Istanbul Kültür University, in the pandemic conditions, organized a workshop "Resilience - Resilience and Flexibility in Tough Times" for its academic and administrative staff.

Istanbul Kültür University (İKÜ) organized a "Resilience - Resilience and Flexibility in Tough Times" workshop for its personnel to increase the endurance in the living conditions that has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Belkis Kazmirci, an executive coach and consultant, took part as a speaker in the online workshop that was organized for the academic and administrative staff.

The event started with the speech of Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver, Head of IKU Board of Trustees. Dr. Akıngüç Günver who stated that they will celebrate the 61st anniversary of Kültür College on September 26, said “As we approach the anniversary of our foundation, it is very meaningful to be at an event themed with resilience. When we look back, the questions we often hear about Kültür College are: How did you get to these days? How did you manage to stand for 60 years despite many social, economic and political changes in Turkey? What is the essence of your story? I think the key word here is the awareness we have as an institution. What inspires our resilience is our awareness of who we are, our goals, our strengths and weaknesses "

Institutions live with their crises and fears, just like people do 

Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver, who stated that institutions are beings who live with their fears, anxieties, crises and expectations like people, also said, “It is the people who make institutions durable, give the power to overcome time and space, and shape the spirit of struggle. As a Kültür family, we have worked with individuals who are highly aware of our purpose and mission for 23 years at the university and 60 years at the college. The strength and courage to overcome time is also hidden here. With the description of our Honorary President, we are doing a human-oriented business. We are doing a job that touches the mind, heart and future of people. At this point, in order to be good in every sense, we need to feel good first in order to raise good people. We are not going through easy times in this period. All of our individual roles in life pass certain tests. "

Our aim is to end the pandemic well

Dr. Günver who emphasized that the past 6 months have been difficult for everyone, ended her speech by saying, “The pandemic is a period of time in which we review all the information and experiences in our repertoire. The pandemic is like a script written in dystopian fiction. It's a story that we will tell our children and grandchildren in the future. One day a virus entered our lives and all our settings were changed. However, our aim is to end this story well. To be able to come out of a resilience test that we have experienced on the same ship together. To be able to continue our journey by adding new spiritual and emotional equipment to our luggage. We cannot do everything alone. At times like this, a different eye, another interpretation, a new voice is good. ”

We need to improve our resilience skills

Belkıs Kazmirci, Founder of Kazmirci Training and Consultancy, who stated that the world has been going through a very difficult period for the last 6 months, everything has changed and these rapid changes have left people in a chaotic world, said, "This period has shown us that we all need to develop our resilience skills; and need to be more resilient and flexible. Resilience skills are both innate and acquired traits. It is impossible not to fall. However, after the fall, the main thing is to get up and keep going. This is the psychological meaning of resilience. To be able to recover quickly, returnişng to its old form, transformation and development. The meaning of resilience is to be prepared for negativity, to adapt to difficult conditions and to be able to cope with moments of feeling powerless. "

The Concept of "VUCA World"

Kazmirci who talked about the concept of "World of Vuca" prepared by the US army for uncertain situations, said, “Vuca means instability, uncertainty, confusion and indefinableness. We are in such a situation right now. We suddenly found ourselves in a digital transformation, a transformation that we thought would spread over the next 10 years. We are in an unknown right now and therefore we are anxious and afraid. Of course, this pandemic will end one day, but VUCA will not. Because the change we have mentioned will continue at an accelerated pace. In this case, what we need to do is to be calm and cool. Stress, anxiety will always be. The important thing is our own stress that we are responsible for managing."

Don't give up, keep calm, manage your emotions

Belkıs Kazmirci who pointed out that being optimistic is an important part of resilience, listed the qualities that a person should have in order to be resilient - flexible as "not giving up", "flexibility", "stay calm" and "agility". Kazmirci added that the resilience characteristics can be improved with "approach", "awareness" and "energy management". One word of Victor Frankl is very meaningful at this point: "Everything can be taken from man’s hands, except one thing: the last of human freedoms - freedom to determine his own attitude and choose his own path in any circumstances. With this approach, Belkıs Kazmirci shared the following headlines about the essence of Resilience with the participants in summary: “Accept the truth, direct your attention, time and energy by choosing. Have a meaningful purpose. Take responsibility and take action. Invest in mindfulness and mind management. Develop good living habits. Learn from experience. "

Strongest resilience features: Solution orientation and taking responsibility

Kazmirci, who also had practices done at the event, asked the participants about the strongest resilience characteristics based on their own experiences. In the survey consisting of 9 choices, 15 percent of the participants picked solution-oriented, 15 percent take responsibility, 12 percent have strong relationships and empathy, 12 percent calm and cool, 12 percent curious and open to innovations, 11 percent durable and strong, 9 percent stubborn and not giving up 8 percent flexible and adaptable, and 6 percent realistic and optimistic titles as their strongest resilience characteristics.

A talk titled "Future Professions in Fashion Design" was held on Monday, September 21, 2020, within the scope of the webinar series "Job Belongs to Knower of It: Entrepreneurship Models" organized by Istanbul Kültür University Vocational School. Dilek Düzgün, Chairperson of the Fashion Designers Unity and Solidarity Association, who participated in the event as a speaker, met with the students studying in fashion design departments of both our university and vocational high schools at our e-seminar. Future professions, new definitions of fashion designer, design and designer's place in Turkey and the world, job opportunities, the importance of branding in fashion design, the impact of COVID-19 period on the sector and especially the importance of sectoral NGOs that every designer should know, Dilek Düzenli drew a roadmap for young designers and conveyed her knowledge and experience to our participants.

Dilek Düzgün, who made evaluations in order for Turkish fashion and Turkish fashion designers to reach the position they deserve in domestic and international arenas, stated that she established the Fashion Designers Union and Solidarity Association in 2011 in order to give recognition to our fashion designers in our country, to ensure the unity of legal and real persons working in the fashion sector and to contribute to the solution of the problems in the sector. She explained that the Fashion Designers Unity and Solidarity Association is working on advancing, improving and sustainability of the work in the field of fashion design, textile and ready-made clothing, and talked about prominent projects. Organized by the Fashion Designers Union and Solidarity Association, known as "MTB Fashion Days", which allows designers to announce their names and brands to the sector, the famous choreographer Ferhan Aral organized art regulation of the fashion shows consisting of mixed and solo fashion shows in Oligark Kuruçeşme Istanbul as a great outdoor event. Also announced with examples that it contributed to young designers by performing it on 1-2 September 2020.

Dilek Düzgün, who answered the questions of the participants in the e-seminar moderated by lecturer Berrak Köten, lecturer Nilgün Demirhan and lecturer Neslihan Tokat Ozan, invited the students who attended the e-seminar to the Fashion Designers Union and Solidarity Center.

Dear Alumni,

We share with you the news of Retired Diplomat Erdogan Iscan, one of our graduates of 1971, published in Cumhuriyet newspaper on Monday, September 21, 2020.

Erdoğan İşcan who represented our country in the United Nations Committee Against Torture, also works as an instructor in the International Relations Department.

Regards,
KÜMED Board of Directors

As part of the webinar series "Job Belongs to Knower of It: Entrepreneurship Models" organized by Istanbul Kültür University Vocational School (MYO), a talk titled "Roadmap of a Good Enterprise" was held on Wednesday, September 16, 2020. In the webinar where Management Plus General Manager Haldun Ersen was the guest, the questions of the participants were also answered.

Ersen, who worked as a senior manager in many companies and founded the M.A.P Consulting and Training Company in 2002, He included his knowledge and experience in many subjects, especially entrepreneurship, management consultancy, urban transformation, smart cities, quality and human resources management. Ersen said “What we do is an indicator of what we will do, so the resume is important. Only if the learning process continues, improvement is possible." And emphasized the Kaizene culture, which is a philosophy of continuous improvement and development. Stating that progress takes place step by step together with rational knowledge, Ersen emphasized the importance of the concepts of respect for people, value to people, communication and being a team.

Stating that one of the most important secrets of being a good entrepreneur is to constantly ask ourselves the question of how to adapt myself to the better, Ersen drew attention to the importance of innovation and difference in the process leading to success. Therefore, Ersen stated that entrepreneur should start with questions such as; "How can I find something different?", "How can I integrate in a different way?", "How can I open new points by moving from a different point?" and also he stated that the good initiative should be different, not just a start-up. Stating that it is necessary to take a good initiative to make a difference, Ersen drew attention to the flexible tasks and positions created by the lean of organizations.

Research Assistant Burcu Gündoğdu, one of our faculty members in the Department of Foreign Languages Education, presented her paper titled "Systematic Review of Tech-supported Collaborative Creativity Practices in the Field of Education" at the "VII. International Eurasian Educational Research Congress"  held online between 10-13 September 2020.

IKU Vocational School (MYO) will organize a webinar titled “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation Applications in the Institutional World” to inform the participants. The event, where Microsoft Consulting Services Account Delivery Manager Esra Ergun will be a speaker, will be held on Thursday, October 1 at 21:00 on Adobe Connect Virtual Classroom Application.

I was born in Maden-Elazığ, 1949. I had my primary education in Murgul-Artvin, middle-high education in Karabük-Zonguldak, high-school education in İstanbul Kabataş High School. In high school, I won the TUBITAK Scientist Education Group Bursary (BIDEB). I graduated from Istanbul Technical University in 1972. I completed my Doctorate program between 1976-79 in Bath University, England with scholarship. I did my post-doctorate studies between 1981-82 in Manitoba and Victoria Universities, Canada. I worked as an academician in Libya-Beniwalid (1982-1984), an engineer in İstanbul-Netaş (1987-1995) and an academician in Yıldız Technical University (1995-2005).

Two years after my retirement from Yıldız Technical University, in 2007 I joined the İstanbul Kültür University, Department of Electronic Communication Engineering, which was newly opened.

I realized that children’s curiosity was melted when children who were born curious, came to universities. I understood that it was not our students’ fault, therefore, us academicians needed to graduate our students who have the “memorising culture” mindset, with the “understanding culture” mindset. I realised that if I wanted to contribute this action, it was important for me to use technology in the education. The tools I have met such as “CATS” “YOUTUBE” “ONENOTE” and I am still using these tools.

World is going from a hard process. How did you spend your pandemic period? What did this period change in your life?

For education studies I can say this pandemic period was positive. For my courses I used “Prezi” presentations. Then this program updated into “Prezi Next” and gained much more visual features. I transferred my presentations of my courses into this program. I transferred all my courses into CATS with the support of Ahmet Gökhan Uluçay from the Department Information Systems and Technologies. When my presentations changed, I needed to redo my Youtube videos. Now I am trying to renew them.

If you ask what it changed, just like everyone else, I renewed the way I see life. I started to think about the subjects such as, limitations of the freedom, the need for the change of the world’s rulers’ understandings.

We stayed apart from our offices and colleagues for a long time. In the days in which our campuses are getting crowded, what do you think about this new normal?

I understood that both around the world and in our country the education systems will change effectively with the technology. I realised that due to the pandemic, we, students, teachers, families, managers from every level, the education of the non-governmental organisations’ understandings need to change.

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