Üsküdar University bid farewell to its 9th-term graduates with the 2021-2022 Academic Year graduation ceremony. Graduates, experiencing the joy of graduation upon receiving their diplomas, felt excitement and pride simultaneously. Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector of Üsküdar University and Chairman of the Executive Board, offered important advice to graduates in his speech, which was akin to the last lesson of the year. Tarhan noted that as a university, their aim was not only to teach technical and academic skills but also life skills, stating, “If we don’t teach life skills, young people who only learn technical skills make mistakes.” Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan added, “We developed a strategy to make you graduates who are successful, happy, and do good things in life by teaching you social and emotional skills. We tried to implement this.”
“Knowing only technical skills leads to mistakes”
Excitement and enthusiasm were felt simultaneously at the 9th-term graduation ceremony held at Ataşehir Ülker Sports and Event Hall. Academicians, including Üsküdar University Board of Trustees Chairman Furkan Tarhan, TARHAN-İDER Foundation Board Member Fırat Tarhan, Vice Rector and Graduation Organization Coordinator Prof. Dr. Sevil Atasoy, and Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Hikmet Koçak, were also present at the ceremony.
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector of Üsküdar University and Chairman of the Executive Board, offered advice to new graduates in his opening speech.
Stating that he was happy for the Üsküdar University family to come together once again at the graduation ceremony, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “I now want to call those who were university students during the pandemic period 'veterans'. They studied university under difficult conditions. They were partially on campus, partially took online lessons, and followed them remotely. During the pandemic, we, as a university, reacted quickly. We acted agilely and conducted live online lessons rapidly. Our instructors showed great sacrifice by not conducting any pre-recorded video lessons. We continued the lessons online, live, and tried to conduct education without compromising its quality. Thankfully, the pandemic-related process is also under control. We have almost reached the level where we can hold this large gathering. For this reason, I also want to wish you all and humanity a speedy recovery.”
Stating that university education is a marathon, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “For our young friends, this graduation ceremony is one of the very important turning points in one's life. Student life is ending; student life has a dimension of freedom, and a lesser dimension of responsibility beyond studying. After graduation, freedom is somewhat restricted, and the dimension of responsibility becomes more prominent. For this reason, I also want to say welcome to the realities of life to those who are graduating. Because, as you know, the dynamics before graduation and after graduation are not the same. Those who succeed in adapting to this, those who are successful in school, also succeed in social life, professional life, and family life.”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan noted that as a university, their aim was not only to teach technical and academic skills but also life skills, saying, “We had developed a strategy to make you graduates who are successful, happy, and do good things in life by teaching you social and emotional skills. We tried to implement this. Within this strategy are 21st-century skills. There are innovation and entrepreneurship skills. As I just mentioned, there are life skills. We established these life skills courses as positive psychology courses when the university was first founded in 2013. Then Harvard started it in 2015. Then Yale University started in 2018. Now, these courses are available in developed countries, in middle and high schools. They are taught not only in universities but also there, as mindfulness or awareness courses.”
Emphasizing the importance of teaching life skills, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “If we don’t teach life skills, young people who only learn technical skills make mistakes. When we look at the content of this life skills course, what does it teach? It teaches self-knowledge, empathy, forgiveness, cooperation, and sharing.”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan continued: “These are already the realities of our Anatolian wisdom. We tried to present this within scientific methodology and also presented it in positive psychology courses. We made significant contributions to the literature on this topic and obtained its first results in the academic field. We experienced something interesting. For example, there is the United Nations' sustainable development program in the world. Within that program, I define 17 labels. Üsküdar University received two of those 17 labels. The 2021-2022 academic year was thus auspicious for us.”
Stating that one of the labels was Quality Education, meaning “education quality,” Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “We have proven that we provide education quality in line with global standards. Time Higher Education (THE), an organization that uses United Nations standards worldwide, officially granted us this label at international standards last April. The other label is Good Health and Well-Being. Its Turkish equivalent means good health and well-being. The biggest reason we were eligible to receive the 'Good Health and Well-Being' label is that we teach life skills to young people starting from their first year. We received this upon documenting it. It is not easy to get this label.”
Stating that their proactive approach in this matter and their ability to foresee the global trends in some areas were significant contributions, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said that they are one of the foundation universities among the top 500 universities in the world, adding:
“This year, we experienced another surprise. There is a ranking organization called SCIMAGO, separate from THE. SCIMAGO also ranks world universities in a research index based on the Scopus database. While ranking world universities, there are four foundation universities in Turkey that are among the top 500. We are one of those four universities. We are a university that entered the top 500 universities globally and has a high research index score. We entered the top 500 in 5 research indexes by an international ranking organization worldwide. In fact, our ranking is 398, which is also on our website; we entered this.”
Furthermore, noting that good news also came from UNESCO, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “UNESCO has the TWAS program. UNESCO designates centers of excellence. A UNESCO Representative visited our university. They declared and published us as a center of excellence in the field of neuroscience. We are the only center of excellence university in Turkey. Defined by the UNESCO TWAS organization, they decided to send students to us for postdoctoral education in neuroscience worldwide.”
Stating that another good piece of news came from the Ministry of Industry and Technology this year, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “Our esteemed Minister Mustafa Varank announced this. They published a list of universities in Turkey that received patents. We ranked second among foundation universities, having received 12 patents this year. We are second in patents among 200 universities in Turkey, specifically among foundation universities. Here, I would like to specifically thank our instructors who applied for and worked on these patents, and we have established a technology transfer office and an incubation center here. As you know, this is a precursor to Technopark. In our incubation center, we have an officer responsible for patents. We have an officer responsible for projects. We have departments responsible for R&D-related matters. Establishing a technology transfer office in accordance with all TÜBİTAK standards was one of its first results. Our incubation center, our technology transfer office, and our instructors’ strong support enable this. In other words, if our instructors did not support it, it would not be possible for us to achieve these results. Here, on behalf of my students, I thank our instructors who educated them. Their efforts are very important. At the same time, I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to the mothers, fathers, and all elders who brought their students here, entrusted them to us, and continuously supported them. May they be well and live long.”
Stating that as a university, they have currently graduated around 30,000 students and currently have 23,000 students, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “We have 6 faculties, 1 vocational school, 5 institutes. We have over 600 academic staff, 39 undergraduate departments, 59 associate degree departments, 46 master's degree departments, 14 doctoral departments, 86 officially defined laboratories, and our practice partner, NPİSTANBUL Hastanesi. This is the second in Europe,
the first neuroscience hospital in Turkey, serving as a brain hospital. This hospital is currently operating significantly in the international arena. Nearly one-third of its patient beds are currently occupied by international patients, serving our students as a hospital that also handles international patients. Both interns and our 4th-year Medical Faculty students will intern here this year. They will then complete their internships.”
Emphasizing that as a university, they aim to be not just at world standards, but above world standards, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “World standards are a small goal for us. The big goal is to be above world standards. Therefore, because our goal is big, I want to tell young people an example. In the 1960s, American President Kennedy visited NASA. He saw a cleaning worker there. With a broom in hand, he approached him and asked, 'What are you doing?' Look at the cleaning worker's vision: 'I am helping to train the vehicles sent to space,' he says. Vision. When Mimar Sinan was building the Süleymaniye Mosque, he visited 1-2 workers. He asked them what they were doing. One said, 'I'm working for this much daily wage.' The other said, 'I'm building the world's greatest temple.' Both are doing the same job, but vision is very important.”
Emphasizing the importance of having a vision, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “Young friends, may your vision be greater than yourselves. May your vision be greater than Turkey. May your vision be beyond the universe. Only then will you make the right decisions in life and progress correctly. For this reason, one of the subjects we attach most importance to and try to teach in positive psychology courses is… Yale University also opened this course to the public as the science of well-being. In March 2021, it opened the topic to the public as the science of well-being, and because 3.5 million people registered in a short time, the New York Times reported on it. Why? Because people feel a need for the science of well-being. The world is moving in this direction. These are the insights produced by our Anatolian culture. This is Eastern culture. It is our social capital. We need to enrich our social capital. The capitalist system, overly focused on financial capital, has now hit a wall; it is now focusing on social capital, and more so on psychological capital.”
Noting that it has been understood that humans are psychological beings, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “In the 2000s, all economists wanted homo economicus. In 2002, the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Daniel Kahneman, an economist and psychologist. His thesis was on psychological factors in purchasing behavior. After that, it was understood that humans are not homo economicus, but homo psychologicus. Humans are psychological beings. When investing, they don't do it for money; they do it for things they love, for appreciation, for trust. Therefore, we need to develop ourselves in this area. Without further ado, I want to say this: Young friends, may you have ego ideals and goals as you realize your ideals.”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan also warned young graduates, saying, “I want to caution them about one thing. Be assured, social media is a very dangerous and troublesome area. You make a mistake, your loved ones forget, but social media does not. You make a mistake, your loved ones forgive, but social media does not. That's why I liken social media to someone who has gone astray; it's uncertain who will pull them in which direction. It is proven by experience. I wish everyone success.”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan chatted with a graduate student
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan chatted for a while with Gamze Önder, who graduated from the Social Work department of Üsküdar University's Faculty of Health Sciences. Prof. Dr. Tarhan went to Gamze Önder, who attended the ceremony in a wheelchair and received her diploma, congratulated her, and wished her success.
Plaques and gifts were presented to top-ranking students
Plaques and gifts were also presented to the top-ranking students at the ceremony. Graduates who ranked in the top three at the undergraduate level – Huriye Sude Ceşen, Rabia Duman, Sıla Kulaç, Seba Alturkmanı, and Mohammad Al-Hammadi – received their plaques from Üsküdar University Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Üsküdar University Acting Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Zelka, Üsküdar University Board of Trustees Chairman Furkan Tarhan, and Tarhan Foundation Board Member Fırat Tarhan.
Ebru Güneş, Ülkü Dilli, and Sinemiz Kaçar, who ranked in the associate degree program, also received their plaques and gifts from Vice Rector, Graduation Organization Coordinator Prof. Dr. Sevil Atasoy, Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Hikmet Koçak, and Rector's Advisor, Istanbul 22nd, 23rd, 24th Term Member of Parliament Halide İncekara.
Presented his daughter with her diploma
Happy moments were experienced at the graduation ceremony. Dr. Faculty Member Hasan Çiçek from Üsküdar University's Industrial Engineering Department presented the diploma to his daughter Cansu Çiçek, who graduated from the Clinical Psychology Master's program.
Dr. Osman Coşkun shared his daughter's graduation joy
Dr. Osman Coşkun, Member of the T.R. Presidential Science, Technology, and Innovation Policies Board, also shared in his daughter's diploma joy. Neva Coşkun, who graduated from Üsküdar University's Psychology department, received her diploma from her father, Dr. Osman Coşkun.
Plaques awarded to successful sports teams
Plaques were also presented to Üsküdar University's sports teams that achieved significant success in their respective branches at the ceremony. The university's football, futsal, women's and men's basketball, women's volleyball, and korfball teams received plaques from Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Acting Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Zelka, Üsküdar University Board of Trustees Chairman Furkan Tarhan, and Tarhan Foundation Board of Trustees Member Fırat Tarhan.
At the ceremony, where graduates were called to the stage to receive their diplomas, some graduates received their diplomas with their babies and children.
They recited the graduation oath and tossed their caps
Prof. Dr. Haydar Sur, Dean of Üsküdar University Faculty of Medicine, led the graduates in reciting the graduation oath. Graduates then tossed their caps. The graduation ceremony, which saw exciting and enthusiastic moments, concluded with a DJ performance. The graduation ceremony was broadcast live on ÜÜ TV and Üsküdar University's YouTube account.
