What is ICMA?
Founded in 1914 as the International Association of City Managers, ICMA (International City/County Management Association) is a leading organization of local government professionals dedicated to building and maintaining thriving communities around the world. ICMA determines long-term disposition and policy issues affecting local governments. It works with state and national organizations representing cities and counties, brings the voice of professional governance to national policy discussions, regulatory issues, and problem-solving discussions with federal government leaders, and offers its members training and networking opportunities.
ICMA’s Mission
ICMA's mission is to advance professional local government through leadership, innovation, and ethics. It is to create more egalitarian, more inclusive, and better communities around the world.
ICMA's Vision
ICMA's vision is to be the leading union of local government professionals dedicated to creating and maintaining thriving communities all around the world.
Why ICMA Is Important?
ICMA trains qualified professional local government managers with a high combination of training and experience, a commitment to honesty standards, and an evaluated commitment to lifelong learning and professional development, and by working with these managers, it produces professional solutions to any problems that may or may occur in local government.
ICMA and Universities
As part of ICMA's Next Generation Initiatives, the ICMA Student Chapters gather an inclusive and talented group of people as next-generation local government leaders and create opportunities for their development. ICMA Student Chapters integrate students into the profession of local government management and recognize members, resources, and the ICMA Code of Ethics. It also serves as a bridge between schools, students, government associations, and administrators. More than 100 ICMA Student Chapters, which contain many different countries and universities of the world, are now actively operating.
Each ICMA Student Chapters develops its content and bylaws, has regular meetings, invites guests for their panels they will prepare, and interacts with other ICMA Student Chapters. Thanks to all these arrangements, students who are interested in city/district administration have a wider knowledge of local governments learn about career opportunities in local government, and become aware of how to benefit from these opportunities.
ICMA and Abdullah Gul University
Abdullah Gül University became the first Turkish university student community to be accepted as a member of the ICMA thanks to its student achievement quality and successful studies by firstly stand out with the accumulation of Human and Social Sciences, academic staff, quality of education and national/international network memberships in order to be included. Abdullah Gül University's team will carry out studies to support more universities in Turkey as the pioneer of Student Chapters in ICMA with the pride of being the first ICMA University in Turkey. International webinars, workshops, and training series are planned in the coming days. Within the scope of the "ICMA Orientation Program" held in previous weeks, ICMA was introduced to Political Science and International Relations students and it was observed that the students reacted quite positively. Our "ICMA AGU Series" panel, which we completed the first one, will be one of the most important steps taken on this path.