Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Üsküdar Üniversitesi, emphasizes in his interview for the July issue of TİMREPORT Magazine that they are particularly meticulous about adapting to the changing world, a path they embarked on as "Turkey's first university with a focus on behavioral sciences, engineering, and health." Stating that they built their existence on four fundamental principles they defined as "criticizability, libertarianism, pluralism, and participation," Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Üsküdar Üniversitesi, expresses that they continue their journey by adhering to the vision of "achieving firsts" adopted during their establishment.
- How would you complete a sentence that begins with "Our difference is..."?
We started our journey as Turkey's first university focused on behavioral sciences, engineering, and health. We are the first university not only in Turkey but also in the world to establish "Positive Psychology" as a foundation and offer it as a credited course. We regularly organize its congresses. We are the only university that has been presenting as N20 Neuroscience20 at G20 Summits every year since 2015, related to "Brain Initiative" studies. We offer an education that combines technology with health, prioritizing techno-entrepreneurship. Our students have the opportunity to receive education from a unique academic staff that includes a scientist with a schizophrenia drug patent, a member of the UN International Narcotics Control Board, a member of the UN Environment Board, and faculty members who are experts in many different fields in Political Psychology research. Furthermore, our graduates have the opportunity to access strong employment opportunities through the Üsküdar Üniversitesi Dental Hospital collaboration and the NPİSTANBUL Hastanesi application and scientific partnership. At the same time, we have included "Neurogenetics, neurotechnology, neuromodulation therapies, and deep learning" in our R&D focus. We have received awards for our international activities in this regard.
- What progress has Üsküdar Üniversitesi made on its branding journey since its establishment?
Our institution attaches great importance to quality management. By developing a software called STIX, student counseling systems have been run digitally for 7 years. In addition, with the system named UKSPRO, all academic activities are recorded and documented. On the other hand, it has created an activity tracking system with another software program called FTS. It has transformed the work of faculty members in education, administrative, and academic fields into a performance system. The results of Üsküdar Üniversitesi's research and education activities have once again been registered by the international rating agency Times Higher Education (THE). It ranked among the top 101 universities in the world university rankings. We are proud that our university has achieved remarkable managerial success with its efforts to establish peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development and to create inclusive institutions. We also achieved significant success with our "Impact Ranking" score, ranking 2nd in Turkey in the '16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions' category. Without deviating from our stated fundamental principles, and with the steps we take in line with the vision we have determined with all staff of our university, we will continue to advance on the path of branding by moving up in the rankings each year.
- What is Üsküdar Üniversitesi's approach to adapting to new trends, and what are you doing particularly regarding digitalization?
In Turkey, for the first time in 2014, we held a Science and Idea festival with the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education, the first topic of which was Artificial Intelligence. The project idea for the widely accepted Teknofest applications in Turkey belongs to Üsküdar Üniversitesi. We are a university that develops high-quality education, teaching, research, and application programs, dominating contemporary human-centric and human-oriented technology. To move towards the future with more confident steps, we have routinely implemented our traditional vision (search) meetings. The main theme of our second meeting in 2020, which was our fourth meeting in total, was determined as "Digitalization-Oriented". Achieving a first among higher education institutions, we thoroughly discussed the digital transformation of universities on a global scale and their position in this field with our Senate members and senior executives.
There is rapid change in the world. If we interpret this change correctly and position ourselves correctly, it will lead us to our desired goals. If we position ourselves incorrectly, we will lose. We need to gain a significant competitive advantage here. Digital transformation is currently inevitable. Therefore, we should discuss how we can adapt it to our needs. We planned this in our vision meeting, and we talked about how to create our internal model. While doing this, we discussed 'What is most suitable for us, how can we connect?' We debated this and formed our strategy by determining our importance, priority, and goal. We determined our digital roadmap accordingly. And today, Üsküdar Üniversitesi, along with all our scientific and application partners, is striving to represent our country in the best possible way regarding digitalization and catching up with trends.
On the other hand, in an era where change and transformation are experienced in all areas of life globally, our university, which rapidly achieved digitalization and pioneered distance education, synthesizes both physical and digital education most effectively in its campuses in Üsküdar, the heart of Istanbul, opening the doors to a brand new understanding in higher education.
As the management, academic, and administrative staff of Üsküdar Üniversitesi, we emphasized our belief that "there will be distance learning, but education will not be remote" by effectively synthesizing both physical and digital education with our published "Phi-gitalization Manifesto".
- How does Üsküdar Üniversitesi operate regarding sustainability management practices, which have been very popular recently?
The Sustainable Development Goals, consisting of 17 interconnected goals determined by the United Nations and presenting the necessary steps for all people to live in peace and prosperity in the form of sub-targets, act with a spirit of global partnership and pragmatism to improve life sustainably for future generations. The Times Higher Education institution, which ranks world universities according to their activities in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, carried out the first ranking in this field with its "Times Impact Ranking." The institution aims to encourage universities to contribute to humanity, a better and more sustainable life, with this method. We ranked 29th among universities in Turkey in this ranking. In 2022, from the United Nations' 17 categories of sustainable development goals, we were entitled to receive all labels with the tags Gender Equality, Reduced Inequalities, Climate Action, Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, and Partnerships for the Goals, and we were listed in the "Overall Ranking" category as 29th among universities in Turkey.
With this sensitivity;
- Our "Peace and Justice" focused research, included in the bibliometric database Elsevier - Scopus, which accepts high-profile publications,
- Local, regional, national, and international stakeholder participation in university management processes, and our university's management strategies adhering to universal law and scientific values, along with examples of their implementation,
- As declared in its core values, it adopts criticizability, libertarianism, pluralism, and participation—which are represented as 4 pillars in its logo—without discrimination based on religion, language, race, nationality, gender, color, or differences in thought. It preserves the fundamental values of society, prioritizes social benefit, is sensitive to social problems, emphasizes scientific inquiry and critical thinking, places ethical values first, and possesses a structure based on the principles of equality, reliability, and rationality, along with its related regulations and directives, and corporate management policies,
- With collaborations with public and private institutions and transparent information strategies and communication management in all processes of these collaborations,
- The academic freedom it provides to faculty members, researchers, and students, the values that ensure and continuously develop the job satisfaction of academic and administrative staff as expressed in its founding document, objective, institution and academy-priority measurement-evaluation, and reward and incentive processes,
- Its stance against discrimination and its contribution as a direct policy maker in studies carried out by public institutions nationally and relevant UN commissions internationally in this fight,
- With participatory and multi-vocal student clubs, research and application centers, and working groups forming the academic framework of all these activities,
- As stated in the reports of foundation higher education institutions, with a focus on institutional and financial transparency, R&D priority, and high student scholarship rates, strengthening its strong corporate structure with the sense of belonging of students and faculty members, and transferring this culture to students through courses on justice, law, and equality in its curriculum,
- Üsküdar Üniversitesi, which provides training to students and society, organizes congresses, and contributes with an environmental agreement declaration for a reference world like Al-Mizan, with the aim of producing solutions to priority global problems such as climate change, water, migration and refugees for lawmakers and policy makers, continues its evidence-based work, demonstrating its sensitivity to applying the peace, justice, and strong institutions label from its establishment in 2011 in our country and the world.
- How do you explain the reasons for the absence of a Turkish university that has become a brand in the academic world?
We should consider that we have not become a brand because we have not complied with the rule that one cannot be universal without being local. It is important that we have not succeeded in standing out in a thematic area and becoming a reference point. University systems are a habitat; hardworking academics elevate this habitat, while intelligent but lazy workers pull it down.
When examining universities that have become brands in the academic world, you will see that many of them have a history of over 250-300 years. For a Turkish university to become a brand, it must possess certain other qualities in addition to academic excellence. For example; in Turkey, it must provide education and training at European Union and world standards. It must be a pioneering, exemplary, universal university that provides added value and participation in urban and regional development. Furthermore, it must contribute to the socio-economic and cultural structure of our country, especially offering international-level education and research opportunities in the fields of science, health, tourism, history, and cultural resource management. Taking into account our country's natural, cultural, economic, and social needs and its important position; it must possess high-quality education, teaching, research, and application programs that master contemporary technology. It must develop superior academic programs and engage in scientific activities that solve the problems of humanity, especially our region, by utilizing our country's resources most efficiently. Only then can our contemporary, participatory, researching, and science-producing universities progress towards becoming a brand in the academic world on a national and international scale.
- What steps do you think we need to take for branding?
International studies guided by 21st-century skills, prioritizing services that bring foreign currency, increasing visibility at fairs and events, and entering the Turquality system are very important. For institutions to become global players in international markets, they need to examine successful brand examples worldwide, internalize the experience gained from them, and adapt it to their own products and services. On top of this, they need to innovate in their fields and create differentiation. Of course, most importantly, the service or product offered must meet global quality standards. After this point, the necessary promotional, advertising, marketing, and communication activities for branding can come into play.
Institutionalization and development are essential for becoming a brand. In addition, you should measure the consumer/user experience you offer and develop your products and services with the feedback you receive. At this point, I recommend utilizing Turquality, the first and only state-supported branding program affiliated with the Ministry of Trade. Turquality supports companies with product and service groups that have branding potential. Institutions can receive managerial knowledge support from this initiative, covering all their processes from production to marketing, sales to after-sales services. Therefore, you can get support from this initiative for your branding roadmap.
- How would you explain the importance of being included in the Turkish Exporters Assembly's Turquality Support Program?
As Üsküdar Üniversitesi, we prioritize quality in education and continue our efforts with the goal of making our country an educational base in the international arena. Within this scope, we have joined TİM's Turquality Support Program to contribute to our international branding goal. We also held the 4th of our traditional vision meetings, which I mentioned, with the main theme of "International Brand Awareness Focused."
Within the scope of the Turquality Brand Support Program activities, we organized a meeting by Deloitte Turkey. We successfully completed the audit process within the scope of our Turquality application, a state-supported international branding program by the Ministry of Trade. Following the two-day audit, the decision regarding Turquality support was communicated to our university administration. Thus, Üsküdar Üniversitesi became one of the educational institutions included in the Turquality support program, which is the world's first and only state-supported branding program, carried out by the Ministry of Trade, proclaiming Turkish quality to many countries.
Üsküdar Üniversitesi, within the Turquality branding program which ensures the positioning of the Turkish brand in education in different countries around the world, is engaged in educational cooperation with 142 world universities and hosts more than 4000 international students from 102 countries.
- What are Üsküdar Üniversitesi's future projects, are there any projects you plan to introduce as "new"?
We have achieved many firsts since our establishment. We founded Turkey's first Institute of Sufi Studies. Our students develop under the same roof as an institution of science focused on human values and training qualified individuals.
Again, in addition to Turkey's first Forensic Sciences Undergraduate Program, we offer departments and programs for future professions where students can receive multidisciplinary education. We will continue to achieve many firsts with this vision in the future. While elevating our place in world rankings every day, we will continue to develop our students with the opportunities we offer, always support our graduates as they enter professional life, and encourage them to create synergy with their university.
As Üsküdar Üniversitesi, we are undertaking sustainable projects in various 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 number of TÜBİTAK projects in CRISPR technology in Turkey. One of the 13 projects announced to go into space within the scope of the National Space Program was the ‘Message (Microgravity Associated Genetics) Scientific Mission’ developed by TRGENMER. With CRISPR gene engineering methods, genes whose functions have not yet been discovered and are affected by microgravity will be identified, and it will be revealed which immune cells will be directly affected by gravity in space missions. Recently, we hosted Turkey's first space travelers at our university and met them for training. This excites us.
In the Communication Days, traditionally organized by our Faculty of Communication and held for the 10th time this year, we discuss the issues of that period and publish international papers. Our Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences regularly conducts social research throughout Turkey, providing important information resources 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 examples.
Another traditional project I value is Turkey's first Science and Idea Festival. We have held this festival, which we continue with the Provincial Directorate of National Education, for 8 consecutive years. This year, due to the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, we decided to freeze it and postponed all projects to next year for evaluation. The topic of this project competition, the first of which we held in 2014, was designed around projects that would "improve life with artificial intelligence." So, in fact, we embarked on this path 9 years ago, and we all see where artificial intelligence has come today. The most distinctive aspect of a university is its ability to encourage, provide an environment that activates curiosity, and its visionary approach. A university then takes steps towards the development of science.
- If there is anything else you would like to add, we can include that as well.
21st Century skills 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 students. For this reason, we have been awarding Human Values Awards every year since 2016. We also teach Positive Psychology, also defined as the Science of Goodness, as a rectorate course to all our students. Here, within the scope of Corporate Social Responsibility, I want to talk about the scholarship opportunities we offer our students. Üsküdar Üniversitesi's founding foundation, TARHAN - İDER Foundation, provides significant student scholarships; it also supports the health expenses of individuals with limited means and contributes to the mental and physical health of those in need. Since 2016, we have had over 30 thousand graduates and more than 24 thousand students, and together with the Tarhan-İDER Foundation, we provide full scholarships to a significant portion of our students. A substantial number are supported with various scholarships at different rates. As Üsküdar Üniversitesi, we also offer scholarships and educational support to international students from many countries, including European countries.
TİMREPORT MAGAZINE
ISSUE 2021/ JULY 2023