Article 1 - The aims of distance higher education based on communication and information technologies at the vocational, undergraduate, and graduate levels are:

1. To facilitate academic cooperation by enabling the sharing of educational resources among universities,
2. To increase the effectiveness of education by making use of the interactive medium provided by information technologies, with multimedia features and the ability to access unlimited information,
3. To increase the efficiency of higher education and make it available to new student audiences.

Article 2 - Distance Higher Education Based on Communication and Information Technologies includes diploma programs at the vocational, undergraduate, and graduate levels in institutions of higher education, in which some or all of the courses are given using the Internet, other data communication networks, or radio. In this type of education, educational tools such as audio/video cassettes, audio/video CDs, books, and communication devices such as telephone, television and mail may also be used.

Article 3 - These Regulations are based upon Article 7 sections (a) and (c), and Article 12 sections (c), (d), (f) and (h) of Law No. 2547.

Article 4 - In these Regulations, "server" denotes the university providing the course, and "client" denotes the university provided with the course.

Article 5 - Courses and programs are determined and accredited as follows:

1. The Council of Higher Education, considering the proposals of the server and client universities, determines the fields and topics in which there is a need to open courses and programs. The servers for the courses and programs determined by the Council of Higher Education apply to the Council of Higher Education by submitting a project proposal prepared in accordance with the "The Principles for Preparing Communication and Information Technology Based Courses". The application should include detailed syllabi of the courses to be offered, their credits, schedule, course conduct characteristics, required resources, academic calendar, the financial support required for such features as multimedia applications, video shots and special software, as well as a demonstration of part of each course. If the project proposal is approved, the sum of money indicated in the budget is paid by the Council of Higher Education.
2. The courses prepared are evaluated in a manner determined by the Council of Higher Education, and their designs are accredited based on their compliance with "The Principles for Preparing Communication and Information Technology Based Courses". The courses are graded as (A), (B), or (C). The grade reflects the quality and quantity of the course material, its structure, the use of interactive examples and questions, and the effectiveness of the components it incorporates for monitoring learning. (A) denotes EXCELLENT, (B) VERY GOOD, and (C) GOOD.
3. The accredited courses must be offered by the server within at most 2 semesters after accreditation. These courses are announced to all universities by the Council of Higher Education. The server is obliged to open the courses prepared with the support of the Council of Higher Education for a minimum number of semesters determined by the Council of Higher Education.
4. Client universities determine their academic calendar according to the academic calendar of the server university.
5. Article 5 sections (a), (b), (c), and (d) of these Regulations are implemented, in the name of the Council of Higher Education, by the National Informatics Committee established within the Council of Higher Education.
6. In order to open vocational, undergraduate, and graduate programs based on information and communication technologies, universities must apply to the Council of Higher Education. The Council of Higher Education approves the program and courses within the framework of existing regulations and conformance to the principles mentioned in section (a) above.
7. Universities must obtain the permission of the Council of Higher Education to design, offer, change or close courses which are within the scope of these Regulations, but are only offered to their own students.

Article 6 - The language of instruction for the courses that are subject to these Regulations is Turkish. However, depending on the languages of instruction of the server and client universities and the agreement between them, instruction may be conducted in a foreign language. For vocational, undergraduate or graduate programs, the language of instruction is that of the server.

Article 7 - Server universities that wish to prepare courses in the fields and/or topics determined and announced at the beginning of each year/semester by the Council of Higher Education apply to the Council of Higher Education. Client universities may also apply to the Council of Higher Education to request courses related to the announced topics.

Article 8 - The methods for student admission, registration, examination and assessment are determined as follows:

1. A university requests courses that are offered by another university within the framework of these Regulations, via the Council of Higher Education. The client notifies the Council of Higher Education of the target student population and number of students for each of the courses requested. Based on the availability of its resources, the server is free to accept or reject each request for the academic semester, and the server determines its own schedule. The client is free to determine which course(s) in its own program the requested course corresponds to. The matching between server and client universities is done by the Council of Higher Education.
2. The pre-registration lists, determined by the client university according to section (a) above, are sent to the server university and the server carries out final registration. At the end of the course, the President's Office of the server university sends a "Grade Notification Form" to the President's Office of the client university.
3. Students of an institution of higher education who wish to acquire knowledge on a specific topic independently of the program they are registered in, take the course as "Special Students" based on the admission rules of the server university, and this does not affect the number of students supported by the Council of Higher Education.
4. Student admission to diploma programs in Inter-university Distance Higher Education Based on Communication and Information Technologies is subject to the same conditions as other programs.
5. The assessment and grading of students registered in such programs and courses is the prerogative of the course instructor. The method of assessment must be announced to students beforehand.
6. The Internet sites of all of the courses that are subject to these Regulations must be hosted by the server university. The course instructor is responsible for maintaining the student/instructor interaction through tools such as e-mail and e-forum.
7. Assignments are given and submitted over the Internet and the results are announced to the students in the same manner. Mid-term examinations (Take Home examinations, quizzes, etc.) may in principle be conducted over the Internet or communication networks. However, it is required that proctored examinations constitute at least 80 % of the grade in vocational and undergraduate programs, and 50 % of the grade in graduate programs. In graduate proctored examinations a minimum passing grade of 70 % is required; otherwise, the student is considered unsuccessful in that course. For proctored examinations, the client university is responsible for organizing and administering the examination sent by the server university. The examination results are announced to students over the Internet within three weeks at the latest.
8. The achievement levels of the students taking courses within the framework of the Regulations on Inter-university Distance Higher Education Based on Communication and Information Technologies, are determined by the course instructor in accordance with the pertinent regulations of the server university. The client university is free to interpret and evaluate the results within the framework of its own regulations.
9. The client university assigns at least one instructor for the coordination of the courses taken.

Article 9 - Inter-university Distance Higher Education based on Communication and Information Technologies entails a tuition fee. For students registered in distance higher education diploma programs offered within universities, the payment conditions of "second education" programs are valid. In the case of Inter-university course exchange, the copyright payment to the course instructor, assistants and other contributors, and the payment for course delivery to the instructor together with the payment schedule are detailed by the server university in the project proposal made to the Council of Higher Education. In case the course is repeated, the copyright payment to the project owners must be specified separately in the project proposal. Universities are responsible for determining these conditions.

Article 10 - Some of the courses in vocational and undergraduate programs of a university may be taken from among the courses offered in Anadolu University's Open University programs. In such cases the university and Anadolu University prepare a protocol based on the principles determined by the Council of Higher Education. The payments to be made by the university to Anadolu University are specified in the protocol.

Article 11 - Collaboration to this end is possible between national universities and foreign institutions that have been recognized by the Council of Higher Education, offering Communication and Information Technology based education. Protocols and agreements for such collaboration become valid with the approval of the Council of Higher Education.

Article 12 - Where no provision is found in these Regulations, other provisions and regulations of higher education apply. In case of disagreement, the matter is resolved by the decision of the Council of Higher Education.

Article 13 - The provisions of these Regulations are executed by the President of the Council of Higher Education.

Article 14 - The provisions of these Regulations become effective on the date of publication.