- CoHE President Özvar Attends Pamukkale University's 30th Anniversary
Events
- Özvar: “The recent steps taken by Pamukkale University in terms of
both internationalization and regional development are gratifying”
September 28, 2022
CoHE President Erol Özvar visited Denizli to attend the anniversary event
entitled "30 Years 30 Themes" organized on the occasion of the 30th
anniversary of Pamukkale University (PAU) and to hold important talks.
In his opening speech, Özvar expressed his pleasure to be in Denizli, one
of the leading provinces of Türkiye in industry, agriculture and tourism
sectors in addition to its historical monuments and geographical beauty,
and PAU.
Özvar stated that he had visited universities as time permitted since the
day he took office, and that he tried to increase cooperation and
coordination with all stakeholders, especially students and faculty
members, for the needs and future of higher education institutions. “In
this way, it will be possible for our past and future decisions to have a
genuine academic response and to provide a positive externality to our
society. I believe that the decisions we will make through communication
and cooperation will have longer-term results,” he said.
Özvar noted that the recent steps taken by PAU in terms of both
internationalization and regional development were gratifying and said:
“Turkish universities, such as Pamukkale University, which was founded in
1992, have experienced a significant institutional expansion in the past 30
years. The universities, which have turned into full-fledged higher
education institutions with the establishment of institutional culture, are
gaining more importance day by day as the leading elements of Türkiye's
higher education.”
He stated that it was time for quality and efficiency in
education-training, research-development, scientific publication production
and university-business relations, and that PAU's cooperation with the
sectors and the patents it had developed were among the good examples of
university-industry cooperation, adding “The potential of international
students and the activities they carry out on behalf of governance at the
university are pleasing for institutional development and quality.”
He noted that higher education institutions and universities were one of
the main determining systemic factors in both domestic and international
social and economic processes and underlined that higher education
institutions had an extremely important place in international competition
as they took a leading role in the knowledge production of countries.
“The vision of higher education institutions should be to develop
critical strategies and take steps towards it”
Özvar pointed out the importance of higher education institutions to
initiate a rapid change and transformation process in order to adapt to the
changing world.
“Türkiye is not outside of this process. Our strategy and policies are
based on facilitating the integration of our universities. In a process
where education evolves into learning, management into governance, research
into innovation, and degrees into lifelong learning, the vision of higher
education institutions should be to develop critical strategies and take
steps towards this, by following these processes carefully. As a result of
this rapid change and popularization, higher education institutions should
take action to find new financial resources that will contribute to their
financial autonomy. Therefore, it is critical that local dynamics and
environmental factors are taken into account and that they become pioneers
in regional development,” he said.
“Universities have great responsibilities in the development of their
regions as well as in solving local and regional issues”
Erol Özvar stated that universities played a leading role not only in the
economic but also in the social and cultural development of the provinces
where they were located, and underlined that universities had great
responsibilities in the development of their regions as well as in the
solution of local and regional issues. “Our universities should implement
projects and initiatives for the development and socio-cultural development
of the provinces where they are located. In order to achieve this, our
higher education institutions should cooperate fully with local
institutions and organizations, as well as take initiatives in terms of
financial opportunities and human resources development in education,
training and research. We are more than happy to see that PAU has
established close relations with every part of the province and expect it
to generate more resources thanks to the cooperation with the sectors,”
Özvar said.
- 30 Years 30 Themes
CoHE President Özvar chaired the Pamukkale University senate meeting.
Özvar and PAU Rector Prof. Ahmet Kutluhan visited the Hierapolis Ancient
City, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and the Karahayıt
Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Center.
Özvar, who joined a hot-air balloon ride as part of PAU's "30 Years 30
Themes" activities, visited the ancient city of Laodikeia, whose excavation
and restoration works have been carried out by the PAU teams.
After visiting the Teknofest stands at the Hüseyin Yılmaz Congress Culture
Center, Özvar chatted with the students and took a souvenir photo. Özvar
visited the Martyrs Square in the university campus and watched the
performances of the university's parachute and motorcycle group. Özvar also
talked with the students at the culture and congress center of the
university.
Özvar came together with the provincial senior officials and presented the
awards to the winners of the Gastronomy Contest organized by the Tourism
Faculty at PAU.
Later, Özvar visited the Menderes Textile Factory to see the
university-industry cooperation on site and met with the industrialists of
the province at dinner.