Izmir University of Economics (IUE), which hosts many cultures by hosting about 100 students from different countries every year, has been accredited by the European Commission for 7 years. IUE, which fulfilled all the criteria requested by the European Commission in different areas such as digitalization, transparency in practices and internationalization, will be able to accept foreign national students from 175 universities with ERASMUS agreement and send students to these universities. 923 thousand euros (8.3 million lira) grant has been provided so far to 5 projects carried out by IUE in the international arena. Thanks to the accreditation, grants will continue to be given to new projects.

Hülya İncekara, Acting Director of IUE Office of International Affairs, drew attention to the importance of accreditation that will be valid between 2021-2027 and gave information about the projects carried out. İncekara said, “Universities must be accredited to carry out ERASMUS activities financed by the European Commission. The European Commission carries out a thorough inspection on many issues, from the opportunities provided by the university to the projects it prepares. Our university successfully passed all of these inspections and received the ‘ERASMUS Charter for Higher Education' and obtained the accreditation.”

CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CITIZENSHIP

İncekara continued her speech as follows: “There are 5 projects currently underway and planned to be completed by 2023. All these projects aim to conduct student and academic exchange programs efficiently. We aim to increase the number of cooperation with universities abroad and number of students benefiting from ERASMUS. 3 of the projects completely belong to the University. The other 2 are consortium projects carried out with Young Businessmen Association of Turkey (TUGIAD) and Manisa Celal Bayar University. Thanks to these projects titled "European Experience for Qualified Career Project" and "European Internship Opportunities Project", we create internship opportunities for students in various institutions in Europe and enable them to gain professional experience at an international level. The development of ERASMUS activities is very important for both our students and academics. Young people go abroad and get familiar with different cultures, learn about different education methods, and find the opportunity to shape their career goals. Interacting with their peers abroad, students establish social network and gain a global vision. They take an important step towards the path to world citizenship. Academics also meet with their colleagues abroad and carry out joint projects.”