Communication Faculty - Main Principles

MAIN PRINCIPLES

Institutions should have defined processes that they use to determine, monitor and develop their mission, vision and goals, performance indicators and quality programs. Üsküdar University adopts the philosophy that everything can be done better and uses the PDCA Cycle (Plan-Do- Check-Act) in planning.

Planning the Mission and Goals of the Faculty

Implementation of Management and Organization processes to realize the Mission and Goals of the Faculty

Establishing and controlling assurances that the Faculty achieves its Mission and Goals

Measures based on continuous improvement to protect the development and competitive advantage of the faculty

Our Quality Process Program complies with the Institutional External Evaluation Criteria of the YÖK(The Council of Higher Education) Quality Board.

The process is managed as follows;

Planning the Mission and Goals of the Faculty

Mission

Our basic mission is educating communication professionals, who can comprehend the world they live in, who can watch the cases and circumstances interrogatively, analytically and critically is our basic mission. We care for a holistic education of communication which theory and practice complementing each other in order to fulfil this mission ideally. Along with our qualified academic staff, our radio and television studios equipped with the latest technology will be provide opportunity to our students to put into practice the theoretical knowledge they acquired in the courses.

Vision

Our vision is to educate qualified and intellectual professionals who are confident about the future and ready to take responsibility with a person-centred learning philosophy in communication education, high-tech labs and radio and TV studios, and well-educated academic staff.

Our faculty’s top priority is to become a scientific institution with high quality education which would help us be a reputable global player in communication education.  In order to be so, we have launched an international student exchange program since our debut as an institution. We would like to let our students expand their horizons through off-campus and co-curricular activities. We want them to be familiar with other cultures and countries and share their experiences in those environments. This would allow us to educate communication professionals who are able to compete in international arena.

The goals of our faculty are coordinated with the 2019-2023 Üsküdar University Strategic Plan (https://uskudar.edu.tr/en/strategic-goals) that has been presented. In this context, our goals are:

Objective1: Strengthening Education and Training

Goal 1: Improving student motivation and achievement level

Goal 2: Increasing the competencies of the instructors every year

Goal 3: Increasing educational materials (models, etc.), social, cultural and sportive activities

Goal 4: Increasing distance and continuous education activities within the scope of lifelong learning principle

Goal 5: Keeping the Faculty of Communication at a competitive level with its competitors in terms of the quality of education.

Goal 6: Continuing education in the faculty in harmony with the ever-evolving digital communication technologies and the changing needs and conditions of the media

Goal 7: Bringing the Faculty of Communication to a point where it is known among world universities in terms of academic and education quality

Goal 8: Raising the graduates of the Faculty of Communication in a vision that guides the media at both national and international levels

Objective 2: Developing Institutional Capacity

Goal 1: Establishment of a management information system that will enable faculty activities to be more effective and efficient.

Goal 2: Developing organizational functioning, human resources and corporate culture

Goal 3: Improvement and development of the physical structure

Goal 4: Providing faster and easier access to information by improving library services

Goal 5: Helping our students and graduates with their sectoral orientation

Objective 3: Developing Internationalization

Goal 1: Increasing the international experience of students and staff

Goal 2: Creating a multicultural and international faculty and campus environment

Goal 3: Increasing the international quality of education and training

Goal 4: Making the Faculty of Communication an academic center of attraction both at national and international level

Objective 4: Strengthening Cooperation between the University and its Partners

Goals 1: Collaboration with universities, private sector, public institutions and NGOs within the plan period in order to ensure a culture of cooperation

Goal 2: Strengthening the infrastructure for externally supported projects

Implementation of Management and Organization Processes to Realize the Mission, Vision and Goals of the Faculty

In order to realize the mission of the faculty and create its vision in the most solid way, a management approach that adopts the distribution of authority and participation is applied in our faculty. According to this; In addition to the dean, vice deans, department heads; commissions have been formed according to different business areas. Thus, a more democratic system is created, participation in the management is ensured, and thus, the acceleration of the work flow and the uninterrupted operation are made possible.

On the other hand, the principles of YÖK Quality Assurance were also included in the management approach of the faculty. Accordind to this the Faculty Quality Board was formed and this board was put into operation effectively. In the formation of the curriculum structure of the Faculty of Communication, cooperation with the sector is given importance so that the education and training will be supported by the views of the sector, so that the professionals to be trained can find a place in the sector much more easily. For this reason, the Faculty Quality Board has started to work effectively to include external stakeholders in the functioning of the faculty. Detailed information on this system is provided under the Corporate Information title.

Establishing and Controlling Assurances That the Faculty Achieves Its Mission, Vision and Goals

The mission of the Faculty of Communication is implemented based on the understanding of YÖK Quality Assurance and its operation is constantly controlled. Control and assurance processes regarding achieving our mission and goals are as follows:

Continuous monitoring of the educational performance of the faculty academic staff; For this, student satisfaction surveys and annual activity reports consisting of academic studies of academic staff, R&D studies of the faculty, scientific events attended and organized, internship status of students, etc.

By examining the above titles, it is ensured that the sustainability of quality is constantly checked.

Our quality process program is operated in accordance with the YÖK Quality Assurance Program. Planning our vision based on our mission, managing the education and training process of the faculty by taking the opinions of external partners, giving direction to education by looking at other communication faculties, implementation according to industry needs, determining the future plan of the faculty by taking into account the strategic plan of the university, implementing an education program by predicting where the future media is headed in Turkey and in the World, ensure that the evaluation criteria used in education are in line with the YÖK Quality Assurance System. Evidence for these is presented on the following pages of the report.

Measures Based on Continuous Improvement to Maintain the Development and Competitive Advantage of the Faculty

Keeping the development and competition of the faculty under guarantee is a very serious issue in today's conditions.

Due to the fact that there are many educational institutions and programs in the same field and the media profession is constantly open to technological developments and innovations, various practices are carried out in order to continuously improve  the education and academic activities in our faculty and to keep the institution open to development. For instance:

Improvement in physical conditions: The technical equipment of the Faculty of Communication is constantly being renewed; classroom environment, physical conditions and social areas are also improved.

Improvement in academic staff: The academic staff of the faculty is constantly being improved, and the number of academic staff is increased in parallel with the increasing number of students every year. Appointments and promotions in our faculty are made according to Üsküdar University Appointment and Promotion Criteria (also see: http://www.yok.gov.tr/documents/10279/30923982/uskudar_un_24_04_2017.pdf/0b2151d5-06a7-4ffd-bd8f-e9a54bb04095)

Sectoral support in education: Professional people who have the appropriate educational background for applied and vocational courses and who are advanced in terms of professional experience are invited to the courses to share their experience and knowledge with the student. In addition to this, the external partners of the faculty, which are supported in cooperation with the Faculty Quality Board, also make a great contribution in terms of continuous development and improvement.

The practices and works of the students in the class are sent to various competitions and the awards they receive are evaluated as an indicator of progress.

The awards received by the academic staff from academic studies and the increasing number of publications in the faculty are among the indicators of development and improvement.

The fact that the number of students coming to the faculty with lateral transfer from other institutions is considerably higher than the number of outgoing students reveals the competitive power of the faculty and its position among higher education institutions that provide similar education.

The increase in faculty quotas with the approval of YÖK and the fact that it has reached the highest quota among foundation universities in Turkey is proof that the recognition of the Faculty of Communication has become widespread and its continuous improvement efforts have yielded results.

The continuity of scientific activities carried out at the national and international level within the faculty and their development with the support of the relevant academic circles. International Communication Days, which have been held within the faculty for eight years without a hitch, can be shown as an example.

Symposium web page: https://ifig.uskudar.edu.tr/en/2021

Another example is the fact that the scientific peer-reviewed journal Etkileşim, which is published within the faculty, has become internationally recognized, and that it has met the Turkish index application conditions in terms of publication quality, continuity and operation.

Web page: https://etkilesimdergisi.com/tr