Dear Students, Distinguished Families,

The COVID-19 process, which has turned into a great struggle in terms of health, economy and social dynamics, has also triggered radical changes in all areas of life.

First of all, we congratulate our students who fulfill their educational responsibilities with a maturity and endurance beyond their ages despite the restrictions that started with the reality of a pandemic. We would like to thank you, our dear families, for your sensitivity, understanding and solidarity during this time.

It is our common wish to ensure that our young people complete their university life in the best possible way. It is our primary duty to support students to clarify their perspectives in the near and medium term during this period when uncertainty affects their future outlook. With this awareness, we assure you that we are coordinating with precision all the requirements of the normalisation calendar as Kültür family.

Dear students and their families,

As Istanbul Kültür University, our works with the normalization calendar, whose foundations were laid throughout the country in May; We have structured within the framework of five headings: health-safety, education efficiency, business continuity, information and communication management, planning for the near future.

Our first and foremost topic is health and safety, as before the pandemic. In March, when we faced pandemic as a country, our health and safety practices, which we carried out high level of application and control, were increased one more step in May with the new normal. All our teams received their hygiene training to prepare for controlled normalization at our university. Sterilization of our physical areas was provided by expert teams. In addition to this, staff, visitor coordination, working principles, food and beverage services principles were prepared in writing together with the rules and sanctions to be followed, and shared with the Kültür family.

Our Department of Health and Support Services under the coordination of the General Secretariat has been tracking all enters and exits within the university in detail since June when the normalization calendar was announced and shared the necessary reports with the management.

Efficiency in education is another agenda that is equivalent to health-safety at the center of our university. Our students experienced a new educational application and assessment process as of March 23. Our distance education system CATS, which has been active as an infrastructure for 11 years but is used preferentially apart from compulsory courses, has turned into the basic media of education during the pandemic period. Our platform, which provides distance education, measurement and evaluation services to all our students from associate to postgraduate, is now much stronger with your opinions and suggestions, the conditions of the new normal and updates transferred in the context of instructional technologies.

For this reason, we have seen that we can continue the distance education that we had to pass during the pandemic period without interruption as in formal education. Our students did not waste time. We know the importance of this especially for students who have reached the graduation stage. Only this year we are experiencing the bitterness of not being able to hold our graduation ceremony on time as we are used to. However, we will be together in the first normalization process and experience the joy of graduation.

Pandemic seems to transform many methods and practices in higher education. Information regarding the use of distance education up to 40 percent in academic education, which YÖK shared with the public in recent weeks, is one of the strongest proofs of the transformation to be experienced. As Istanbul Kültür University, we would like to state once again that we have the infrastructure and experience to realize all the requirements of distance and / or face-to-face education in the context of academic, technological and business processes.

Sustainability in information and communication is to think within alternative scenarios; Our most valuable asset in times of crisis that require planning within the framework of short, predictable calendars. In addition to our portal titled covid19.iku.edu.tr, which we launched in May, in order to keep track of all the information and developments within the new normal conditions, we are working on a special digital platform for our students within the scope of back to school.

And plans for the near future… The 2020-2021 academic year, in which we continue to work and plan within different scenarios, will in a sense be a period when we manage the side effects of the pandemic. Our wish is to meet at our campuses in safe and healthy conditions without a second wave. However, when we interpret it from today's perspective, we can say that 2020-2021 will be the year of the precautions. At this point, our future plan is clear: Prevention in health and safety, sustainability in education service. As long as the conditions permit, we will continue to provide our students with all the social and cultural aspects of university life, all our facilities that will reinforce education and facilitate learning. Every decision taken in the process, every application to be made will be health and safety centered. Our main goal is not to interrupt the education process of any of our students. We would like to share that we are always open to your opinions and suggestions at this stage where all existing scenarios are evaluated with our academic, administrative staff and technological opportunities.

Dear Students and Dear Families,

Today, as İstanbul Kültür University, we focus on the quality of summer education in the short term and fall scenarios in the medium term, we have students at the center of every decision we make.

Pandemic is a process that will take time to heal, including possible new wave scenarios. It is more important than ever to preserve hope without ignoring the conditions of the day, the difficulties and the sanctions imposed by the crisis.

"How will we succeed?", "How will we overcome?" As for the Kültür family, in today's conditions where uncertainty prevails, we have a single and clear answer to these questions: together.

Hope to see you in healthy days.

 Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver                        Prof. Dr. Erhan Güzel

We started to use Yammer application as Istanbul Kültür University, which enables us to make better and faster decisions by connecting with the people in our institution, and allowing us to work efficiently by constantly interacting. By joining us, you can take advantage of the social network of our institution!

* Join or create groups relevant to your business and interests.
* Get answers to your questions, even if you're not sure who to ask.
* Collaborate confidently with contractors, customers or sister companies.
* Add documents, photos and videos in context to conversations.
* Stay connected with Yammer's iOS or Android mobile app.

Istanbul Kültür University (İKU) Chairman of the Board of Trustees Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver published a message about the IKU agenda, which has changed with the new Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19).

Dear Kültür Family,

The Kültür Agenda messages that I started to share on 28.03.2020 completed their 13th week. Every message I share in order to alleviate the uncertainty burden created by the pandemic is a bit; staying connected; it has shown me that the link established through open, objective, lean communication is much more valuable, especially in times of crisis. The feedback from you after my sharings inspired new ideas, eye-opening  discussions, and scenarios that illuminate our path. Thank you so much.

Dear Kültür Family,

First of all, when I look back; It was the most important achievement of the last three months to know that we left behind the shock phase with health as a Kültür Family.

Our gradual working order that we started as of June is currently among our most important agenda items. It even started to create its own routines. With the participation of our faculty deans, vocational school and institute directorates and head offices, we have expanded our working Network a little more. In the past week, there has also been a heavy demand from our academic and administrative staff to work on campus. For this reason, apart from the list shared by Kovkom between 15-30 June 2020, we have implemented a new arrangement in line with our health and safety policy for our personnel who wish to work at Ataköy. Within the scope of planning, we strongly request that our personnel who request to work in the office environment first contact the Support Services Department and comply with the incoming feedback sensitively.

Dear Kültür Family,

We are all making a great effort to ensure that our individual and institutional health is minimally affected by the realities of the pandemic. The decisions taken at this point, the measures applied, the changes experienced are not a weakness but a life strategy developed in order to survive the crisis mentally, socially and economically.

We have overcome a period where uncertainty and chaos are at the top; where norms, behaviours and roles that we have known or accepted until now go through radical changes; where it is difficult to perceive on different fronts and planes. The moment has come, we all feel “suspended” in all areas of society. But crisis management is an experience of courage and learning. To be able to put the subject of us instead of me, the most important thing is to be able to distance ourselves from the disaster scenarios created by bending the facts of the day and having no basis. I would like to take this opportunity to ask you very strongly that any information inside or outside of the institution that feeds on the climate of uncertainty created by the crisis, which abuses our natural and human concerns and which rasps our hope, our trust in each other and our institution, our work and life energy cannot be respected. I can assure you that the Board of Trustees, the Rectorate, the General Secretariat and Kovkom will continue to share with the principle of open, transparent and objective information-based communication in all the developments that may occur due to the side effects of the crisis, as they have shared until now.

Dear Kültür Family,

We are all part of a family that has a tradition and a future like Istanbul Kültür University. In addition to the destruction it has caused in health, the pandemic, which has targeted the balance of the world socially and economically, has Of course had its effects on us. But we have not been pacified as a victim or by victim psychology. We all tried to fulfill our roles and responsibilities in the best way possible within our work and life balances. We left behind 3 months as active, working and producing individuals. Now we will overcome the new normal phase ahead, without giving up rational and constructive optimism. As long as we trust ourselves and, most importantly, each other.

Finally, this weekend is very special for families. Today, I wish all my colleagues who are excited with their children in the LGS exam and wish success to our young people. Tomorrow is Father's Day. On this occasion, I congratulate the Kültür Fathers with their most sincere wishes.

Greetings,
Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver
Chairman of the board of Trustees of IKU

Stating that they have adapted to the distance education process, which has been transitioned with the global epidemic, from the first day, Asst. Prof. Sinan Kültür, Head of Istanbul Kültür University (IKU) Vocational School, said that, “10 years of distance education and education with our CATS system that we have We have successfully completed the period. Our experience in this matter gave us momentum in distance education.”

After the decision of the Institution of Higher Education’s (YÖK) stating that the distance education’s continuation due to COVID-19 pandemic, as İstanbul Kültür University which has a 10-year experience and is continuing to reach its students with the CATS (Computer Aided Training & Educational Services) system, Asst. Prof. Sinan Kesici stated that, “We have accomplished the semester without any breaks by synchronized and asynchronized ways with 26 formal education and 3 evening education.”

In the first period of the distance education process published by YÖK ‘distance education practices in universities during the global epidemic process’ survey results referring to the Asst. Prof. Kesici, said that “Among the vocational schools of the foundation University in Turkey according to the number of programs ‘in terms of the number of courses processed as live classes’ we ranked first. At the beginning of the distance education process, we were accredited by the General Directorate of Civil Aviation and authorized to provide ‘Dispeçer’ (Flight Operations Specialist) Training, which was achieved by very few universities in Turkey.”

We have also provided socialization of our students in the distance education process

In this process, interactive methods for remote access and to offer practical courses with labs available to students expressing Asst. Prof. Sinan Kesici, also said that “At the same time we organized Webinars (E-seminars) with experts in the field together with our students in the integration of theory and industrial practice in vocational education we provided. In this context, during the spring semester distance education process, we organized 54 webinars with the participation of 55 speakers who are sector teachers, followed by 2,550 students. During national holidays and special occasions, we organized various social activities to increase the morale and motivation of our students.”

An average of 150 students per day attended classes simultaneously

Asst. Prof. Sinan Kesici said that 470 courses were created online and offline in a virtual environment during the spring semester distance education process, “9,6 resources were shared for these courses, 64 assignments were created for the students and 5,507 announcement messages were transmitted. At the same time, 350 exams, quizzes, tests and projects were carried out in virtual environment except final exams, 2,220 synchronous courses were processed and these courses were registered and the students were allowed to do it again. A total of 32 thousand 500 students attended these courses with a total capacity of 82 thousand students, with an average of 150 students per day. For the distance education final exams, 550 online exams were held in virtual environment where approximately 2,750 students would participate simultaneously. Our preparations for the summer school, which will start in July, were completed with 997 courses as distance education.”

"The covid-19 pandemic process has shown us that online applications will become widespread and become a part of our lives." Asst. Prof. Kesici said, “We will continue to be a pioneer with the educational tools we offer to our students thanks to our experienced expert academic staff and technological infrastructure both in distance education process and in formal education. In the new normal process, we will continue to provide our students with practical experience in vocational training with our strong sectoral cooperation. With our agreements and planning within the scope of university-industry cooperation, it will be one of our main goals to increase the skills of our students to do business in vocational education and to bring qualified employees to various sectors.”

We have been actively using the tools of distance education for 10 years

Ender Riza Ekici, secretary general of IKU, who provides information about the CATS (Computer Aided Training & Educational Services) training and cooperation management system which is used in distance education process, said: “We have been actively using the CATS system since 2011. CATS is a learning management system and contains many tools. These tools can be grouped under three main headings: content management, collaboration and measurement and evaluation. During the covid-19 pandemic, we quickly and effectively adapted the distance education period with both our students and our academic and administrative staff. In our distance education process, which we started on March 23, we performed well with our system which hosted 11 thousand 235 students in 945 courses and completed the spring semester.”

The COVID-19 epidemic introduced a system in which borders were rapidly closed against a global health threat and elements such as citizenship and locality were brought to our lives. National sensitivities in this environment that emphasizes the strengthening of policies, together with a deep distrust heard was what kind of progress between Greece and Turkey? In this article, it is claimed that the epidemic did not have a significant effect in Turkish-Greek relations, which progressed with its dynamics in many other periods, and that pre-epidemic developments continued with minimal variations in the tactical field. In order to analyze the effect of the epidemic on bilateral relations, the date of February 26, when the virus was first detected in Greece and started to be accepted as an important security problem, should be considered between February 26, 2020 and May 12, 2020 as the epidemic period. Because the epidemic was transformed from a hypothetical threat to a real problem that should be evaluated together with other vital issues.

Assoc. Prof. Zuhal Mert Uzuner

Marmara University Faculty of Political Sciences

İKÜ Global Political Trends Unit (GPoT)

While the world is struggling with the outbreak of the New Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19), scientists are conducting many new studies on space. “Is the investigation of black hole and displacement of meteorites a threat to the world?” Assist. Prof. Ayşegül Fulya Yelkenci, one of the academicians of the Department of Physics who conducted research on Star Astrophysics, in order to answer such questions and to examine the studies, gave an interview to Gazete Kadıköy.

The first one of the webinar series "Business Belongs To Knower of It. Models of Entrepreneurs", organized by Vocational School of İstanbul Kültür University (IKU), was held on Thursday, June 18, 2020, at 21.00 on Adobe Connect Virtual Classroom Application. TİM Sectors Council Member, Vice President of the Istanbul Mineral Exporters Association, Chairman of the Board of Temmer Marble; Rüstem Çetinkaya, who participated in the event as a speaker, tried to guide the students with his speech titled "Being Successful in Entrepreneurship Ecosystem". Çetinkaya has analyzed both the current state of the industry and the natural stone products that are specific to Turkey and on the international scale. Çetinkaya who indicates that natural stone industry is a significant contribution to Turkey’s economy in terms of high export potential, domestic consumption, production, and the export of natural stone machines, evaluated the sector consumption of exports and imports in a detailed manner. Çetinkaya, answering the questions of the academics and the students, emphasized the importance of brand value in natural stone products, and exchanged the ideas with those who wanted to venture in this field. Çetinkaya, who shared his experiences on real examples in the light of the initiatives he carried out in Temmer Marble in London and Atlanta, inspired students and young entrepreneur candidates who joined the e-seminer.

The first issue of “KÜLTÜRK, Turkish Language and Literature Research Journal” (YAZ 2020), which was established within the IKU Department of Turkish Language and Literature and took its place among the refereed academic journals on the Dergipark platform, was published on 21 June 2020.

International Trade and Finance Department held the "2019-2020 International Trade and Finance Department Virtual Graduation Meeting" on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, at 21:00. Faculty members also attended the meeting and made good wishes about our students. Our students shared their feelings and thoughts in the meeting they attended with video talk. The graduation meeting ended after collective photography.

AstroInformation initiative in which Dursun Koçer and Ayşegül Yelkencili, members of IKU Physics Department, are members met with astronomy enthusiasts in more than 30 Youtube live broadcasts in 3 months. Working as the Turkish Society of Astronomy, the Society of Science, AstroBilgi organizes 3-day online summer schools for adults and children in the summer of 2020. You can visit https://www.youtube.com/astrobilgi for live broadcasts and http://www.astrobilgi.org to apply to online summer schools.

The new game HR Master from Studiobillion, which Omer Aslan, one of our students in the Department of communication and Design, co-founded, has been ranked at the top of the US charts and has been downloaded over 100 thousand times. We congratulate our students and team and wish them continued success.

StudioBillion was founded in Istanbul in 2017 by three entrepreneurs who came together with the goal of making fun games and applications. They achieved many achievements and awards in the competitions they participated in. StudioBillion, which has managed to take a different perspective on the mobile gaming industry, received its first investment from Tarvennventures last year. StudioBillion, which has managed to reach millions of players from various countries with the games they publish, plans to develop at least 3 mobile games per month in order to become a mobile game factory with more than 40 games in its portfolio by the end of 2020.

The fifth series of “jces.webinars: childhood under the quarantine” themed webinars organized in cooperation with Istanbul Kültür University and Journal of Childhood, Education & Society (JCES) was held on Thursday, June 25 with the title “Family Roles in Informal Learning Environments during COVID-19”.

In the webinar, whose scientific management is undertaken by JCES Founding Editor and Faculty of Education Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Toran and moderated by Necmettin Erbakan University faculty member Dr. Mehmet Mart; Dr. Maryam S. Sharifian from the United States (James Madison University) and Dr. Burcu Unlutabak (John Hopkins University) made their presentations. In the webinar on the role of families in the COVID-19 process and the informal learning environment for children; current research, suggested solutions in crisis situations, and the preliminary results of the research done by the speakers on COVID-19 were shared. Many people who were interested in immigration and children, attended the webinar which lasted about 1.5 hours,

Visit  https://www.j-ces.com/index.php/jces/jceswebinars to watch the webinar record, to reference and cite the webinar record.

The seventh guest of the “İstanbul Kültür University Dean Meetings” organized in cooperation with the Corporate Communication Department and Kültür Point will be our Dean of the Faculty of Art and Design Prof. Dr. Mehmet Üstünipek. In this process, where the education and training activities are carried out remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the activity in which the questions of the students will be answered will be broadcast live on IKÜ Instagram account on Saturday, 30 June at 15.00.

The eighth and last guest of the “İstanbul Kültür University Dean Meetings” organized in cooperation with the Corporate Communications Department and the Kültür Point will be the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Education Assoc. Prof. Sultan Bilge Keskinkılıç Kara. In this process, where education and training activities are carried out remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the activity in which students' questions will be answered will be broadcast live on IKU Instagram account on Monday, June 29 at 18.00.

IKU Vocational School of Business Management Program will hold a ceremony on Monday, June 29 at 19.00 on Adobe Connect Virtual Classroom Application to congratulate the top ranked students.

IKU Vocational School will organize a webinar titled “Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Employment in the Health Sector” where the future of economy, entrepreneurship, innovation and employment will be discussed in the light of new developments in the health sector. The event, where General Manager of Özel Florya Hastanesi and the Columnist of Sağlık Aktüel Magazine Mr. Kadir Öz will be the speaker, will be held on Monday, June 29 at 21:00 via the Adobe Connect Virtual Classroom Application.

IKU Vocational School will organize a webinar entitled “The Sector: Textile and Ready-to-Wear” to convey the future of the new textile industry, new approaches in the fashion and ready-to-wear industry, export culture and investment / employment issues to our students. The event, where the Head of the Board of Fashion and Apparel Federation Hüseyin Öztürk will be a speaker, will be held on Friday, July 3 at 21.00 via the Adobe Connect Virtual Classroom Application.

I was born in Istanbul in 1965. I am married and have two children. I started my first business life in 1986 at a foundation affiliated to Bakırköy Municipality. I quit this job because I want to raise my children myself. After a long break, I began to work in the Directorate of Student Affairs in Istanbul Aydın University in 2007 and returned to the education sector. And, in 2009, I started to work at Istanbul Kültür University Directorate of Student Affairs.

Since I started working at Istanbul Kültür University, I have gained very good friendships. Especially as an office, we are like a family. Because we spend most of the day together. Since I am the eldest of the office workers, I am their older sisters and sometimes I feel like we are of the same age. We have a great time together in a busy business tempo. However, even if we experience tensions when it comes to work, we can find solutions in responsible and busy jobs as a team.