part in a community-support activity organised in collaboration with the Cancer Patients Aid Association during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Students provided hair, skin, hand, foot and nail care to women undergoing cancer treatment, offering personal support while applying their professional skills in a community setting. The activity also helped strengthen students’ awareness of social responsibility and the needs of individuals receiving cancer treatment.

The initiative contributes particularly to SDGs 3, 5 and 17 by connecting student volunteering with health awareness and community support.

Student Support for Women Battling Cancer

Near East University also collaborated with the Cancer Patients Aid Association in 2025 through a formal partnership focused on cancer awareness, community education and social-support activities involving university students. The cooperation provides a framework for student participation in seminars, awareness campaigns, education and social-responsibility projects. The collaboration contributes particularly to SDGs 3, 5 and 17 by connecting student volunteering with health awareness and community support.

Research Programmes

Research Collaboration on Elderly Rights and Mental Health

Near East University also signed a cooperation protocol with the Association for Elderly Rights and Mental Health in March 2025. The partnership brings together expertise from health sciences, medicine, dentistry, nursing and law to support older people through education, health and legal initiatives, while explicitly providing for scientific studies centred on elderly rights.

The collaboration is intended to support multidisciplinary projects addressing the rights, quality of life, mental health and social participation of older people. The Association also emphasised the importance of developing services and regulatory approaches on the basis of scientific data, linking academic knowledge with civil-society experience in ageing-related issues.

This university–NGO research framework contributes particularly to SDGs 3, 10, 16 and 17.

Research and Practice Collaboration with SOS Children’s Village Association

In November 2025, Near East University established a formal collaboration with SOS Children’s Village Association involving the Atatürk Faculty of Education and the Social Research and Development Center.

The cooperation explicitly includes education, research and practice activities aimed at supporting children’s social and emotional development, learning and participation. Within the partnership, the Social Research and Development Center is responsible for developing research projects designed to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Association, alongside seminars and academic activities addressing community needs.

The collaboration creates a structured university–NGO framework in which academic research and educational expertise can be applied to the needs of children and the organisations that support them, contributing particularly to SDGs 4, 10, 16 and 17.

Development of Educational Resources

Developing Oral-Health Educational Resources for Children

In December 2025, students from the Near East University Faculty of Dentistry and members of the Northern Cyprus Association of Dental Students (NCADS) worked with the Turkish Cypriot Child Protection Institution to deliver preventive oral-health education for children. The Turkish Cypriot Child Protection Institution is registered as a civil-society association in Northern Cyprus.

The programme used educational resources designed specifically for children, including age-appropriate oral-health presentations, visual material on nutrition and dental health, and two interactive learning games: a true–false oral-hygiene game and a food-matching activity distinguishing tooth-friendly from tooth-harming foods.

Students also used children’s books they had written themselves as part of the educational activity, combining health information with storytelling and interactive learning. The materials were designed to make preventive oral-health information understandable and engaging for children from different backgrounds.

Through the development and use of child-focused educational materials in cooperation with a civil-society organisation, the initiative supported health literacy, preventive care and more inclusive access to health education, particularly in relation to SDGs 3, 4, 10 and 17.