Rector's Speech

Hello, I am Doctor Mustafa Paç, a professor of cardiovascular surgery. I was born in 1954 in Ankara. I graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Medicine. I specialized in cardiovascular surgery at the same university. Later, I founded the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at Atatürk University. In 1992, I was appointed as the dean of Faculty of Medicine of Inönü University. I took part in the establishment of Turgut Özal Medical Centre. I conducted educational research and studies in Boston and Houston. Later, I was appointed as the chief physician to Yuksek Ihtisas Hospital. During my 15-year service as a chief physician, Among my endeavours was an attempt to transform Yuksek Ihtisas Hospital Foundation into a university. Yuksek Ihtisas University was finally established 7 years ago, and I have been the rector of this university for 1.5 years. Yuksek Ihtisas is a thematic health sciences university established in 2013 under the ownership of Yuksek Ihtisas Hospital Foundation. Its aim is to raise professionals who are competent, ethical, competing on a global scale in the field of health and to bring major contributions to the Turkish science, education and field of inquiry. As a new approach, this university has also undertaken an extra mission to lead health tourism by establishing the Health Technopolis. Our university consists of three faculties: Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences and Faculty of Sport Sciences. Our Faculty of Health Sciences has 5 Departments: Nursing, Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Nutrition and Diet and Health Management and Hearing Sensitivity Audiometry. We also have 10 college departments. 8 of which are directly related to health, while 2 of which concern computer and hospital services. We have been carrying out our mission with 1800 students and 250 lecturers. We had an institute of health sciences, but with a decision of the Higher Education Institution (YÖK), these institutes have now been completely combined with graduate institutes. We also have a postgraduate education institute.In this institute, we still offer postgraduate education in 5 departments. We have attempts to open 5 new sections. We are persistent in health sciences. In this sense, with permissions granted, we are planning to establish 6 sections in the Faculty of Dentistry and Pharmacy, School of Medicine and Health in English. We set up new organisations that aim to train manpower and educational staff in health that will meet healthcare needs of the region even of the country. At first, a staffing establishment is accommodated through staff transfer. We have nearly 250 faculty members in basic sciences and applied health sciences, Professors and associate professors constitute an important part of the establishment. We also employed research assistants and lecturers, some of which are now doctor lecturers and associate professors. Others further their academic careers. As a new tradition, we aim to have our administrative staff get their Master’s and PhD degrees at the earliest opportunity, and we encourage them in this direction. Despite all the challenges posed by the pandemic in Turkey as well as in the whole world, we provide quality, evergrowing and ethical human resources as today’s reflection on the universal understanding of education. Apart from these, we have an effort to establish laboratories that will improve their education and research infrastructures, and that will enhance the research subjects and project offices that will facilitate product development. We are of course trying to establish a Technopolis centre. Our education campus has two sections; this is our Balgat campus. Our Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Rectorate are located here. Our second campus comprises our Health Vocational School in Bağlum. We are a city university, and of course we are planning to establish a campus, but health sciences consists of departments that are inextricably intertwined with the public, and healthcare is a vital part of this sector. Health care is most accessible in the city. Urban structuring is mandatory for us, as seen in other university establishments. For this reason, our Balgat Campus has a very suitable place for providing health education, practice and service, both with its proximity to the hospitals that we have contracted and cooperate with in providing healthcare services, and the fact that our centre is in the heart of the city. We have been accepting international students for two years. Our portfolio of international students comprises the citizens of the European Union, but perhaps most of them are our own citizens living abroad. However, we also host students from neighbouring countries. We have students from Turkic Republics and Africa. We host international students from 16 different countries. They live and study together. This is of course a very good orientation process. Our higher education institution and our university, which strive to reach the desired number of international students in our country in an increasingly globalising world, offers an environment that aims our students to adapt to each other by melting them in the same pot. In these circumstances, we have been witnessing their efforts to create a new world of peace. Medicine is the field where technological developments are most intense. In this technology dominated age, to which the science is to adapt, advancements in health sciences occupy almost half of the field. Many other sectors are the pioneers of new developments in health science. The leading development can be said to be the place of space technology in America on the health system and the developments which occurred after Aselsan entered the health arena in Turkey. We will be an important part of this medical technology that should be closely followed in our country by establishing a health Technomer and Technopolis. The strongest aspect of Yuksek Ihtisas University is that it has a very distinguished academic staff, and that students have an opportunity of easy access to practices through extensive application hospitals and education network. For this reason, I advise our students, who are in a field where the practices such as medicine and health sciences comprise more than 50% of education, to prefer Yuksek Ihtisas University and its departments where that infrastructure is available and the academic staff is very experienced. I want our candidates who will prefer our university to believe that we will do our best. I wish you success in your exams and hope that we will meet you as soon as possible.