Dear Colleagues,

      I am delighted to invite you to a Jubilee Conference in Ankara, Turkey, the 
      birthplace in 1980 of the International Conference on Higher Education. In the
      intervening 25 years I.C.H.E. has met on three continents and covered numerous
      topics of interest to university administrators and academic staff.

      For its 25th anniversary it was decided to return to the site of the First I.C.H.E. 
      In 1980 the Conference convened at Hacettepe University in Ankara, and
      in 2005 it will meet at Bilkent University, the second university established 
      by our host, I.C.H.E. founder and honorary president, Professor 
      İhsan Doğramacı, who this year is celebrating his 90th birthday.

      In recent decades private institutions of higher learning have opened in 
      various countries around the globe, some with a profit in mind but others
      with the objective of achieving academic excellence and freedom from the 
      restraints that sometimes accompany state control. The topic of this
      year's I.C.H.E. reflects this movement in higher education by addressing
      "The Strengths and Weaknesses of Public and Private Universities".

      Keynote speakers have been invited from the United States and Japan,
      both of which have important institutions of private education alongside 
      the public universities, as well as from the host country, which also has
      had private universities since 1984. Of special interest in this year's 
      program will be a panel on "The International University of Iraq -- A Private
      University in a Newly Reconstituted Society".

      I hope to see you in Ankara in August.

     Ignaz Bender, Chancellor emeritus, University of TrierPresident,
     International Conference on Higher Education