ITU Started 2021-2022 Academic Year with Hybrid Education System

Our University’s 2021-2022 Academic Year started with the opening ceremony held at Ayazağa Campus Süleyman Demirel Cultural Center. Education-teaching activities in our University’s 2021-2022 Academic Year will be carried out through a hybrid education system.

Our University’s Academic Year Opening Ceremony was held at Ayazağa Campus Süleyman Demirel Cultural Center on Monday, October 4, 2021. TOGG (Turkey’s Automobile Joint Venture Group) CEO Mehmet Gürcan Karakaş attended the academic year opening ceremony as invited speaker. The ceremony, attended by our Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu, Vice-Rectors, Secretary General, academic and administrative staff and students, was broadcast live on our social media accounts. The Turkish music concert performed by ITU Turkish Music State Conservatory Ensemble was acclaimed by the audience.

“We are switching to a hybrid education system.”

After the Turkish music concert, our Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu addressed the guests by saying, “We are excited and happy to open the new academic year of Istanbul Technical University, one of the most established universities in our country and the world. May the new academic year be beneficial to all of us.” Prof. Dr. Koyuncu proceeded as follows: “As ITU, we adapted to the pandemic conditions rapidly and tried to complete our preparations quickly from the first closure. We have matured our digitalization efforts we have been carrying out for three semesters. We made the necessary checks. Our online classes and meetings during the past academic year have been almost without problems. Again last month, we completed the course registrations of our students in digital environment quickly and without any problems. In the new academic year, we are switching to a hybrid system. In this way, we both resume the face-to-face education we missed, and we have the capability to quickly switch to online classes when necessary. Thanks to the hybrid model we have newly designed, I think that our academics and students will carry out their lessons in the most efficient way. I hope we will have a pleasant academic year in which we will receive the reward of our efforts.”

“ITU will continue on its way with its experience and strong tradition of nearly two and a half centuries.”

Our Rector Prof. Dr. Koyuncu expressed that with its experience and strong tradition of nearly two and a half centuries, Istanbul Technical University continues to add new ones to its national and international achievements day by day. Koyuncu also shared the rankings of international rating agencies and said that ITU will be in better places in the coming years.

Prof. Dr. Koyuncu said, “ITU has always trained hardworking, dynamic, entrepreneurial and innovative people. Our school has always stood out with these aspects,” and proceeded as follows: “In this year's YKS preferences, we once again saw how attractive Istanbul Technical University is for young people. As you know, students who ranked first and third in the numerical score type in YKS this year preferred ITU. Again, 48 of students among the top thousand in YKS took one of the most important steps in their careers by choosing ITU. I wish success to our friends who have just started our school and welcome them to our Family.”

“You have over 400 engineers, 19 percent of them are from ITU”

Our University’s 2021-2022 Academic Year Opening Lecture was given by Turkey’s Automobile Joint Venture Group (TOGG) CEO Mehmet Gürcan Karakaş. Karakaş started his speech by saying, “It is a great honor for me to be invited to the opening of the academic year of ITU, one of the most established institutions not only in Turkey but also in the world. Thank you for your invitation,” and made a presentation on what the transformation in the business world and the opportunities triggered by this means for TOGG and how TOGG can benefit from them. He underlined that the transformation and the opportunities were not specific to the automobile world or to Turkey.

In his presentation titled “Mobility and New Opportunities,” Mehmet Gürcan Karakaş shared information about TOGG’s goals and the current stage of the project. Stating that there are sectors and companies from every region of the world in the project, Karakaş said that enterprises from different sectors have benefited them immensely in developing and integrating the technology. Karakaş said that over 400 engineers work at TOGG and a significant 19 percent of them are from ITU. Karakaş concluded his speech by thanking ITU.

Our Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu presented certificates of congratulations to our new students enrolled in our university with highest scores and our teams who obtained degrees in national and international competitions. Our Rector also presented a plaque of appreciation to our faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Evren Erşahin, who received 2020 TÜBİTAK Encouragement Award. Our 2020 TÜBA-GEBİP (Polar Studies) Award winner faculty members Prof. Dr. Burcu Özsoy and Prof. Dr. Cengiz Yıldırım, who could not attend the ceremony due to their overseas duties, were applauded by the participants.