CoHE President Erol Özvar Chairs Meeting of Regional University Rectors
in Van Province
April 22, 2022 / Van
CoHE President Prof. Erol Özvar held official talks in Van province. He was
accompanied by CoHE Executive Board Members, Prof. Ömer Açıkgöz and Prof.
Naci Gündoğan.
Firstly, Özvar visited Van Yüzüncü Yıl University in Van. He was welcomed
by Prof. Hamdullah Şevli, the Rector of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, and the
rectors of Hakkari University, Bitlis Eren University, Muş Alparslan
University, Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University, Iğdır University, Siirt
University, Bingöl University and Kafkas University.
CoHE President Özvar stated that they had been visiting universities at
regular intervals and said, "The most important reason for these visits is
to closely follow the current situation of our universities. We met with
the administration of the universities and the respectable senate and board
members, and talked with the students. We are consulting with them about
universities and the future of higher education in Turkey."
- "We will consider possible cooperation"
CoHE President stated that Van Yüzüncü Yıl University provided important
services to Turkey's higher education and said, "Hopefully, we will not
only come together with the stakeholders and management of Van Yüzüncü Yıl
University, but also exchange ideas with the rectors of Turkish
universities in the neighboring provinces on regional, economic and
development issues. We expect these universities to use their knowledge,
human capital and teaching staff to support the economic and industrial
development of their cities.
To this end, besides our rectors, we will also come together with the
commercial and industrial organizations of the region and consider possible
cooperation. We will continue to visit universities and these stakeholders.
We hold universities in high regard. They are the precious institutions of
our country. For this reason, it is our biggest goal as CoHE to improve the
quality standards in education, training and research at universities."
Then, Özvar chaired the Meeting of Regional University Rectors held in the
senate chamber of the university.
- “We will improve the status of post-doctoral researcher”
Erol Özvar attended the Extended Senate Meeting held in the conference hall
of the Faculty of Architecture and Engineering at Van Yüzüncü Yıl
University.
He stated that they were making efforts to integrate the youth, who are the
unique wealth of the country, into society.
He said that there were important developments in the academic sense at Van
Yüzüncü Yıl University and that he noticed young people were dynamic and
filled with excitement.
"I wholeheartedly wish that you make more publications, increase academic
productivity and raise the quality of education and training as much as
possible. What makes a university a real university is academic production
and scientific performance. This is what really matters. We are preparing
to make some changes in Law No. 2547 for students who have completed their
doctoral studies. We are working on some formulas that will provide
employment for young researchers for a while after their graduation, so
that they can make enough publication to enter a university. Therefore, I
can say that there will be an improvement in the status of post-doctoral
researcher."
CoHE President Prof. Erol Özvar paid a visit to the Turkish Van Cat
Research Center. The research center conserves Van cats, which are symbols
of the province and attract attention with their different eye colors and
white silky hair.
Özvar was informed of the studies carried out on conserving Van cats and
increasing their numbers at the Cat Villa.
- CoHE President Özvar met with young people
Later, Erol Özvar visited the Youth Office of Van YYU and joined in their
arts and sports activities.
Afterwards, Özvar met with the students at the social facilities of the
university for iftar dinner. He talked to the students. He said that
universities accepted students according to success order, adding that
there were 204 active universities in Turkey.
"When we take into account the young population, these 204 universities
hardly meet the need for higher education. We can even say that it is not
enough if we pay attention to the number of students who want to get into a
university. No matter what program or department we study in, becoming
individuals who are positive, supportive, productive and easygoing will
make life meaningful. In this regard, I think that universities make an
extraordinarily important contribution to our students in higher education
and equip them with the necessary skills."
Özvar said the following regarding the abolition of the minimum scores for
the Higher Education Institutions Examination (YKS):
"One of the most important reasons for the abolition of the minimum scores
for YKS will be the number of candidates that we predict will increase in
the coming years. 3 million 250 thousand students will take the exam this
year. Maybe 4 million young people will apply to enter the university exams
in 2024. On the other hand, we are fortunate that we have an
extraordinarily wide range of university opportunities. In other words, we
have a quota for around 1 million 10 thousand people. Although we have lots
of quotas, we see that a significant part of these quotas is not used. We
made some simulations when reconstructing this system in this way. We
calculated all the success rankings according to the current results in
case there were no minimum scores in 2021. This system pushes elimination
into the background. It highlights the success ranking among students. In
other words, what we are trying to do is, we are expanding the opportunity
for students to make choices, even though there are enough quotas. The
abolition of minimum scores does not mean that anyone could enter
university without taking the exam."