As the British Council in Turkey, we are starting a new ‘Turkey Higher Education Talks’ webinar series to talk about current higher education approaches and issues. This bi-monthly series will help you connect with colleagues in Turkey and the UK to share your experience and learn from them.
The first session's topic of discussion is 'Projections for the new academic year: How are universities preparing for the new academic year?'
With the recent Covid-19 pandemic, higher education institutions as well as schools around the world have found theirselves in a rapid change in terms of teaching methods, pedagogy, quality assurance and well-being of academic staff and students. While these new practices in education brings their own processes and learning points, it also puts a huge question mark on the future of conventional higher education practices. Within this scope, the panel members are going to talk about following questions and share their institutional framework and strategies for the new academic year.
- How will universities ensure the well-being of staff and students? (including students with accessibility issues, digital poverty and more)
- With the new models of teaching, how are universities ensuring they can deliver the quality and satisfactory results for their students and academic staff?
- What are the new blended models?
- What are the projections/institutional plans for the new academic year?
Join us to explore new ways in higher education from both Turkey and the UK university leads. The session will be held in English and the panel will answer your questions live during the session.
About the Speakers
- Professor Tracy Lightfoot - Associate Pro Vice Chancellor Teaching, Learning and Students, University of York. Prof. Lightfoot has a multi-disciplinary background and have over 15 years’ experience of conducting research into the pathogenesis of cancer in both adults and children, coupled with the design and implementation of cross-disciplinary undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Her focus has been very much targeted at the development of innovative novel provision, and towards creating a thriving, supportive and dynamic community to enable all to succeed. She has held a number of senior leadership roles within the university and will become the new Pro Vice Chancellor for Teaching, Learning and Students at the University of York from October 2020.
- Professor İhsan Sabuncuoglu - Rector, Abdullah Gul University, Turkey. Dr. Sabuncuoglu serves as the Founding Rector of Abdullah Gul University. He received his Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Wichita State University. He worked as a full-time faculty member and served as the chairman of the Industrial Engineering Department in Bilkent University until 2013. Later, he established the center for university-industry collaboration at Bilkent University and acted as the Founding Director until his departure to the Abdullah Gül University in 2013. Dr. Sabuncuoglu spends most of his research time on institutional changes and re-organization of global higher education systems and works on the development of a new university concept called ‘Third Generation University’.
- Professor Tuncay Dogeroglu - Rector, Eskisehir Technical University, Turkey. Prof. Dogeroglu is the Rector of Eskişehir Technical University in Turkey. She is also a member of the Higher Education Quality Council, Turkey’s Presidential Education Policies Council, and the Islamic World Science Citation Center. She served as Secretary-General of the Turkish Engineering Deans Council (MDK) and board member at the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC), the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) and the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES).
- Alex Favier - Director of Global and Political Affairs, University of Nottingham. Alex Favier is the Director of Global and Political Affairs at the University of Nottingham. His remit includes international government relations across the university's campuses in the UK, China, and Malaysia; positioning and global reputation campaigns, higher education policy and supporting the vice-chancellor and university executive board. He is the university executive lead for Brexit, the civic agenda, global affairs and institutional stakeholder engagement with external partners. Outside of his role at Nottingham, Alex sits on the advisory board for UUKI Higher Education Forum, sits on various civic and regional bodies.
- Moderator: Ayşen Güven - Director Education for the British Council in Turkey. She has been working intensively on improving the quality of English provision in the higher education sector in Turkey at national and institutional level. Ayşen worked at an English as a medium of instruction (EMI) university for 20 years as a teacher, trainer and supervisor, focusing on English for Academic Purposes (EAP), specialising in EAP curriculum design, reflective practice, leadership and change management. She is currently the co-ordinator of the IATEFL English for Specific Purposes Special Interest Group (ESP SIG).
In every two months, higher education professionals will be brought together to exchange knowledge and ideas on different topics. Come back and tune in to find out more, the series is free of charge.