Istanbul Kültür University (IKU) Chairman of the Board of Trustees Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver published a message regarding the changing IKU agenda with the New Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).

Dear Kültür Family,

We started the 2020/21 Spring Semester. As of February 15, we will say hello to our students again. Due to our work, our agenda has always been young people. However, for the last month, I have been watching carefully the expectations, dreams, attitude and stance of university youth in the media; I trust Generation Z as our future.

The university is the first address that young people, who will have a say in the future of the country and the world, discover life, with all its flavour and torment. It is a place of contemplation. Universities have a similar attitude to the spirit of the youth by nature, more precisely, they are expected to be. It breaks the routine, defends, thinks, questions, criticizes, investigates, and curious. What is expected from the university is to protect, love and embrace students and young people regardless of their life preferences and orientations, regardless of gender, language, religion, race, ethnic origin, socio-economic status, as much as education and research.

Last year, we addressed the candidates with the discourse "Kültür is Freedom" in our communication work. This message is not a communication discourse, but a philosophy of Kültür that we have adopted and internalized as a family. At this point, I would like to thank all members of the Kültür Family who worked by always remembering Atatürk's motto, "Teachers, Republic expects generations with free ideas, free wisdom and free conscience from you.” whose principles and revolutions we have taken as a guide, and made their students feel by internalizing the philosophy of freedom.

Dear Kültür Family,

The pandemic taught us two truths: the value of face-to-face education and that distance learning will now be a permanent part of life. With this awareness, we made our preparations by taking all possibilities into account. At the meeting we held with our deans, our Faculty of Health Sciences Dean Prof. Dr. Nazif Ekin Akalan said that the next 5 weeks are decisive at the point of COVID-19 mutation. Observing the masks, distance and hygiene rules precisely, especially in our on-campus works; I strongly request that the directions of our Health Unit be followed carefully.

Regardless of the direction of the decision regarding the spring term; we have opportunities to ensure the sustainability of our services. The hygiene conditions of our campuses are regularly monitored. In a possible case, we made our hybrid education plans with our faculties and shared them with our students. Our lecture theatres have been developed in this context and will continue to be developed. In addition, we are in the preparation of new digital projects that will ensure the highest level of interaction with the student. At this point we need; shared values, joint effort, and being agile in any scenario.

With the pandemic, taking into account the needs of our distance education students for almost a year, supportive new actions are of great importance at this stage. It is our responsibility to take special account of the learning needs of our first and fourth graders in particular. In this context, our Law School has started a remarkable initiative. This application, which they call educational supplement this summer, for all classes, is an effective touch to the dialogue and educational needs of our students during the pandemic period. In addition, it will also launch literacy projects under different topics in the field of law, which are open to all students, in the spring semester. I wish success to our Dean Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult.  Bahri Öztürk and the academic staff of our Faculty. I think that learning initiatives within this scope will be inspiring for us all with their results.

Dear Kültür Family,

We are in a time when everything needs to be rethinked. Many of the truths we learned and accepted before have changed. Before the pandemic, we used to say 'every problem has a solution'. Now we are in discussions where each solution brings a certain set of problems, questions, and risks.

We need actions that bring about change, expressed as disruptive innovation. New skill sets, new learning models, new partnerships, new curriculum… While doing this, we must engage in project-based learning, problem solving, interdisciplinary work and cooperation. We must gain the ability to use data and intuition in coordination, and believe in the value of common mind. It is useful to review our roles, rules, facts, knowledge, experiences, in short everything that makes us who we are...

I have no doubt that we can achieve it. I wish the new academic term to be healthy and successful for all of us.

With friendship,
Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver
Head of the Board of Trustees