The opening of the Üsküdar University 2024-2025 Academic Year was held with a ceremony. The opening speeches of the ceremony were delivered by Üsküdar University Founding Rector and Head of the Board of Trustees Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan and Rector Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör.
Emphasizing that they aim to be a global player, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said:
"The current new teaching model, the new education model throughout the world, is project-based education. Even high schools have project-based education."
Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör:
"It is very important to train professionals for good careers, but it is even more important to raise good people."
The 2024-2025 Academic Year of Üsküdar University, which set out as our country's first thematic university in behavioral sciences and health, and pioneered numerous academic studies in various fields, especially medicine, health, science, and technology, was opened with a ceremony.
The opening speeches of the ceremony, held at the Nermin Tarhan Conference Hall of Üsküdar University Central Campus, were delivered by Üsküdar University Founding Rector and Head of the Board of Trustees Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan and Rector Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör.
"Our research results on artificial intelligence and its use in psychiatric diseases attracted great interest..."
Starting his speech by referring to the "EEG and Clinical Neuroscience Society (ECNS) 2024 Congress" held in Toronto, Canada, between October 15-18, 2024, as researchers from Üsküdar University and NPİSTANBUL Hastanesi, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan noted that his presentation and research on 'Artificial intelligence and its use in psychiatric diseases' attracted great interest from the participants.
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: "We are the first to articulate artificial intelligence in Turkey"
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, in his speech, stated that every opening is a new beginning and new beginnings involve reviewing the old and taking steps to do more upon it. He reminded that as a university, they were the first institution to articulate artificial intelligence in Turkey, and that the topic of their first science and ideas festival in 2013 was artificial intelligence.
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan noted that they aim to combine molecular biology and genetics, neuroscience, health, and engineering, and expressed his delight that research assistants, students, and lecturers are involved in the university's projects.
The new education model in the world is 'project-based education'
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "The current new teaching model, the new education model all over the world, is project-based education. Even high schools have project-based education. In a place where project-based education exists, there is a change in the philosophy of science within an education system that aims to approach any task by designing it as a project. We tried to be among the first to take steps in this regard and we are trying to do so. We introduced a project culture course in the second year, a project report course in the third year. There is also a graduation project in the fourth year. The emphasis on project-based education is globally increasing."
"A university is defined by its values and academic culture"
Stating that a university is defined by its values and academic culture, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "In this academic culture, our motto is four principles… Criticizability, Liberalism, Pluralism, and Participatory approach… The importance of these values is increasingly understood. In addition to these values, open communication is also very important in academic culture. That is, open communication between students and lecturers, being an open society, and establishing open communication are very important. In such a situation, development is better. Errors can be identified and corrected more easily and earlier. Therefore, university and research ethics are also important in the values of the university. It is necessary to adhere to research ethics, and we must not lose scientific curiosity. Academic culture develops better where there is scientific curiosity. If there is curiosity somewhere, development and learning become easier. If a person entering a laboratory can lose track of time, new discoveries, new information, and new explorations will certainly emerge there."
"An intelligent person is one who thinks in the medium and long term"
Addressing the students in his speech, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "I also want to say a few things to our students. Our students should act by thinking about the future, not just their current successes. An intelligent person is one who thinks in the medium and long term. They determine their strategy accordingly. Therefore, our youth should think in the medium and long term for success, not just the short term."
"We aim to be a global player..."
Reminding that making mistakes is part of learning, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "Making mistakes is part of growing. One should not be afraid of making mistakes. This applies to all of us. That is, when we ask a question, if we know the answer, we give it; if we don't know, we research together. We answer together. Therefore, not being afraid of making mistakes is very important. Another issue is that as a university, we attach great importance to internationalization. In fact, our goal is to be a global player. We aim to be a global player, not just a player in Turkey. For this, we are designing our projects accordingly. International projects have been received, and we are trying to get more."
"We can do great things that can receive international recognition"
Referring to the saying "Quality has no passport," Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "If you do quality work, it knows no national borders; it spreads all over the world. We can do great things that can receive international recognition. We try to do things that are sensitive to society and the environment. We have serious projects within our social responsibility projects. We carry out social responsibility activities with various associations. We have colleagues working on this."
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan also stated that if they act together as a community, as a whole, they can remain strong, and added, "I hope for beautiful new beginnings."
Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör: "We want our graduates to be qualified individuals on a global scale"
Rector Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör also addressed the participants, stating that Üsküdar University is celebrating its 13th year, and that 13 years is a very young age for a university. She added that their most important goal as a university is to provide quality education and training.
Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör emphasized the importance of universities providing education according to accreditation rules, saying, "We want our graduates to be qualified individuals not only in Turkey but also on a global scale."
Noting that they are at an important point to become an international university, Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör said, "We want to become a world university in a very short time. Üsküdar University will take its place among the world's prominent universities in the coming years."
"It is very important to train professionals for good careers, but it is even more important to raise good people"
Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör pointed out that quality, ethics, and ethics are very important while doing all this, and stated that humanity is losing its values while there is a technological development in the world, and continued as follows:
"Becoming a violence-loving society in Turkey recently, normalizing violence, the normalization of certain immoral things, and our society becoming desensitized are indicators of this. Therefore, we need to take action as soon as possible. In the education we provide under university roofs, we can train good professionals, good scientists, and produce high-quality information very quickly, but alongside all this, we must emphasize ethical and moral issues. It is very important to train good professionals, but it is even more important to raise good people. We must be much more sensitive. Our goal is to stop this course of the world. To strive for human value to become a rising value again."
Academic Promotion and Robing Ceremony also held
At the ceremony, which saw high participation, an Academic Promotion and Robing Ceremony and the 2024 Doctoral Graduates Diploma Presentation Ceremony were also held. Academicians promoted from Associate Professor to Professor, and from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor, wore their robes. Additionally, academicians promoted from Research and Teaching Assistant to Assistant Professor also wore their robes at the ceremony. The robes were presented by Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan and Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör.
During the program, the 2024 doctoral graduates also received their diplomas in a ceremony.
The robes and doctoral graduation certificates were presented by Üsküdar University Founding Rector, Head of the Board of Trustees Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Furkan Tarahan, Rector Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör, and Vice-Rectors Prof. Dr. Sevil Atasoy, Prof. Dr. Hikmet Koçak, Prof. Dr. Türker Tekin Ergüzel.
The program, which was also broadcast live on ÜÜ TV and Üsküdar University's official YouTube account, concluded with a group photo session.