ITU’s New Academic Year Opening Ceremony Highlighted “Integrated Ecosystem” and “Future”

Istanbul Technical University held the Opening Ceremony of the 2026–2027 Academic Year at the Ayazağa Campus. Following the speech delivered by ITU Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, Prof. Dr. Seeram Ramakrishna from Tsinghua University presented the inaugural lecture titled “Embracing the Future: Why, What and How?”

On September 25, 2026, Istanbul Technical University (ITU) welcomed the new academic year with an opening ceremony at the Süleyman Demirel Cultural Center on the Ayazağa Campus. The event drew strong interest from academics, students, their families, and administrative staff.

During the ceremony, the ITU TMSC Polyphonic Choir performed a concert accompanied by piano and dance.

In his opening address, ITU Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal presented ITU’s current position in education, research, innovation, and societal contribution, along with its development vision and future goals. He emphasized that the beginning of each academic year brings new hope, excitement, and responsibility.

Our Rector noted that the university, with its 253-year legacy, carries forward its accumulated strength in knowledge generation and qualified human capital with an approach centered on societal benefit and impact. He explained that this approach is being developed within an integrated structure that spans students, academics, the public sector, industry, and society—placing students at the center.

Sharing data that shows ITU is increasingly preferred by prospective students, Prof. Dr. Mandal stated that this rise reflects growing trust in ITU and the expanding responsibility the university carries. He underlined that ITU will continue advancing as a pioneering university that develops its own model of learning, research, and collaborative production, and transforms the knowledge it generates into impact.

Our Rector noted that significant steps have been taken to enable students to shape their learning journeys more flexibly and multidirectionally in the new term. He listed key components of this approach: elective courses across different faculties, new double-major and minor programs, student clubs, and project teams.

Prof. Dr. Mandal expressed his pleasure in working, learning, producing, and succeeding together with ITU members coming from 81 countries and 81 provinces of Türkiye. He wished the 2026–2027 Academic Year to be a healthy and peaceful one.

Prof. Dr. Seeram Ramakrishna—ranked among the world’s top 15 scientists in nanotechnology and known as the father of electrospinning technology—delivered the inaugural lecture of the new academic year at ITU. His lecture, “Embracing the Future: Why, What and How?”, explored the changing needs of the future.

Addressing an audience that included students beginning their studies at ITU this year, Prof. Dr. Ramakrishna discussed the rapid transformation in science and technology, sustainability, future skills, and how universities should prepare for these changes. He shared key insights on the future around the questions “Why, what, and how?”

Prof. Dr. Ramakrishna concluded his talk by introducing the audience to the “Kuafu mindset,” inspired by Kuafu—a giant figure in Chinese mythology—and explaining its significance in Chinese academia and the research community.

As a distinguished chair professor at Tsinghua University, Prof. Dr. Seeram Ramakrishna was presented with an authentic replica of the astrolabe exhibited at the ITU Museum by ITU Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal.

In the final part of the program, congratulatory certificates were presented by our Rector to the new students who joined the ITU family with the highest scores in the 2026 Higher Education Institutions Exam (YKS). The excitement of the new ITU students was met with applause throughout the hall.