‘OUR GRADUATES WILL NOT RUN BUT FLY’
Izmir University of Economics (IUE) is excited about starting off 2013 – 2014 Academic Year with its new students. IUE opened its doors for the 13th time to make its students reach their dream careers. The first ceremony of the new academic year started with observing a moment of silence. Ekrem Demirtaş, IUE President of the Board of Trustees, Prof. Dr. Tunçdan Baltacıoğlu, IUE Rector, academicians, graduates and students observed a moment of silence. Singing the National Anthem was followed by laying a wreath at Ataturk Monument at Cumhuriyet Square.
The second ceremony took place at IUE Conference Hall, where esteemed guests Rifat Sait, AKP Izmir Parliamanter, Celal Kocabaş, Izmir Regional Courts of Justice, High Court Chief Prosecutor, Prof. Dr. Seyfullah Çevik, Gediz University Rector, Antony Willy Buttigieg, Izmir Regional Consul General of England, Uğur Umar, Consul of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and academicians, graduates, and students attended. President Demirtaş emphasized in his opening speech that they aimed for their graduates to proceed very quickly in their life journeys. Demirtaş said, “The world is spinning too fast.” He said they worked very hard to offer an education system and programs that match the dynamism of the changing global structure so that each graduate could have a content and prosperous life.
New campus news
President Demirtaş pointed out that they held a search conference with a wide range of participants last week in order to come up with the best strategies for IUE for the next ten years, and that new progresses and changes were on their way. Demirtaş also delivered the good news about a new campus space in the 13th Academic Year Ceremony. He said, “We won the legal case concerning our Güzelbahçe Campus being declared as afforestation zone by the Metropolitan Municipality. Currently, we are working on the construction plans. I believe that in 2014 we will no longer be able to see goats and sheep grazing there. It will become a Valley of Science with social facilities, where our students will receive education and training.”
The journey will continue with famous consultants!
President Ekrem Demirtaş indicated that they would be working with universal consultants. He said that they would be working with Prof. Dr. Seeram Ramakrishna, Lecturer at National University of Singapore, and a leading name on Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, and Prof. Philip J. Kitchen, who was listed in the Top 50 list of gurus who have influenced the future of marketing. President Demirtaş stated the following in reference to Ataturk’s speech on the 13th Academic Year Ceremony invitation:
“During the Economic Congress held in Izmir in 1921, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of our Republic, stated ‘The New Turkish State foundation will not be based on cold steel but on economy. New Turkish State will not be a world conqueror state, but a state of economy’. It has been 92 years. We’ve come a long way since then. But there is a never ending competition in the world. We will follow the footsteps of Ataturk with the soldiers of Ataturk we raise, and make it among the top ten economies in the world.”
Responsible graduates…
IUE Rector Prof. Dr. Tunçdan Baltacıoğlu stated that total of one thousand 450 new students started this academic year. The Rector addressed the youth by saying, “A harder test than the University placement test which led you to here is the test of ‘being a university student’ which I wish for all of you to pass. I wish from the bottom of my heart that you succeed in this real test and become honest, fair, hard-working adults with a broader world view who take responsibility for the world they live in.”
Prof. Dr. Baltacıoğlu stated that since its establishment, they worked hard to create a modern university with high standards, and the real goal was to make the youth not responsible for themselves and to their families only but to the world and its people also. Prof. Dr. Baltacıoğlu reminded that IUE ranked in 6th place in Turkey, and 1st place in Aegean and Mediterranean regions among the universities established after 2000 based on ODTÜ-URAP Lab results. The Rector also stressed that IUE ranked in 5th place in terms of “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Culture” among all Turkish universities in 2012 Index for Innovation and Entrepreneurship announced by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology.
Science centre goal
Prof. Dr. Baltacıoğlu mentioned that the second techno park of Izmir, “Izmir Bilimpark”, which is being established by the lead of Izmir Chamber of Commerce and IUE, achieved great progress in order to start serving in the coming months. He also stated that they contributed a lot to campaign studies for Izmir’s candidacy to EXPO 2020. He said they accomplished another first by becoming a party to UN’s Global Compact. Prof. Dr. Baltacıoğlu stated the following:
“We continue to expand with our departments, students, academicians, and our graduates. Departments of Civil Engineering and Health Management admitted students for the first time this year. Next year we will have new faculties, Faculty of Medicine to begin with, and new departments. We start off with an education approach that involves many basic and applied sciences from health to engineering, design to law, from communication to management with associate programs all the way to doctoral programs. We are working very hard to become an important science centre not only in Izmir or Aegean Region, but in our country and worldwide. Instead of adopting a mechanical education system that turns students into operators of the area they studied in, we offer a brand new education system that will enable them to be raised as individuals with a broad vision and life stance.”
Pınar İşgören, who was admitted to IUE Department of Translation and Interpretation with the highest score, stated that she was very excited to start studying at IUE and she was glad to have realized her goal after a long marathon.
