Üsküdar Üniversitesi's success in research and education activities has once again been registered by the international rating agency Times Higher Education (THE). Üsküdar Üniversitesi, which ranks among the top 101 in the world university rankings and 2nd in Turkey, also had its work under the "13-Climate Action" label found successful.
Speaking at the "Times Higher Education Global Sustainable Development Congress" held in Saudi Arabia, Arizona State University President Prof. Dr. Michael Crow stated that universities are at the heart of humanity's failure to grasp the magnitude of problems. Warning universities that have not made the necessary curriculum changes in this regard, Crow underlined that the problems experienced today do not stem from a failure to take timely precautions.
Prof. Dr. Crow: "Universities did not make the necessary changes in time for a sustainable world"
In his speech to the delegates, Crow stated that sustainability is critically important for climate. Crow said; "For a sustainable world, universities did not make the necessary changes in their curricula in time. But it is still not too late, and universities can heroically act to address the climate crisis and find solutions. We academics have made significant contributions to the designed environment, and we bear a large part of the responsibility for this built environment not being sustainable and increasingly degrading the natural environment."
Furthermore, Prof. Dr. Crow stated that the world is entering an incredibly challenging period where everything is accelerating, and there are many things that higher education could already do but has not.
Prof. Dr. Özdemir: "We encourage projects related to climate change"
In this sense, the registration of Üsküdar Üniversitesi's success under the "13-Climate Action" label is a very significant situation. Prof. Dr. İbrahim Özdemir of the Üsküdar Üniversitesi Philosophy Department stated that as Üsküdar University, they are ready to share their achievements in this regard. Özdemir said; "We did not achieve this goal easily. We know that an important point in responding to and mitigating problems related to climate change is to enable students to understand the problem holistically and encourage them to develop new projects and solutions. What is gratifying today is that our work has been registered by Times Higher Education. We thank everyone who contributed."
Academic studies and projects developed by Üsküdar Üniversitesi to raise awareness on climate issues:
We included courses such as Philosophy of Technology, Environmental Sociology, Environmental Ethics, Disaster and Trauma Psychology, Urban Sociology, and International Migration Problem in the curriculum to increase environmental awareness and create awareness.
As the Üsküdar Üniversitesi Environmental Ethics Forum, we continue to enlighten society alongside academic studies.
Our university took part in the team that prepared al-Mizan: The World Environmental Convention. We translated the convention into Turkish. The European Climate Foundation supported this project.
Papers presented at the scientific meeting we organized on the subject were published as a book titled “THE CONCEPT OF “MIZAN” IN ISLAMIC ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS: Leaving a More Livable World”.