Istanbul Kültür University (IKU) has sent off its graduates to the future with the 2021-2022 Academic Year Graduation Ceremony. Sinan Erdem Sports Hall hosted the ceremony, which was held in two sessions with the participation of faculty members and families, on Tuesday, July 6, 2022. With the ceremony in which approximately two thousand students graduated from eight faculties and two vocational schools, the total number of graduates that our university has reached in 25 years has hit 32 thousand.

At the ceremony that started with the recitation of the Turkish National Anthem, our Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver, and our Rector addressed the graduates and families. At the ceremony where the messages of Ful Akingüç, the President of Kültür College Foundation, the founding foundation of our university, were read, the Faculty/Vocational School's top students and 2011 graduate of the Department of English Language and Literature Tuğçe Oral made their speeches. 

Our Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, who conveyed her lifelong success wishes to the graduates of the university, Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver, said the following: “The last two years have been very different for each of us and, to admit it, it has been difficult. We have been in very serious challenge in health and economics. As your university, we and your families have used every means available for the uninterrupted and healthy continuation of your educational life. However, you demonstrated the essential effort. 

You have made the most of the opportunities provided to you. You have reached to fruition with your awareness of your goal, the love and commitment you feel towards the profession you are a candidate for, and your determination.”

Noting that the university is always open to the opinions and new ideas of its graduates, Dr. Akıngüç Günver stated that they can maintain their connections with the Design Factory and the Design Office within the scope of the projects.

Our Rector, who took a part in the graduation ceremony speech, addressed the graduate with the following words in the speech she noted that Kültür is a big family: “Today is a symbolic date. You have left an important step behind in life with the undergraduate and graduate programs you have studied. Continue to make room for education in your life in the following years. Improve your perspective with postgraduate and doctorate degree opportunities.

Be sure to get advice from our institute of graduate studies for postgraduate and doctorate. Increase your existing proficiency by strengthening it with a new area.”

Our Rector conveyed the message to graduates to strengthen their ties with the university as follows: “Kültür, along with being a family, is a very strong and high-quality network with 60 years of educational experience. As Kültür Family, with our academicians, sectoral business associations, educational and research projects, we have opportunities to provide solidarity, sharing, advancement, and empowerment with all our members, our students, families, academicians.”

Ful Akıngüç, President of the Kültür College Foundation, the founding foundation of our university, who shared her messages in writing, specific to the 2021-2022 Graduation Ceremony, said, “As Kültür College Foundation, we will continue to invest in science, education, culture, and the future. The Great Leader Atatürk's ideal of bringing our country to the level of modern civilizations is a legacy for us. As the Kültür College Foundation, we will continue to invest in the future with hope, sustaining this legacy by strengthening it every passing day with our scholars and donators.”

Thanking the families in her message for the trust they have in Kültür, Ful Akıngüç used these statements, “We offer our thanks on behalf of the foundation to our valuable academic staff and colleagues, who have interiorized the awareness of being a university of a strong, radical, respectful to the values of Atatürk and Republic, and independent Foundation, successfully reflected this awareness in the missions of education, research and social responsibility.”