CoHE President Özvar Visits Edirne for Thrace Universities Union
Meeting
February 23, 2024 / Edirne
Erol Özvar visited Edirne to attend the 22nd Supreme Board Meeting of the
Thracian Universities Union (TUB) and to hold official talks. He was
accompanied by CoHE Executive Board Member Prof. Naci Gündoğan.
Özvar first visited Trakya University and received information from Rector
Prof. Erhan Tabakoğlu about the academic activities carried out at the
university. Then he visited the Health Museum at the Sultan Bayezid II
Complex and visited the Karaağaç Campus.
After paying a courtesy visit to Edirne Governor Yunus Sezer, Özvar chaired
the senate meeting at Trakya University.
He attended the 22nd Supreme Board Meeting of TUB held at the university.
In his speech, he stated that Turkish universities had become more
wellknown and visible in both national and international circles in recent
years.
He stated that they wished Turkish universities to become even more
recognized in a wider region, especially in the neighboring areas, and
said, "We want more students, especially from the Balkans, to study in
Türkiye. We have implemented the necessary measures."
"We will continue to fulfill all our duties in terms of science
diplomacy"
"Turkish universities are among the leading institutions that try to
fulfill science diplomacy in the best way in the Republic of Türkiye. The
Council of Higher Education supports the increasing influence of science
diplomacy in Turkish diplomacy in recent years. We will continue to fulfill
all our duties in terms of science diplomacy in the future."
Özvar stated that CoHE cared about universities being in a friendly
competition among themselves.
"We find it extremely important that our universities cooperate with each
other in addition to the friendly competition among themselves. The fact
that competition goes hand in hand with cooperation makes a significant
contribution to the productivity of the academic activities of our
universities. In this respect, working together is as important as
competition. We support the unions formed by our universities in this way."
Özvar said that one of the main issues prioritized by the Council was
internationalization, noting that TUB contributed significantly to this
goal.
"TUB is one of the unions that serves the most to interact with other
universities and academic circles outside the borders of our country. In
particular, its relations with universities in the Balkans are at a
remarkable level. Our universities have excellent relations with the
universities of neighboring countries in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, North
Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. We
would like our member universities to establish closer cooperation
especially with universities in this region. We encourage them to cooperate
with the leading universities in this region, especially in the fields of
health, informatics and engineering. We will continue to provide all kinds
of administrative and institutional support for closer contacts and joint
studies to increase relations with the Balkan universities in these three
fields."