CoHE President Özvar Announces New Regulations for Research
Universities
December 13, 2021 / Ankara
The names of the research and candidate research universities determined
for the "Research-Oriented Mission Differentiation Program
" which has been carried out by CoHE under the "Mission Differentiation and
Specialization in Higher Education Program" that brings diversity to higher
education was announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the 2017-2018
Academic Year Opening Ceremony held at the Presidential Complex on
September 26, 2017.
The program was initiated with the aim of producing knowledge within the
framework of the priority objectives and fields of our country, encouraging
interdisciplinary studies and collaborations, increasing the number of
researchers with doctoral degrees, strengthening international cooperation
and making Turkish universities more visible in the international arena. As
a result of the evaluations, 11 research universities and five candidate
research universities were accepted to the program.
The performances of the universities in the program were evaluated
according to the 32 indicators listed under the titles of "Research Capacity", "Research Quality"
and "Interaction and Cooperation" by using the Research
Universities Performance Monitoring Index, and accordingly, the ranking
results of the universities were shared with the public in a transparent
manner.
-Research universities were matched with the priority fields listed in
the 11th Development Plan
CoHE matched up the fields with research universities according to the
measure numbered 350.1 set out in the 11th Development Goal of Turkey,
which reads
“Research universities will be paired up with priority sectors by
taking into account their competencies, business models based on
projects created to achieve the determined goals will be put into
practice and these collaborations will be supported."
and shared the results with the public at the meeting held at Istanbul
Technical University on June 7, 2021.
CoHE matched up all priority sectors and sub-fields listed in the 11th
Development with one or more universities by taking into account the
competencies of universities according to fields and the opinions of
universities. These pairs were shared with the Strategy and Budget Office
of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey and all relevant institutions
and organizations for decision-making processes to be carried out
especially in investment programs. The research and candidate research
universities will be encouraged to establish academic units such as
graduate schools, centers, joint research centers, departments and programs
related to the matched fields of specialization and to carry out
collaborative studies in the same priority sectors and fields.
In this scope, CoHE held the “Research Universities Meeting” at Bilkent Hotel in
Ankara.
The meeting was held with the participation of Mustafa Varank, Minister of
Science and Technology, and Erol Özvar, President of the Council of Higher
Education. The directors of the relevant institutions, CoHE members, the
rectors of research universities and the relevant vice rectors attended the
meeting.
Naci Gündoğan, Executive Board Member of CoHE, made a presentation about
the program.
After the presentation, CoHE President Erol Özvar made an opening speech.
He said that CoHE had been carrying out the “Mission Differentiation and
Specialization Project” in two groups, namely “Research Universities” and
“Universities Aimed at Regional Development”. President Özvar stated that
higher education institutions should be more transparent, accountable and
take more responsibilities at all levels and that the performances of the
universities in the program were monitored annually according to the
criteria determined by the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee established
within CoHE.
Özvar said that CoHE made some significant changes in the Research-Oriented
Mission Differentiation Project that year and listed them as follows:
- From now on, 20 state universities and three foundation universities will be included in the
Research-Oriented Mission Differentiation Program.
- The title of "Candidate Research University" will be
abolished and all universities under the program will be named as "Research University".
- Research universities will be divided intothree performance groupsaccording to their performances: A1, A2 and A3.
- The performances of research universities will be regularly monitored by
the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee established within
CoHE.
- All supports planned to be provided to research
universities will be
differentiated according to the performance group they are in
.
At the end of his speech, Özvar congratulated all universities that were
awarded the title of “research university” and said, "I wish the result
will be beneficial for Turkish universities, our higher education system
and our country."
Click here to read the full transcript of the speech made by CoHE President
Erol Özvar. (In Turkish)
Following the opening speeches, the program certificates were presented to
the rectors of the research universities by Minister Varank and CoHE
President Özvar.
In the afternoon, CoHE President Özvar headed a meeting in which the
university rectors were also present to make an overall evaluation of the
program.