Sixth Panel of “Preservation of Academic Heritage in the Middle East Project” Takes Place in London
June 11, 2019 / London
The sixth international panel of the “Preservation of Academic Heritage in the Middle East Project”, which has been carried out by the Council of Higher Education under the auspices of the Presidency of Turkey, was held in London.
Prof. Zeliha Koçak Tufan, CoHE Executive Board Member and Project Coordinator, Prof. M. Verşan Kök, Rector of Middle East Technical University, Prof. Mehmed Özkan, Rector of Boğaziçi University, and Dr. Idil Osman from SOAS University of London participated as speakers.
The panel, hosted by Yunus Emre Institute, attracted great interest. British academics from different universities and non-governmental organizations attended the event.
Turkey has become an example in integration through education
It was noted that Turkey was not indifferent to the human tragedy in Syria from the beginning. It was also emphasized that Turkey had become an example for other countries with the precautions it took to prevent young refugees and children and teenagers under temporary protection from taking a break from their studies.
Prof. Zeliha Koçak Tufan, CoHE Executive Board Member and Project Coordinator, stated that academics, who have important studies in their fields but are refugees or people under temporary protection, continue their academic studies at Turkish universities. Tufan said that thousands of Syrian students receive education in different programs, ranging from theology to cinema and television, in Turkey and underlined that Turkey’s experiences have become an example in the integration of refugees in education with legislative arrangements and decisions taken about the topic.
We do not wish Syria to have lost generations
It was emphasized that refugee students and academics in Turkey would take part in the restructuring of the academic life in their country and that necessary precautions needed to be taken to prevent the appearance of lost generations in these regions. The project aims to produce the human resources needed for the reconstruction of the region in the future.
The ratio of the access of refugees to higher education in Turkey is five times greater than the world
It was stated that the ratio of the access of refugees to higher education in Turkey is five times greater than the ratio in the world (The ratio in the world is 1% and the ratio in Turkey is 5%). However, the awareness of the international community for the integration of refugees in education was stated to be lower than the expectations.
CoHE Delegation met with Turkish students
The CoHE Delegation also met with Ümit Yalçın, Ambassador of Turkey to London, and Turkish students receiving education in the United Kingdom.
Panels were held in various countries under the project
Five internationals panels were held in New York, Berlin, Brussels, Washington DC, and Pakistan within the project.
Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), Anadolu Agency (AA) and Turkish Airlines (THY) support the project. You can access the videos and images prepared by TRT and CoHE at
www.akademikmiras.org and support the project by clicking on the “Support Platform” section on the website.