Meeting with the Rector
Altınbaş University Rector, Prof. Dr. Çağrı Erhan, gathered with students, administrative, and academic staff, discussing evaluations about the semester's activities.
Altınbaş University has completed its traditional "Meeting with the Rector," held every academic year. These meetings, conducted in different sessions with students, administrative, and academic staff, primarily addressed the general strategy of Altınbaş University.
At the beginning of the meetings with students, Prof. Dr. Çağrı Erhan explained that he provided general information about the university's strategy. He conveyed that questions, requests, and complaints from students would be addressed, along with the department heads present at the meeting.
Erhan mentioned that these meetings take place twice a year, aiming to resolve issues promptly before they escalate. Addressing the students, he assured them that their concerns would be addressed collaboratively with department heads.
Prof. Dr. Çağrı Erhan listened to and addressed the questions and concerns of students, ranging from Erasmus grants to social opportunities.
In these meetings, Prof. Dr. Çağrı Erhan outlined the university's goals and provided information about the upcoming strategic plan. He stated, "Our university is now 15 years old. We continue our journey in a mature position with our experiences in many areas. Today, we have around 13,500 students in addition to nearly 1,000 academic and administrative staff. In proportion to this, the expectations from our university are changing. We aim to climb higher in important rankings such as URAP and THE - Times Higher Education."
Prof. Dr. Çağrı Erhan emphasized the need to increase productivity and enhance satisfaction among both staff and students. He highlighted Altınbaş University's achievements in internationalization and stressed the importance of diversifying academic collaborations.
Discussing the university's successes, Erhan said, "By increasing our efficiency, how can we elevate both staff and student satisfaction? Our university has become a leader in internationalization, both internationally and in Turkey. We need to focus on developing and diversifying our academic collaborations because following an internationalization strategy based on specific countries and regions can sometimes lead to negative consequences depending on changes in Turkey's relationships with those countries or regions."
Regarding accreditations and quality certifications, Erhan stated, "By the end of 2023, we had focused on obtaining accreditation and quality certificates. We have truly become one of the universities that have received ISO certifications in both administrative and educational processes. We have been crowned with the Turquality certificate, which is Turkey's most prestigious document."
Rector Erhan underscored Altınbaş University's significant steps in internationalization and announced the commencement of work on the 3rd strategic plan. He explained that the new strategic plan has two components: sustainability and resilience. Erhan highlighted the importance of resilience, especially in facing challenges like the pandemic and earthquakes. He discussed how Altınbaş University successfully navigated situations that necessitated a shift to online education during these processes.
In the context of digitalization efforts, Rector Erhan expressed the intention to further enhance internal communication within the institution.
The Rector expressed gratitude to faculty administrators for the successful accreditation processes across all faculties at Altınbaş University. He concluded by stating that, within all these processes, the key concept is productivity, and productivity is measured by how accurately the institution reaches its goals in its field of duty and how great stakeholder satisfaction is, not just in terms of cost calculations.