Within the scope of the Agency Management course, the students studying at the Department of Public Relations and Advertising of the Faculty of Communication of Near East University, organized an extra-scholastic educational trip to SOS Children's Village , the largest charity organization in Northern Cyprus.

The Directorate of Press and Public Relations Office of Near East University released that Asst. Prof. Dr. Nuran Öze, the teacher in charge of the agency management course, organized an extra-scholastic educational trip to SOS Children's Village in order to provide the students with opportunity to better understand the importance and functioning of public relations at non-governmental organizations. It was stated that the students participated in a two-hour training seminar on fund development and public relations within the scope of the trip.

During the seminar, SOS Children's Village Fund Development and Public Relations Director Cemil Hafız delivered information about fundraising campaigns, types of sponsorships, face-to-face campaigns, activities, SOS products, loyalty programs and their functioning, communication activities and channels, agencies in cooperation with SOS, fund development team and distribution of tasks and responsibilities in public relations and communication, model campaigns, and most importantly 360-degree campaign planning and implementation processes.

In his closing remarks, Cemil Hafız Underlined the importance of collaborative working for a good campaign and drew attention to the necessity of well-tailored and goal-oriented preparations for planning annual campaigns and communication events.

Near East University Students drew attention with their questions....
After an hour and half lasting presentation, Cemil Hafız answered the questions directed to him by the students. Önder Hansu, a student from Near East University, drew great attention with his question "As far as I know, you have a little son. And you work at a child-oriented organization. If we compare the process as before and after having a child, have you experienced any change in your attitudes towards your job?”

Answering that his life changed a lot, Cemil Hafız stated that he used to work so hard to develop more funds for SOS and he felt so sad when failed in any campaign before having a child. "However, after having a child, I realized that each campaign that we carried out, regardless failure or success, touched the life of a person" said he.

We aimed to provide platform for our students to get to know that they would be able to involve in various sectors...
Underlining the crucial role of on-site applications regarding real life in raising well-equipped students capable to address the needs of the sector, Asst. Prof. Dr. Nuran Öze stated that they organized the extra-scholastic educational trip to provide the students studying at the Department of Public Relations and Advertising with opportunity to enhance their knowledge and experiences through training on-site.

Highlighting that they aimed to provide the students with platform with a training trip to SOS Children's Village where they had opportunity to get to know that they would be able to involve in various sectors, Asst. Prof. Dr. Öze expressed her views regarding the issue: "Moreover, becoming aware of the fact that they can touch human life while doing their work is something that feeds self-consciousness. We will continue to organize various training trips each semester in accordance with the course contents" noted she.