Erasmus Policy Statement
IZMIR BAKIRCAY UNIVERSITY
Erasmus Policy Statement
Izmir Bakircay University was founded in September 2016, and the preparatory actions to start education were initiated with the appointment of its rector in September 2017. With the completion of these preparations in a short time, the university started education in its initial academic year of 2018-2019.
Izmir Bakircay University is structured as a project-oriented public university in the field of technology. University’s vision is to become a respectable techno-entrepreneurship university by encouraging entrepreneurship and maintaining a sustainable institutional structure. The university is located in Izmir which is the third largest city ranking at the forefront among the best places to live in Turkey for students, academicians and investors in terms of social, economic and cultural life.
Izmir Bakircay University’s internationalization strategy aims to focus on areas of education, research, exchange programs, international collaborations and social responsibility, and intends to raise the quality in education and research activities, achieve international academic standards, develop intercultural awareness, create a multicultural environment in the university, and establish international academic cooperation.
Aiming to become a world university integrating technology and science, Izmir Bakircay University has been founded upon the pillar of entrepreneurship. Therefore, the university plans to collaborate primarily with higher education institutions that support this vision in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Czech Republic in Eastern Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, and South Korea in the Far East, and Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay in South America. On the other hand, each academic unit will be able to cooperate with higher education institutions outside the above-mentioned regions, taking into account the vision and curriculum of their departments.
Since we are a newly established university, we do not have double / multiple / joint degree programs yet. Among the programs offered in our university, the only department in which the language of instruction is English is Management Information Systems at the School of Economics and Administrative Studies. It is desired to increase the number of programs in English language and to develop common degree programs in the future.
Although Izmir Bakircay University is a newly established university, the commitment to seek cooperation at international level (EU and non-EU) is of utmost importance in order to enhance the development of an extended network, and build strategic partnerships and knowledge alliances. Hence, the university has already been active in the preparation and submission of three proposals under the Erasmus+, KA2 Strategic Partnerships (Adult, Youth and HE), and has been partner in two other proposals under KA2 Strategic Partnerships for adult education (KA204) and Capacity Building for HE. The university aims to extend these activities to other actions of Erasmus+ program, including KA1, KA2, KA3 and Jean Monnet projects.
Moreover, we have established the Scientific Research Projects Coordinatorship in order to support the university personnel in the organization and application of international projects which focus on research areas in medicine, entrepreneurship, social innovation, environment, culture and art.
Our participation in mobility activities will contribute to our students, academic and administrative staff in gaining new experiences from international cooperation and to the development of an educational approach at European standards.
We believe that international faculty and students visiting our university have an important role in building a multicultural and inclusive international campus life.
With the onset of education activities in our university in 2018, Bologna process has been launched as well. ECTS information packages were prepared in accordance with the ECTS credit system in all of the academic units and this information is published on our main page. We aim to update all the programs offered in the university by examining the programs of international educational institutions, adopt new teaching methods, internationalize the curricula in a way that will be compatible with the global economy and occupations, and further enrich our programs.
Our university is chosen as the first and only “unimpeded” state university in Izmir by the Higher Education Counsel of Turkey. The Unimpeded University title refers to the services planned and implemented for disabled students and staff within the campus. Regarding the mobility of students and staff we aim to provide an equal opportunity to each student and staff without discrimination and to ensure participation in exchange programs from each department.