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Our Head of the Board of Trustees Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver's Message Regarding the IKU Agenda

My Dear Kültür Family,

We left two weeks behind in the process of adapting to the new normal. While focusing on the effects and management of the crisis in our first posts, it is now promising to be able to talk about healing and normalization.

As the university, we took the first step for the new normal order on June 2, 2020. Our gradual working system, which we transitioned with a team of 24 people consisting of executives and administrative staff, was designed as a rehearsal of our new normal working order. With the principle of "health and safety first", we left the first threshold behind without any problems. On this occasion, I would like to thank our workmates who contributed to the first working experience of the new normal, from planning to implementation.

The next 15 days process is a time frame that includes very important steps for re-establishing our working order in our campuses and continuing our business continuity. Beginning from the first day of the week;  we will be on duty at our Ataköy Campus with a team of 60, together with our faculty deans, our principals of vocational schools and our institute. In this process, where the service and food service for our staff will be provided for the first time after the pandemic; we kindly request from you to comply with the principles that are determined by our university in relation to labor, food and beverage services, staff and visitor rules; and thank you very much for your sensitivity.

My Dear Kültür Family,

We completed our final period with more than three thousand exam applications on June 11. I thank all of our friends who contributed. At this stage, the next threshold is the summer school. Our measurement and evaluation, summer teaching experiences are also very serious experiences for our 2021 academic year studies. An important decision for the future of higher education was also on the agenda recently. YÖK shared with the public that the share of distance education in education can be increased up to 40 percent. When we look at the big picture shaped by the pandemic, it is clear that the technology, education methods and practices, the most important of our university, will not be the same as 3 months ago. In the fall semester of 2021, when radical changes will mark; the opinions, evaluations and expectations of our students regarding the new norm will be very determining. Therefore, we need more communication than ever before to strengthen the dialogue between management and student. Within this framework, as of yesterday, a new initiative has started to expand the rings in academia-student cooperation and communication. Our faculty deans and directors of vocational schools will meet our students for one hour through our corporate Instagram account until the end of June. The first guest of the live broadcast meetings was Çimen Atak, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Interviews will continue with our Faculty of Law, Vocational School of Justice, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences and Faculty of Architecture. Live broadcasts via the official Instagram account of our university are also a valuable resource for our student satisfaction and fall term action plans. I believe that a single question or comment from our students will be inspiring for the perspective of all of us. As a culture family, I ask my colleagues at all levels to follow live broadcast meetings closely.

My Dear Kültür Family,

As a country and the world, we are going through a crisis reflected in all areas of life. The process and its results are not easy for anyone. However, although the calendars indicate normalization, the situation we are in at this stage is a period of side effects. So we will continue to be prepared for any condition. Agility and flexibility to short and medium-term decisions are more important than ever, according to sudden changes in the agenda. The ultimate goal of all of us within the new normal; being spiritually, mentally, physically healthy, economically and socially safe. At this point, we should evaluate the actions and discourses in the process objectively within the conditions of the day and be able to interpret them without personalization. Most importantly, we should be able to embrace being constructive and open in our communication language as a shared responsibility.

At the end of the day, the pandemic was an experience that enlarged and matured all of us. As writer and designer Leslie Dwight has stated in a post, 2020 is a year that prompted us loudly for change and announced the existence of change.

Hope to see you on beautiful and healthy days, leaving this challenging process as soon as possible, teaching you by experiencing that life is a truly experience…

Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver
Chairman of the board of Trustees of IKU