Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “It is Necessary to Read the Change Correctly”
President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan underlines that they are especially careful about adaptation to the changing world on the path they set out as "Türkiye's first behavioral sciences, engineering and health-themed university" in an interview with the July issue of TIMREPORT Magazine. Prof. Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan, who says that they have built their existence on the four basic principles they have determined as "criticizability, libertarianism, pluralism and participation", states that they continue their way by remaining loyal to the vision of "making breakthroughs" they adopted during the establishment phase.
- How can you continue to a sentence which you have started as “Our difference is that”?
We started as Türkiye's first behavioral sciences, engineering and health-themed university. We are the first university to establish "Positive Psychology" not only in Türkiye but also in the world and to open it as a credit course. We organize congresses on positive psychology regularly. We are the only university that has presented N20 Neuroscience20 at the G20 Summits every year since 2015 regarding the "Brain Initiative" studies. By combining technology with health, we offer an education that emphasizes techno-entrepreneurship. Our students have the opportunity to receive education from a unique academic staff including a scientist with a schizophrenia drug patent, a member of the UN Drug Control Board, a member of the UN Environment Board and faculty members who have a say in many different fields in Political Psychology research. Moreover, our graduates have the opportunity to have strong employment opportunities thanks to the cooperation of NP Istanbul Hospital with the application and science partnership of Üsküdar Dental Hospital. At the same time, it has included "Neurogenetics, neurotechnology, neuromodulation therapies and deep learning" in its R&D focuses. The University has received awards for the international activities in this regard.
- How has Üsküdar University progressed on the way to branding since the day it was founded?
Our institution attaches great importance to the quality management. By developing a software called STIX, student counseling systems have been running digitally for 7 years. Furthermore, it records and documents all academic activities with the system called UKSPRO. On the other hand, our institution has created an activity tracking system with another software program called FTS. This has turned the educational, administrative and academic work of the instructors into a performance system. The results of Üsküdar University's research and education activities have been once again certified by the international rating agency Times Higher Education (THE). It was among the top 101 universities in the world university rankings. It is fortunate that our university has achieved remarkable administrative success with its efforts to establish peaceful and inclusive societies and create inclusive institutions for sustainable development. We achieved a significant success with our "Impact Ranking" score and ranked 2nd in Türkiye in the category of "16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions". Without departing from our basic principles, we will continue to progress on the path of branding by moving up our place in the rankings every year with the steps we have taken in line with the vision we have determined with all the staff of our university.
- What kind of perspective does Üsküdar University act with in terms of adaptation to new trends, and especially what do you do about digitalization?
In 2014, it organized the first Science and Ideas festival in cooperation with the Istanbul Directorate of National Education in Türkiye, and the subject of the first festival was Artificial Intelligence. The project idea of Teknofest applications, which are accepted in Türkiye, belongs to Üsküdar University. We are a university that has mastered modern human and human-oriented technology and develops high-quality education, training, research and application programs. In order to move forward more confidently into the future, we have implemented our vision (search) meetings, which we have made traditional. We determined the main theme of our second meeting in 2020, the fourth of which we left behind, as "Digitalization Oriented". By realizing a first among higher education institutions, we discussed every aspect of the digital transformation of universities on a world scale and their position in this field together with our Senate members and executive managers.
There is a rapid change in the world. If we read this change correctly and take the right position, it will take us to the targeted places. If we take the wrong position, we lose. We need to gain a serious competitive advantage here. Right now, digital transformation is inevitable. Thus, we have to talk about how we can make it suitable to us. We planned this in our vision meeting, and we talked about how to create our own internal model. ‘What suits us the best in doing this, how can we connect?' We discussed this and created our strategy by determining our importance, priority and goal. We have determined our digital roadmap accordingly. And today, we are trying to represent our country in the best way with Üsküdar University and all our science and application partners in digitalization and catching up with trends.
On the other hand, our university, which has revolutionized distance education by rapidly realizing digitalization in a period of change and transformation in all areas of life on a global scale, synthesizes both physical and digital education in the most effective way in its campuses in Üsküdar, the heart of Istanbul, and opens the doors of a new understanding in higher education.
With the "Phy-gitalization Manifesto" that we published as Üsküdar University administration, academic and administrative staff, we emphasized our belief that "There will be distance education, however, education will not be remote" by synthesizing both physical and digital education in the most effective way.
- How do you act as Üsküdar University in terms of sustainability management practices, which are very popular especially in the recent period?
The Sustainable Development Goals, which consist of 17 goals determined by the United Nations, each of which is interconnected and which present the necessary steps for all people to live in peace and prosperity in the form of sub-goals, act in a spirit of partnership and pragmatism on a global scale to sustainably improve life for future generations. The Times Higher Education, which ranks the world universities with its activities in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, has realized the first ranking in this field with the "Times Impact Ranking". With this method, the institution aims to encourage universities to contribute to humanity for a better and sustainable life. In this ranking, we ranked 29th among the universities in Türkiye. In 2022, we were entitled to receive all the labels of Gender Equality, Reduced Inequalities, Climate Action, Peace, Justice and Partnerships for Strong Institutions and Goals from the United Nations sustainable development goal in 17 categories, and we were listed 29th among the universities in Türkiye in the "Overall Ranking" category
In line with this sensitivity;
- Our research focused on "Peace and Justice" within the scope of Elsevier - Scopus, a bibliometric database that accepts high-profile publications,
- Local, regional, national and international shareholder participation in university administrative processes and the administrative strategies of our university based on universal law and scientific values and related application examples,
- As declared in the fundamental values, religion, language, race, nationality, gender, color, differences opinion are not discriminated regarding any differences, and its structure that adopts criticizability, libertarianism, pluralism and participation, which is included as 4 bases in its logo, protects the basic values of the society, prioritizes social benefit and is sensitive to social problems, where scientific and critical thinking are at the forefront, where ethical values are in the first place, has the principles of equality, reliability and rationality, and the regulations and directives related to this, with the management policies of the institution,
- Collaborations with public and private institutions and transparent information, strategy and communication management in all processes of these collaborations,
- The academic freedom that it provides to its faculty members, researchers and students, the values that ensure and continuously improve the job satisfaction of the academic and administrative staff expressed in the certificate of formation, objective, institution and academy priority measurement-evaluation and rewarding, incentive processes,
- Its stance against discrimination and its contribution to this struggle as a policy-maker in the work carried out in public institutions nationally and in the relevant commissions of the UN internationally,
- With student clubs that support participatory and polyphonic activities, research and application centers and working groups that form the academic framework of all these activities,
- Focused on institutional and financial transparency as included in the reports of foundation higher education institutions, R&D Strengthening its strong institutional structure with priority and high student scholarship rates with the sense of belonging of students and instructors and transferring this culture to students with courses on justice, law and equality in its curriculum,
- Üsküdar University, which provides education to students and society, organizes congresses and contributes to the environmental contract declaration for a reference Earth such as Al-Mizan with the aim of producing solutions to priority world problems such as climate change, water, migration and refugees to lawmakers and policy makers, continues its evidence-oriented studies with its sensitivity to practice since its establishment in 2011 with the label of peace, justice and strong institutions in our country and in the world.
- How would you explain the reasons why there is no Turkish university that has become a brand in the academic world?
It is necessary to consider that we cannot be a brand due to the fact that we do not comply with the rule that you cannot be universal without being local. It is important that it does not manage to stand out and become a reference point in a thematic area. University systems are a habitat, and hard-working academics raise it up, and smart but lazy employees bring it down.
When you examine the universities that have become brands in the academic world, you will see that many of them have a history of more than 250-300 years. In order for a Turkish university to become a brand, it must have some other qualities in addition to academic excellence. For example, it should provide education and training in Türkiye at European Union and world standards. It should be a pioneering, exemplary and universal university that provides added value and participation in urban and regional development. Moreover, it should contribute to the socio-economic and cultural structure of our country and provide education and research opportunities at the international level, especially in the fields of science, health, tourism, history and cultural resources management. Considering the natural, cultural, economic and social needs of our country and its essential position, it must have a good command of modern technology and have high quality education, training, research and application programs. It should develop high-quality academic programs and carry out scientific activities that will produce solutions to the problems of humanity and especially our region by using the resources of our country in the most efficient way. Our universities, which are contemporary, participatory, researching and producing science on a national and international scale, can only then progress towards becoming a brand in the academic world.
- What do you think are the steps we need to take in branding?
It is very important to take the 21st century skills as a guide and to work in the international field, to give importance to foreign exchange services, to increase visibility in fairs and events, and to enter the Turquality system. In order for organizations to become a global player in international markets, they need to examine successful brand examples in the world, internalize the experiences gained from there and adapt them to their own products and services. In addition, they need to innovate in their fields and make a difference. Of course, the most important of all is that the service or product offered can reach world quality standards. After this point, promotion, advertising, marketing and communication activities required for branding can come into play.
To become a brand, it is essential to institutionalize and develop. Moreover, you should measure the consumer/user experience you offer and improve your products and services with the feedback you receive. At this point, I recommend benefiting from Turquality, which is the first and only government-supported branding program under the Ministry of Commerce. Turquality supports companies with product and service groups with branding potential. Corporations can receive managerial accumulation support from this formation to cover all processes from production to marketing, from sales to after-sales services. Therefore, you can get support from this formation for the branding roadmap.
- How would you explain the importance of being included in the Turquality Support Program of the Turkish Exporters Assembly?
As Üsküdar University, we care about quality in education and we continue to work with the goal of making our country an education base in the international arena. In this context, we have been included in TIM's Turquality Support Program in order to contribute to our international branding goal. We held the 4th of our traditional vision meetings with the main theme of "International Brand Awareness Focus".
We organized a meeting by Deloitte Türkiye within the scope of Turquality Brand Support Program. We have successfully completed the audit process within the scope of our application for the international branding program Turquality supported by the Ministry of Trade. After two days of auditing, the decision regarding Turquality support was reported to our university administration. Thus, Üsküdar University became one of the educational institutions included in the Turquality support program, the world's first and only government-supported branding program carried out by the Ministry of Trade, which announces Turkish quality to many countries.
Üsküdar University is in cooperation with 142 world universities and hosts more than 4000 international students from 102 countries within the scope of Turquality, the branding program that enables the Turkish brand to be positioned in different countries of the world in the field of education.
- What are the future projects of Üsküdar University, are there any projects you plan to present as "new"?
We have achieved many firsts since our establishment. We established the Türkiyes first Institute for Sufi Studies. Our students thrive under the same roof with a science nest that focuses on human values and raising qualified people.
In addition to Türkiye’s first Forensic Sciences Undergraduate Program, we offer departments and programs for the professions of the future where they can receive multidisciplinary education. We will continue to make breakthroughs with this vision in the future. While increasing our position in the world ranking day by day, we will continue to develop our students with the opportunities we will offer, to always support our graduates as they enter the business life and to encourage them to create synergy with their universities.
As Üsküdar University, we carry out sustainable projects in different fields with all our academic units. To give a few examples, TREGENMER, which works in the field of gene technology, is the academic unit that produces the highest rate of projects to TÜBİTAK in the field of CRISPR technology in Türkiye. One of the 13 projects announced to go to space within the scope of the National Space Program was the 'Message (Microgravity Associated Genetics) Science Mission' developed by TRGENMER. CRISPR gene engineering methods will be used to detect genes whose function has not yet been discovered by the gravity-free environment and to reveal which immune cells will be directly affected by gravity in space missions. Recently, we hosted Türkiye’s first space travelers at our university and met in education. That excites us.
In the Communication Days, which are traditionally organized by our Faculty of Communication and organized for the 10th time this year, we discuss the problems of that period and publish international papers. Our Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences regularly organizes social surveys across Türkiye, providing important sources of information to the academic world with its results, and more importantly, we base our studies and theses on these field researches. It is possible to increase our samples.
Another traditional project that I attach importance to is the Türkiye’s first Science and Idea Festival. We have held this festival, which we continue together with the Directorate of National Education, for 8 consecutive years. This year, due to the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, we decided to pause and postponed all projects to next year for evaluation. The theme of this project competition, which we held for the first time in 2014, was based on projects that would "improve life with artificial intelligence". In other words, we started this journey 9 years ago, and now we all see where artificial intelligence has come. The most distinguishing aspect of a university is its encouragement, its environment to stimulate curiosity and its visionary approach. A university, then, takes steps towards the development of science.
- If there are other things you want to add, we can listen them, as well.
The skills of the 21st Century are known as innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability. What we emphasize is that not only academic and technical but also social and emotional skills should be transferred to the students. Therefore, we have been presenting the Human Values Awards every year since 2016. We also give the Positive Psychology course, which is also defined as the Science of Kindness, to all students as a rectorate course. Here, I would like to talk about the scholarship opportunities we offer to our students within the scope of Corporate Social Responsibility. Founding foundation of Üsküdar University TARHAN - İDER Foundation supports the health expenses of people with limited opportunities and contributes to the mental and physical health of those in need while providing student scholarships at significant rates. As of 2016, we have over 30 thousand graduates, more than 24 thousand students, and we provide full scholarships to a significant part of our students together with the Tarhan-İDER Foundation. A significant number of them are supported by various scholarships at different rates. As Üsküdar University, we offer scholarships and educational support to international students from many countries, including European countries.
TIMREPORT JOURNAL
ISSUE 2021/ JULY 2023