An Exemplary Step for Equality in Education

The project, carried out under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Nesrin Oruç Ertürk, the Director of IEU's Continuing Education Center, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aynur Yürekli, a faculty member of the School of Foreign Languages, was completed in three years and involved educators from Turkey as well as Belgium, Greece, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Germany. The primary focus areas of the project were ethnic, cultural, and racial differences, gender, and disability.

IMPORTANT RESOURCE

A separate education content was prepared for each topic. These materials were shared for free through a website, making them accessible to educators and educational institutions worldwide. Thanks to the project that contributed significantly to efforts to ensure international equality in education, a very valuable resource has been made available globally after the project's completion. Following the project's completion, an international conference was held at IEU with the participation of representatives from stakeholder countries. The outcomes of the project were discussed and evaluated in the meeting attended by approximately 200 people.

INCLUSIVITY AND EQUALITY

Stating that they act with the belief that education should be provided within the principles of inclusiveness and equality, the Director of IEU Continuing Education Center, Prof. Dr. Nesrin Oruç Ertürk said, “Borders have been lifted in university education. Millions of students worldwide choose foreign countries for university studies. Some students may face difficulties in the countries they go to due to gender, race, and cultural differences. We wanted to prepare educational content, especially for faculty and institutions, to guide them in such situations. For example, we wanted to explain how an educator should act if they witness any form of discrimination, and what they can do regarding this. We elaborated on these in our educational module and our book titled Inclusive Education.'

ONE OF THE LEADING WORKS

Expressing that students can fail due to various factors such as cultural differences, disability, and gender, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aynur Yürekli, a faculty member of IEU's School of Foreign Languages, said, “When starting the project, our aim was to raise awareness among international educators and contribute to students receiving education under better conditions. If a student feels uncomfortable or unsafe, their chances of success decrease significantly. We did not want to ignore this issue and implemented this project. We put a lot of effort into it over three years. We visited stakeholder countries and participated in meetings, met with well-known figures worldwide to prepare the education portal. We received videos and articles from them. We included over 50 videos in the educational module. We have achieved one of the most detailed works prepared for educators and educational institutions in this field.”