Nesin Mathematics Village, a non-profit educational institution affiliated with the Nesin Foundation. It was established by Prof. Ali Nesin to teach young people mathematics and encourage mathematics research. In 2015, the Mathematics Village and Ali Nesin received the Vehbi Koç Award for education.
After his father, Aziz Nesin, died in 1995, Prof. Ali Nesin returned from lecturing in the USA and founded the Istanbul Bilgi University Department of Mathematics in 1996. Seeing that university students were insufficiently trained in mathematics, for ten years Prof. Nesin organized six to seven-week summer schools every summer. In 2007, based on these experiences, he established the Mathematics Village in Şirince in Izmir’s Selçuk province with the support of Sevan Nişanyan. Through the Nesin Foundation, the Nesin Mathematics Village helps students at each level, from primary to higher education, entirely through donations from the public and young people serving as volunteers. Every year more than a thousand students from Turkey and all over the world come to the Village, benefitting from working with the renowned academicians who volunteer there.
The Mathematics Village covers nearly 22,000 square meters of land, and includes accommodation for students, teachers, and staff, as well as indoor and outdoor classrooms, a conference salon, and a library. In addition to short programs scheduled during school holidays, there are also summer schools lasting from two weeks to three months, which are attended by about 150-250 high school and university students each day. In addition to their academic work, for one to two hours each day students are expected to work on a rotation basis to complete tasks such as laundry, cleaning, food preparation and watering the garden.