Istanbul Technical University is Fully Accredited for 5 Years by Turkish Higher Education Quality Council

Istanbul Technical University (ITU) is fully accredited for 5 years within the framework of the “Institutional Accreditation Program” implemented for the first time in Turkey by the Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (THEQC).

At the ceremony held for the presenting of the accreditation certificate, ITU Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu said that he wholeheartedly believes that the quality level of universities all around our country will increase day by day with this accreditation given by the Higher Education Quality Council, which aims to maximize our education quality and is based on the “plan-do-check-act” cycle in order to measure the maturity level of our universities.

Speaking at the opening of the “ITU Institutional Accreditation Certificate Presenting Ceremony” held at ITU Ayazağa Campus Süleyman Demirel Cultural Center, ITU Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu stated that the Higher Education Quality Council, which evaluated ITU according to scientific criteria in terms of its international image, visibility and impact, has carried out very valuable work despite the short time since it started its activities, and that it continues its studies without compromising quality.

“We are one of the first institutions that received higher education accreditation”

Prof. Dr. Koyuncu continued as follows: “For the accreditations given since 2020, our universities have been examined under five headings including education-teaching, R&D, social contribution, administrative service and quality assurance system. We, as Istanbul Technical University, are entitled to receive institutional accreditation given by the Higher Education Quality Council as a result of the qualitative and quantitative evaluation performed by an independent team. We are very happy and proud... We are especially proud to be one of the first institutions that received the first domestic higher education accreditation of our country. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Higher Education Quality Council’s President, valuable members, Advisory Board and employees. And of course I express my thanks both for myself and on behalf of all my colleagues.”

“We aim to increase the brand value of our country in technical education”

Koyuncu expressed that as Istanbul Technical University, enhancing our country’s vision and increasing its brand value especially in R&D and technical education is always one of their primary goals, and continued as follows: “In all the pioneering work we carry out, we aimed to build the future with the strength we draw from our past experience and pave the way for the researchers, entrepreneurs, industrialists and business peopleof the future. It has also been our greatest desire to maintain and nurture our goal by opening new paths for ourselves and developing new perspectives. We, as the Technical University, attach importance to keeping strong ties with not only our students and academics, but our graduates as well. Because with every person that becomes a part of the ITU Family, we try to do good work together not only during their education period, but even after they graduate. As an indication of our strong family ties, the student with the highest YKS numerical score this year preferred ITU. Again, the student with the third highest YKS numerical score also joined the ITU Family. This year, a total of 48 students who were in the top thousand in YKS also preferred ITU. I believe that, with their joining, our family will get stronger and this valuable educational institution of our country will take firm steps towards becoming the world’s best.”

“Various projects conducted simultaneously”

Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu emphasized that ITU conducts various projects simultaneously and mentioned important projects completed last year: “We follow digitalization and digital technology closely. In this regard, our work, which we call Digital ITU, is continuing without cutting speed. We are making our school fully compatible with digital technology. The MasterBee program, whose preparations we completed, provides the opportunity for our successful students to carry out their undergraduate and graduate programs together. Our newly established Office of the Dean of Research started its studies at a pace worthy of ITU’s mission of being a research university approaching 250 years. Again, thanks to the importance we give to and our focus on international relations, we both increase the brand value of our school all over the world and rank higher every year in international academic rankings.”

 “We are responsible to young people”

THEQC President Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Elmas expressed that recently a rapid change is taking place in the world in the field of higher education and steps are being taken to transform the current higher education system. Elmas drew attention to the fact that with the pandemic, the need for changing qualifications changed the expectations in higher education as well, and said, “Our students who will choose universities should primarily look for which additional qualifications the university gives to the student. During distance education done in this period, some skills and qualifications could not be given adequately. When universities open again, these qualifications should be provided to both continuing and graduate students through additional courses, seminars and practices. This is our responsibility to young people.” Elmas emphasized that as THEQC, they follow all developments rigorously and reflect them to their own processes, and said, “Our Council’s evaluations focus on our universities’ efforts on the systems that will enable them to understand this rapid change, adapt and manage the change by evaluating its results.”

“Our goal is for graduates to have the expected qualifications and adapt to the world”

President Elmas stated that universities determine their mission and goals by taking into account the developments in the world and the goals of the country, and told that universities implement their goals and look at the results with their own mechanisms, thus establishing an internal quality assurance system. Elmas said, “Our universities, which do this, can act swiftly in an environment of constant change and carry out their processes successfully. The reports for the last 6 years and annual changes of performance indicators of our universities according to these targets can be found on our website.”

Noting that they started the accreditation process for universities that will have reached a certain level of maturity after the external evaluation and monitoring processes carried out by THEQC two years later, Elmas said that the main goal of the Council in this evaluation is that university graduates have the expected qualifications, find a job easily and adapt to the world easily.

“We aim to increase the worldwide visibility of our universities”

Elmas stated that with the Institutional Accreditation Program, they aim to increase the contribution of universities in Turkey to national goals and increase their visibility in the world, and said, “Among nearly 60 universities that applied in 2020, 11 universities were included in the program. Today, we are delivering the certificate of Istanbul Technical University with the fourth ceremony held in this context. With the decision taken at our Council Meeting held on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, ITU gained the right to full accreditation for a period of 5 years. Full accreditation ensures that ITU graduates have the expected qualifications, find employment easily, contribute to R&D and society, and increase their visibility in the world as well as in our country. After this stage, the university will progress rapidly towards excellence by constantly improving. I congratulate Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu, who led this process, and his team, the quality board, deans, department heads, academic and administrative staff of the university and our students.”

After ITU Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Bülent İnanç's presentation on the process of obtaining institutional full accreditation, Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu presented certificates of appreciation to the academic and administrative staff who contributed to the accreditation process. The program ended with THEQC President Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Elmas presenting the Full Accreditation Certificate to Rector Koyuncu.