R&D and project era at Izmir University of Economics
Izmir University of Economics (IUE) has raised the bar of success in many areas from R&D activities to the projects developed, according to the "University Monitoring and Assessment General Report 2019" published by the Council of Higher Education. IUE, the most preferred foundation university in the Aegean Region, increased the number of projects jointly carried out with the industry from 13 to 22 compared to the previous year. While the number of publications cited within the university increased from 43 to 54, the investment budget rate allocated to R&D was 29.27 percent. IUE Rector Prof. Dr. Murat Aşkar said, “We will continue to work and prepare projects, based on science, technology, innovation and production, in order to ensure the development of our university and the training of our students under the best conditions.”
The Council of Higher Education (YOK), as a result of a meticulous examination, announced a report covering the assessment in the areas of "education and training", "research and development, project and publication", "internationalization", "budget and financing", "service to society and social responsibility". According to the report, while the number of electronic publications per student in the library was 69.19 in 2018, this number reached 103.49 in 2019. While the number of national and international research scholarships granted by TUBITAK increased from 3 to 13, the rate of graduates in the follow-up system increased from 60.4 percent to 98.9 percent. The number of R&D projects supported by national and international private or public institutions and organizations increased from 5 to 25 in 2019.
THE INCREASE CONTINUED IN 2020
IUE Rector Prof. Dr. Murat Aşkar stated that they are training global and demanded human resources on campus where 8 languages are spoken. Prof. Dr. Aşkar said, “The report prepared by YOK is for 2019, but we continued our progress in 2020 as well. We continued to develop projects, make collaborations, and open centers despite the difficult pandemic conditions. We will get more in return for these in the coming period. Universities cannot be institutions that only focus on today. Universities must be centers that plan and predict the future and educate their students in this direction. With this in mind, we make technological moves for the next 20 years and determine strategies. The difference of Izmir Economy starts here.”
INVESTMENT IN R&D
Prof. Dr. Aşkar continued as follows: “We allocated 1/3 of our investment budget to R&D activities. We increased cooperation in the industrial field. We turned to research, project, production. If we aim to raise the entrepreneurial generation that Turkey needs, if we aim to bring in young people, who are not afraid of trying, researching and making mistakes, in our country, we must provide a suitable environment for our students. At this point, we attach great importance to R&D studies, and we are particularly sensitive to this issue.”