Rector Speech 4

Our university has completed building its infrastructure. In terms of transportation, there is an adequate transportation network with bicycle paths and beautiful walking paths within the campus. Apart from that, Edirne is a small city. The furthest place is 10-15 minutes away by car. It is possible to reach anywhere in 10 minutes from our campus closest to the city. We already have “living campuses” within the city and it will be possible to reach them on foot. We are proud of our 5000 international students from 64 countries. We have recently increased the number of foreign students from 1700 to 5000. 80%-85% of our students come from the Balkans. We host around 4000 Balkan students.We are the university preferred by most of the Balkan students in Turkey. In particular, we see the Balkan geography as an area of expertise. We have an incredible number of students, 1100 from Western Thrace-Greece, 1100 from Bulgaria, 500 from Kosovo. Apart from that, as I said, we have students from 64 different countries. We are one of the universities where international students and guests are most satisfied. There is a survey study conducted with international students at Turkish universities. Edirne has always been among the top 5 universities in the surveys conducted with more than 5 thousand students. It was in the third place and in the second place. I hope that soon we will see Edirne in the first place as the city with the most satisfaction of international students. Our university has been chosen as the educational institution that caters to the needs of Rumelia the most. We can say that we are experts in this field. Hopefully, Trakya University will become a standard on its own with 10 thousand international students in 2023. As I said, the presence of 5000 international students at Trakya University provides a great advantage for our Turkish students. It is very important for them to be surrounded by cultural richness. The student who comes here will have a friend from Western Thrace in their class or a friend from Africa.
We care a lot about this. Forming connections are very important. We attach great importance to the fact that these connections are established during university education. Learning from each other and sharing with one another is part of the university experience. Trakya University plays a very important role not only in education but also in health care.With our 1100-bed hospital, we have patients coming not only from the Thrace region, but also from Istanbul and Çanakkale. We provide healthcare services to many of our patients from all over the Balkans, Skopje and Sarajevo. In this respect, I can say that Trakya University undertakes an important mission. We will become stronger with the Faculty of Pharmacy and Faculty of Dentistry. When it comes to technological infrastructure,
I can say that our Faculty of Medicine has all the necessary technological infrastructure, can perform the most sophisticated surgical operations, and has a very advanced cancer and radiotherapy center. It is a complete technological arsenal with a bone marrow transplant center, epilepsy surgery center, and now a stroke center and angiogram, as well as a 117-bed intensive care unit.In addition, an exemplary laboratory called TUTAGEM (Technology Research and Development Application and Research Center) was created at Trakya University, which can be used by all the departments of Trakya University, as well as the industry. We have a research laboratory equipped with 3D microscopes, electron microscopes and tof devices, with which there is not a single test that cannot be done.This laboratory is currently open for use by the industry officials, university researchers and the Balkans. A new cross-border project of 3.3 million euros has been approved. We will gain a brand new laboratory worth 1.4 million Euros by means of this project. We will therefore have technology that can carry out tests and analysis of the next 20 years. Apart from this, all our other units have educational infrastructures, laboratories and work offices. As I said, we do not experience a technological deficiency. We also have many advantages. We have Kırkpınar Physical Education High School, this school has recently become a faculty.This school is a very old and well-established sports school of the region. At the end of each year, we hold a ceremony celebrating the success of the students here. Rest assured; these students are making incredible achievements.Let me give you a few examples. We have a female student who came second in the Paralympics. The women's world wrestling champion Yasemin Adar is a student of ours. Kırkpınar Wrestling is held in Edirne, Kırkpınar chief wrestlers are our students. There is a nice working environment that has achieved great success in many other fields.Olympic teams train in Edirne. For example, the swimming and the wrestling teams. Two of our new athletes will compete in the Olympics, I wish them great success. I know they will make Trakya University proud. Apart from these, we have very rich sports facilities all over the campus We have facilities and activities in line with the demands of our students. These include tennis courts, an indoor swimming pool, walking areas, climbing lanes. For example, we distributed 1000 free bicycles to our students so that they could practice cycling daily. We have renewed the bike paths. If they want to do sports, we will support them with all kinds of infrastructure.A brand-new indoor sports facility is currently being prepared for service. With this facility, we will have better opportunities for doing sport.