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Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver

İKÜ Head of The Board of Trustees Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver’s Message Regarding the IKU Agenda - XXI

Istanbul Kültür University (İKÜ) Head of The Board of Trustees Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver published a message regarding the IKU agenda, which has changed with the New Coronavirus Disease.

My Dear Kültür Family,

We are stepping into the last quarter of 2020. The side effects of the pandemic we follow with sadness and the data regarding the second wave keeps its place on the agenda. However, as a university, we are on the verge of an extremely important period.

YKS results were announced on Wednesday, August 26, 2020. We achieved a 79 percent occupancy rate in preferences. In the time we left behind, we made a serious effort for candidate communication in our academic and administrative staff. However, it is a fact that the result does not fully reflect our labor and effort. Regarding the occupancy rates; our evaluations continue from different perspectives in the context of the academic, administrative, socio-economic and health picture of the country. However, we will focus more on receiving a recompense for our efforts with forward-looking, positive, productive approaches.

Registration of our new students will continue until the evening of September 6, 2020. It is very important that the entire Kültür family work in harmony and take an active role in transforming the preferences into registration. I believe that we will manage the next week in the best possible way by correctly translating the characteristics of our university to our new students and their families.

My Dear Kültür Family,

In August, we reviewed the NPS results, where we test the student satisfaction. The outputs also include important keywords related to the emotional state of our students. For example, we have seen that their concerns categorized under three headings as hygiene, financial situation and pandemic. Socialization is the most basic issue they voiced at the point of need.

The 2020-2021 academic year is a very sensitive time for university youth. They experience uncertainty, crisis and risk management in life. In this process, we must be the biggest support of our students. We should be able to make both young people and their families feel that they are safe in Kültür with concrete steps. We should be able to convey that we manage the crisis not by hierarchy but by communication and sharing, and that cultural values are determinant in our bonds. In this context, I will have an online meeting with our Student Council President next week. I believe that the feedback from our Council Chair will be very useful for our 2020-2021 roadmap; and I plan to share my impressions with you in my next post. The panel on “Student Expectations in Distance Education”, which will be organized by our Turkish Language and Literature Department on September 7, 2020, is another meeting for which I waited in order to understand and hear our students. Kültür Point is also working on orientation planning for our new students for September. Our orientation program, which is extremely important for student communication; I kindly request you to support with your constructive criticism, ideas and opinions. Our students are our strongest guides in order to improve our university and to exceed the standards in higher education service.

We need to increase the number of such initiatives to hear the voices of our students, to ensure their involvement and to support their participation. In this context, our main goal should be to design new communication channels as well as to make effective use of our instruments that we can touch our students, especially NPS. We are currently planning to implement the NPS every 3 months to receive feedback from students. In addition, we should engage more intensely long-term applications that can provide mentoring support in the fields of culture, art and technology throughout the year; and also the activities that will nourish their mental, spiritual and emotional integrity. In this regard, I would like to state that I expect mobilization and full participation from our deans, department heads, directors, and all academic and administrative organizations in the studies for student communication

My Dear Kültür Family,

We continue to work on alternative scenarios for the fall semester in education and business processes. The planning of the education-training continues and we will explain the process to you before the new academic year. In the heading of business processes, we make our plans on our working principles, taking into account the circular on Measures for Public Employees in the Scope of COVID-19 shared by the Presidency last week. KOVKOM will continue to regularly share all developments within the scope of our business processes, working order in September and returning to university.

My Dear Kültür Family,

The pandemic is an instructive experience with all its challenges. We've all learned and keep learning a lot, especially to understand the value of what we have. Our commitment to our common values in these difficult days, especially Atatürk's Principles and Revolutions and the gains of the Republic, gives hope and strength for the future. On this occasion, I congratulate our August 30 Victory Day with gratitude and respect.

With my compliments,
Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver
Head of The Board of Trustees