Rector's Speech 3

Hello, I am Anadolu University’s Rector Professor Fuat Erdal. I am a graduate of Middle East Technical University, Department of Economics. Then I completed my master's degree at the University of Leeds in England and my doctorate at the University of Nottingham. Anadolu University is based on Eskişehir Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences, which was founded in 1958. Since its establishment, Anadolu University has found a place among the best universities, not only in our country but also in the world, as a modern, dynamic and innovative university. Our university is located in the green Yunus Emre campus in the center of Eskişehir, which is characterized as a city of science, culture and at the same time, a city of students. Anadolu University has 12 faculties, 3 open and distance education faculties, 1 state conservatory, 3 vocational schools, and 4 higher education schools. It has 6 institutes and 24 research centers that provide undergraduate and doctoral education. The mission of our university is to contribute to the common welfare and happiness of humanity with education and research in the fields of science, technology, art and sports in order to increase the quality of life of our country and the people of the world. It offers qualified and original, distance and formal learning opportunities to individuals of all ages, and provides creative and innovative solutions. “To be a world university focused on lifelong learning” is the vision of our university. It offers a wide variety of programs. Our university, with its well-equipped academic staff and strong infrastructure, has the Faculty of Pharmacy, the Faculty of Letters, the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Fine Arts, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, the Faculty of Communication Sciences, the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Faculty of Tourism, with 56 undergraduate and 13 associate degree programs. With the Open Education Faculty, Faculty of Economics and Faculty of Business Administration, there are 19 undergraduate and 41 associate degree departments which provide qualified higher education services to its students in the field of open and distance education. Again, our university is one of the universities with the highest number of students benefiting from international exchange programs, offering double degree opportunities in many programs based on an interdisciplinary approach, with double major and minor programs. We have a state conservatory, which includes a university theater and a symphony orchestra, an integrated college for the disabled equipped with technology to meet the educational needs of hearing-impaired individuals, and a School of Foreign Languages where English, German, French and Russian languages are taught. We also have Vocational Schools on our campus. It offers training services with wide application opportunities in many of Turkey's most preferred associate degree programs, especially in Cookery, Tourism and Hotel Management, Child Development, and Pharmacy Services. Our university offers its students many scholarship opportunities covering a one-year English preparatory program and a four-year undergraduate education period. Excellence Scholarships offered by our university can be benefited both according to the YKS (Higher Education Institutions Exam) placement score ranking obtained from verbal, numerical, equal weight and language score types, and according to the success rankings in the special talent exams held by the Faculty of Fine Arts and the State Conservatory. Our university provides its students with scholarship opportunities such as free accommodation, laptop, free cafeteria and catering services and financial contribution throughout their education life at Anadolu University Residence with the "Anatolian Success Scholarship", "Anatolian Success Scholarship" and "Anatolian Support Scholarship". Again, within the scope of “Support to Anatolian Art” scholarships, our university provides support to its students, who are placed in the Faculty of Fine Arts and the State Conservatory, to participate in distinguished art organizations held abroad such as the Venice Biennale, Edinburgh International Theater Festival, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Concert, according to their success in the special talent exam. Within the scope of arts support scholarships, we also provide students with opportunities such as free cafeteria and food services and financial contribution. Our university carries out postgraduate education and training activities with a total of 4 institutes, namely the Institute of Educational Sciences, the Institute of Fine Arts, the Institute of Health Sciences and the Institute of Social Sciences. In our institutes, there are approximately 160 programs that provide postgraduate education with formal, secondary and distance education. Today, more than 5 thousand students, who will contribute to the universal knowledge of humanity, continue their postgraduate studies at our institutes. As Anadolu University, we first evaluated the issue of structuring our internal quality system in line with our mission and goals in matters related to quality in education, and implemented our new activity plan on this subject. We will begin to prepare for the formation of the external advisory board and unit advisory boards of our university, and we will try to systematically obtain the opinions of our stakeholders on the issues related to the quality of education. We encourage all academic unit managers to obtain accreditation. We are aware of the importance of monitoring and evaluating the information produced at the university with an integrated information system in terms of quality. That's why we try to make up for our shortcomings. We are planning to include student commission members in quality boards in order to ensure that our students, who are the most important actors in quality improvement in education, participate more in decision-making mechanisms. All laboratories, workshops and studios in the units are equipped with the most advanced devices. In the trainings, all kinds of tools and materials that are necessary for the applications are provided. Anadolu University's library, which provides service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, is one of the largest digital libraries in the world with over 320 thousand printed works and millions of electronic resources offered through national and international electronic databases open to online access. In terms of the importance of foreign language knowledge in Turkey's integration with the world at our university, English preparatory education is given in almost all of its units. While preparing students for the future, it is aimed to raise them as individuals equipped with contemporary global knowledge, who can speak at least one foreign language. With our open education system, our university has removed higher education from being limited to campuses and brought it to the homes of every citizen. While carrying out these wide-ranging activities, it has established a strong infrastructure with modern education and communication technologies. For example, by using this superior technological infrastructure in the field of distance education, our university successfully conducted a record number of 6 million course exam sessions online for over 1 million students between 12-21 December 2020. This is the most widely attended online exam in Turkish higher education history. According to the YÖK (Higher Education Board) report, our university is the second in the category of “universities with the highest rate of courses taken from different programs” determined under the education and training category. It ranked third in the "Universities with the highest number of international events", which is determined by the number of international symposiums, congresses and artistic exhibitions. Anadolu University is among the top five universities in Turkey in the categories of “Universities with the highest number of laboratory services provided within the scope of Research and Development, innovation and product development”, “Universities with the highest investment budget spent on R&D”, “Universities with the highest number of students participating in international exchange programs”, and, “Universities with the highest number of awards and decorations”. When we look at the university rankings again, Anadolu University was ranked 28th in the 2020-2021 Turkey ranking of the URAP (University Ranking by Academic Performance) Research Laboratory and 9th in the ranking of universities without a medical faculty. Anadolu University has become one of the 23 universities in Turkey in the 2020 ranking of seven organizations. Anadolu University ranked first among Turkish universities in the "UniRank Top 200 universities in Asia 2020" ranking, and ranked 13th among 200 Asian universities. According to the data announced by Startups.watch, Anadolu University graduates are the ones that put forward the most new initiatives in 2020. Scientific and cultural activities are also given great importance in our university. In this context, scientific events such as conferences, seminars, panels, congresses, and symposiums, and many cultural events such as meetings, shows, exhibitions, theaters and concerts are regularly held. In addition to the small conference halls in each department, activities are constantly held at Atatürk Culture and Art Center, Congress Center and Cinema Anadolu on our Yunus Emre Campus. Around 2500 events are held at our university annually and most of our students participate in these events. In addition, our students can choose between 54 clubs and 8 societies within our university according to their interests. Many events are held with these clubs and societies throughout the year. We are primarily a city university. Our Yunus Emre Campus, located in the greenery where we carry out educational activities, is located in the very center of our city. Our Yunus Emre Campus is home to 12 faculties, 3 of which are open and distance education, 3 schools, 1 of which is a state conservatory, 3 vocational schools, 5 institutes and 24 research centers. Our university offers three meals a day, a healthy and nutritious diet to its students. In addition to the standard food menu, our university offers vegetarian menu, gluten-free menu for celiac patients and vegan menu. Our university library, which is active 24 hours a day, offers free night soup and tea and coffee to students. To the students of our university; It offers a vibrant campus life 24 hours a day with its cinema, theatre, museums, congress, exhibition halls and sports facilities. Eskişehir has a well-deserved reputation, which is expressed as a student/university city spreading not only in our country but also in the world, and has a positive image in the eyes of the public. Eskişehir is a center of attraction in education with the facilities and opportunities it provides, from transportation and accommodation, to sports to art, from its nature and culture, to scientific and entertaining activities. Anadolu University has a very important share in Eskişehir's status as one of the important science, art and culture centers with the contributions it has made. Anadolu University is also identified with this city, which is located in the center of the city, and is the city's most rooted university. The people of our city can follow all kinds of scientific, cultural, social and sports activities carried out in our university, and our students can easily participate in all kinds of activities held in the city. We have very warm relations with local governments, public institutions and organizations and non-governmental organizations, especially with the governorship in our city. I can say that Anadolu University is the signature of all kinds of projects that will contribute to the development of our city. Our university is located in the very center of Anatolia. Transportation from Eskişehir to other regions and cities is both easy and very comfortable. Our city is in the middle of the Ankara-Istanbul-Izmir triangle. Our own students and foreign students can reach Eskişehir and our universities without any difficulty. Our students can go to every point of our city from our Yunus Emre Campus easily and in a short time by public transportation such as tram, bus, and minibus. Since we are in the center of the city, our students can easily walk wherever they want. In a way, we are actually a sports school. Anadolu University Youth and Sports Club, which was established in 1984 within the university in order to prepare university students for professional sports life and to ensure that students who are professional athletes continue their sports activities, have trained 16.000 athletes in different branches for the last 36 years. Within the club; There are various and rich branches such as Handball Women, Football, Basketball, Volleyball Women, Swimming, Archery, Protected Football, Bridge, Athletics, Badminton, Physically Handicapped, Basketball, Mountaineering, Fencing, Table Tennis, Canoeing, Chess, Tennis and Cycling. Today, 424 licensed athletes in different branches represent Anadolu University in competitions and our university continues to serve Turkish sports. Our handball women's team represents our university in the Super League this season. While Anadolu University’s American football team continues to play in the 2nd League with its 44 players, Anadolu University football team representing Eskişehir plays in the Regional Amateur League. There are also a wide range of opportunities in terms of sports opportunities on our campus. Tennis courts, swimming pool, gym, football, basketball and volleyball courts are always open to our students. Eskişehir is a city with rich accommodation opportunities for our students who come to our university from outside of Eskişehir. There are accommodation facilities suitable for all budgets in our city, especially the dormitories of the Credit and Dormitories Institution and private dormitories.
Anadolu University has determined its vision in line with the goal of 'becoming a world university with a special focus on lifelong learning'. Our university has spread over a wide geography from the Caucasus, the Balkans, Europe to the Americas, with bilateral cooperation agreements, scientific research project collaborations, double degree programs, Erasmus+ and Mevlana exchange programs, youth work and open education system made in accordance with the internationalization strategy. With the activities carried out within the body of Anadolu University International Relations Unit since 2004, nearly 8 thousand students and more than 2 thousand staff members have been enabled to benefit from international mobility opportunities. Erasmus+ Program is the European Union's grant program in the fields of education, youth and sports. Education, training, internship, professional development, non-formal learning-based youth activities and cooperation between institutions are supported. Within the scope of Erasmus + program, our university; It has around 300 inter-institutional agreements with higher education institutions in 28 countries in Europe and nearly 400 with over 30 different partner countries outside of European Union. We have a global campus with students coming to our university from all over the world. In order to enable our incoming students to interact with both our university and Turkish students, first of all, there is an International Students Club under the coordination of Anadolu University student clubs. Various events are held on campus as part of this club. As an example, within the scope of the spring festivals held every year, international full-time students, exchange students and Turkish students come together to organize shows with various materials, cultural meals, etc. while maintaining a social and cultural interaction. In addition, full-time international students who will continue their education in Turkish benefit from the opportunities of TÖMER unit offered by our university. In this way, students improve their Turkish language skills and strengthen their interaction with Turkish students. Thanks to the 'roommate' and 'guide student' systems for exchange students run by our university's International Relations Unit, Anadolu University students apply to share their flats with incoming students every semester. Likewise, exchange students are assigned to a local fellow student with the guidance student system. Guidance students play a major role in facilitating the adaptation of exchange students to the university, city and country during their stay. In addition, our university offers exchange students the opportunity to learn Turkish language and culture through courses opened specifically for Erasmus+ students. The first higher education institutions in our country, which serve for individuals with special needs, were established within our university. In addition, we have a disabled-friendly campus in terms of both educational and physical areas. I would also like to state that our Integrated School for the Disabled is the first and only school in Turkey that provides education for hearing impaired individuals at higher education level. To mention a few of our important achievements in this field, we came second in the "Accessible Digital Applications" category within the scope of the "2020 Accessibility Year Accessibility Awards" organized by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services. Again, 61 departments and programs of our university were entitled to receive the "Accessible Program Medal" given within the scope of the "2020 Barrier-Free University Awards" organized by the Higher Education Board. There are 3 different educational environments for students with disabilities in our university. The first is the inclusive environment where students with special needs receive education together with their peers; the second is the Integrated School for the Disabled, where all students are hearing impaired; and the last one is the Disabled Students Unit for students with special needs studying at the Open Education Faculty. Anadolu University is a world university whose vision is focused on lifelong learning. In this context, our university provides the opportunity to contribute to professional and personal development with the AKADEMA platform, free online trainings, career advancement opportunities with second university programs without exams, and e-certificate programs. I invite all candidates who want to realize their dreams to our global campus, which provides quality education services to 28 countries of the world.