I would like to extend a warm welcome to all new students who have entered Bilkent University and to wish all students a healthy and successful academic year. Being at Bilkent is special, and sports and exercise can help to make the Bilkent experience even more healthy and enjoyable. The Physical Education and Sports Center offers a wide range of sports programs for everyone’s needs at world class sports facilities.

Why sports and exercise?

We could give more than a hundred reasons to participate in sports and exercise programs. However, it would not be possible to list all those reasons on this page. Briefly, we can say that by participating in sports and exercises programs a person can:

• improve his/her athletic performance,

• improve his/her physical fitness level,

• control his/her body weight and blood pressure,

• reduce the risk of heart disease,

• increase good cholesterol (HDL) and decrease bad cholesterol (LDL),

• manage stress better,

• boost his/her energy level and be more active,

• improve his/her social skills and enjoy meeting new friends,

• relieve boredom and have lots of fun and good times with friends,

• improve his/her overall quality of life.

So, we can say that fitness can add life to one's years, not just years to one’s life!

We would like to invite our students to be involved in our extensive sports programs. Come make use of our contemporary sports facilities and use sports as a means to achieve other ends.

We look forward to seeing you all soon!

Dr. Hayri Özkan
Director, Physical Education and Sports Center