Marmara University has a rich history dating back to the establishment of Hamidiye High School of Commerce in 1883. Over the years, Marmara University has expanded its academic offerings, with 21 faculties, 4 vocational schools, and 13 institutes currently under its umbrella. The university offers a total of 199 associate and undergraduate programs and hosts over 3,000 faculty members and more than 80,000 students.

As technology has advanced, the use of technology in education has increased over the years. Furthermore, the expectations of students and faculty regarding educational activities have evolved. These expectations have made active use of distance education necessary. In this context, on January 29, 2009, the Marmara University Distance Education Application and Research Center (UZEM) was established to meet the needs of today and support students in lifelong learning, on-the-job training, and just-in-time learning through web-based technologies.

The establishment of UZEM at Marmara University began with the preparations of Prof. Dr. Münir ŞAKRAK's directive and educational activities commenced under the leadership of the founding director, Prof. Dr. Abdülkerim KAR. The second term of directorship was held by Prof. Dr. Süleyman BEYOĞLU from 2014 to 2017, the third term from 2017 to 2018 by Assoc. Prof. Dr. M. Volkan TÜRKER, and the fourth and fifth terms from 2018 until the end of 2022 by Prof. Dr. Faruk UÇAR. The sixth term is currently being led by Prof. Dr. M. Volkan TÜRKER once again.

Initially, in the 2010-2011 academic years, common courses offered to all first-year students at Marmara University were delivered through distance education. Accordingly, Atatürk Principles and History of the Turkish Revolution I-II, Turkish Language I-II, and Foreign Language I-II courses are provided to approximately 25,000 students university-wide through distance education methods. In the 2012-2013 academic year, distance education programs for Computer Programming within the Technical Sciences Vocational School and Marketing within the School of Social Sciences were established and started serving students. UZEM continued its efforts rapidly and in the 2013-2014 academic year, it opened two new associate programs under the School of Social Sciences: Foreign Trade and Accounting and Tax Applications. In the 2014-2015 academic year, it also opened two associate programs under the Technical Sciences Vocational School: Fashion Design and Occupational Health and Safety. Marmara UZEM also provides infrastructure support to the Engineering Management and Occupational Safety master's programs opened within the Institute of Science and Technology in the 2013-2014 academic year. Marmara UZEM continues to provide infrastructure support to all online education and training processes carried out with synchronous and asynchronous methods at Marmara University.

Especially during the Covid-19 Pandemic that started in March 2020; In the 2019-2020 Spring, 2020-2021 Fall and Spring semesters, the associate, undergraduate and graduate education and training activities of all academic units in our University were moved to the distance education system, and within the scope of 15 thousand individual online courses held every week, more than 80 thousand students and around 3,200 academicians were able to participate. They can come together and study on the distance education system, share homework, exams, quizzes, lecture notes, etc. A technical infrastructure with all the possibilities is provided. As it is known, as a result of the pandemic measures reduced throughout the country in the 2021-2022 Fall and Spring semesters, 100% distance education was replaced by hybrid education and training processes. In these two education and training periods, distance education infrastructure support continued to be provided for online courses in addition to face-to-face education. Since 100% distance education and training was switched to 100% distance education after the earthquake disaster in Kahramanmaraş center on February 6, 2023, associate, undergraduate and graduate education and training activities of all academic units in our University were once again moved to the distance education system in the spring semester of the 2022-2023 academic year. . In these academic periods; If the average course hour at our university is calculated as 3 hours, Marmara UZEM has one of the strongest distance education infrastructures in our country, with the capacity to conduct 45 thousand hours of synchronous courses in a week for around 15 thousand different courses and its server infrastructure that can serve 20 thousand live users at once.

Today, UZEM serves approximately 25,000 students in common compulsory courses (YOK 5(i) courses) conducted at Marmara University, approximately 1300 students in distance education associate degree programs and approximately 300 students in distance education master's programs, and continues its efforts to continuously improve its infrastructure facilities.