Connect4Innovation: UK-Türkiye Higher Education Institutional Partnerships Fund – Funded Projects

Project Partners: Cappadocia University, Brunel University and Atlantik Film, Yapım Lab, Nevşehir

The project involves designing educational modules aimed at students, educators, and industry professionals in the field of film and sustainability, as well as developing sustainability guidelines for the film industry in Türkiye. Planned to last approximately two years, the project aims to foster environmental awareness and responsibility culture among current and future film professionals and to promote eco-friendly practices in film production.

Project Partners: Gazi University, Newcastle University and Ankara Directorate of National Education, Ankara

This project aims to design and deliver a joint model for foreign language teachers to develop global graduates through virtual exchange and thus contribute to internationalisation in Türkiye-UK higher education. Virtual Exchange is a practice, supported by research, that consists of sustained, technology-enabled, people-to-people education programmes or activities in which constructive communication and interaction take place between individuals or groups who are geographically separated and/or from different cultural backgrounds, with the support of educators or facilitators.

Project Partners: Izmir University of Economics, University of Huddersfield and Izmir Chamber of Commerce, İzmir

The aim of this collaborative initiative is to strengthen the employability skills of university graduates. This transnational project will achieve this goal through university partnerships between the UK and Türkiye by building on an existing UK-based research and application model focused on employability skills. Through knowledge and skill transference leading to capacity-building, this project holds the potential to mirror in Türkiye the scope and breadth of research and application that has taken place in the UK, while also resulting in a transnational consortium.

Project Partners: Istanbul Technical University, Edinburgh Napier University and Beykoz University, Kadikoy Municipality, BIM4TURKEY, International Blue Crescent, Istanbul

The project aims to build a cross-sector multilateral UK-Türkiye consortium and academic-industry platform with the ambition to integrate the circularity enabling technologies, modern construction, and outcome-based architectural education through the cross-disciplinary international collaboration programme.  The ultimate goal of this multi-dimensional project is to bring relevant academic researchers and industrial experts in the UK and Türkiye together and provide them with a learner-oriented forum and simulated practical scenario to rethink and attempt to redesign architectural education under the umbrella of circularity.

Project Partners: Istanbul Technical University, University of Strathclyde and ITUNOVA Technology Transfer Office, Istanbul

The project aims to improve the teaching skills of academics through the effective use of active learning (AL) pedagogies. External stakeholders of the partnering institutions including graduates and industrial partners/actors will collaborate with academics to align the skill set of students with industry needs. The goal of the project is to complement the ambition to create an innovative AL system by developing a digital tool -a new generation co-learning platform- to support engagement and collaboration with the internal and external stakeholders of the partner institutions to create communities of learning. 

Project Partners: Marmara University, University College London and Serhad Mühendislik, Kazlıçeşme Research and Development Centre, Axolotl Biosystems, Istanbul

This project will deliver a new paradigm approach to international collaborations by creating a Virtual Reality (VR) Institute where scientists from Türkiye and the UK, can meet in cutting-edge laboratories, the same way they would in real life. The project focuses on industrially critical 3D printing and envisages to become a world-leading example of how collaborations can work across borders whilst minimising carbon travel footprints. A VR 3D-printing training institute, Türkiye-UK 3DI, will be established to serve as a collaborative platform for scientists from universities and corporations in Türkiye and the UK and be trained on digital-twin versions of the latest equipment, enabling them to apply their knowledge in research without the necessity for physical access. The outcomes of these courses will be integrated into seminars, two workshops strategically organised throughout the project, and student seminars conducted at the end of each term, providing a forum for students to present their research papers. These activities will bring university students, academics, policymakers, and experts together to encourage constructive discussions on learning in the digital environment. 

Project Partners: Beykoz University, University of Kent and International Transporters’ Association of Türkiye, Istanbul

The goal of the project is to contribute to the enhancement of vocational and professional higher education in Türkiye and the UK by reviewing current policy and practice, identifying and sharing examples of best practices and evidence-based guidelines from the Turkish and the UK higher education sectors. The project aims to inform new and innovative curricula and professional development support provisions that align students’ and graduates’ skill sets with 21st century industry needs and realities, and thus promote high levels of graduate employability. The outputs of the project include stakeholder reports, guidelines and a toolkit in addition to creating new models of the curricula for strengthening the employability skills of the students and graduates; training both academics and administrative staff to run programmes in this line and starting new national and international partnerships to share experience.

Project Partners: TED University, Oxford Brookes University (OBU) and TEDMEM, NATURA, Ankara

The project will contribute to global efforts to raise awareness about sustainability and develop innovative teaching approaches and methods in higher education to equip students with knowledge, skills, and attitudes conducive to a sustainable future. Thus, the project will, firstly, include activities to raise awareness about sustainability and the Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) among students, faculty, and staff within and between the partner institutions. Secondly, a course design transformation with SDG integration through effective digital teaching tools and resources will be initiated through a pilot study at TEDU. This pilot study will be based on the outcomes of OBU’s audit of the integration of issues around sustainability, resilience, and SDGs into its programmes and modules. 

Project Partners: Cukurova University, Leeds Beckett University and Adıyaman Directorate of National Education Innovative Education Center, Adana

The primary aims of this project are to improve teaching skills including pedagogy, curriculum design and assessment capabilities of tutors in the context of English for Academic Purposes, particularly in the area of English for Specific Academic Purposes. The areas that the project aims to focus on are Engineering, Business, Law and Health Sciences.

Project Partners: Kocaeli University, University of Bath and UCTEA Chamber of Mechanical Engineers, Kocaeli

This project aims to bring together three partner institutions to investigate the effectiveness of partial English medium instruction (EMI) Engineering programmes by collecting data from companies that recruit EMI graduates. The Kocaeli Chamber of Mechanical Engineers will play a facilitating role in connecting with companies where graduates of Kocaeli University's Engineering programme are employed. The researchers aim to reach a wide range of companies to identify the needs of the industry in different contexts to have a greater impact.

Project Partners: Middle East Technical University, University of Bradford and METU Entrepreneurship Research Center, Ankara

The main objective of the project is to develop university students’ skills and prepare graduates who will be able to lead the efforts towards tackling global sustainability and green challenges (SDG 13 Climate Action) and equality (SDG 10 Reduced inequalities and SDG 5 Gender Equality). Through a structured programme of learning and teaching that combines online lectures, facilitated learning workshops and collaborative team-based learning, the programme aims to deliver a measurable set of skills and attributes focused on SDGs 13, 10 and 5. Programme design, content delivery and assessment methods will be based on these specific measurable criteria to ensure the achievement of its objectives. 

Project Partners: Middle East Technical University, University of Worcester and ODTÜ Teknokent Management Company, Ankara

The project aims to design and deliver course/training modules, in collaboration with community and industry leaders, focussing on the development of entrepreneurial, report writing, communication, teamwork, problem-solving, commercial awareness, leadership and organisation skills of students and graduates, to apply innovative models of joint research and application focusing on the primary themes.  

Project Partners: Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University, Cardiff University and Samsun Metropolitan Municipality, Samsun

The project aims to train students from Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University on the development of intelligent transportation systems. The project team's objective is not only to conduct multiple workshops for students but also to involve students actively in the development of both hardware and software components.