MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Members of the Koç University Community,
July has been, for a long time, the month of undergraduate student recruitment and placement (i.e., the so-called ‘preference period’), fully consuming all our attention and time. However, this year, as the university entry exam system has changed and as the date of the exam moved to the end of June (because of the national elections), the schedule for the so-called ‘preference period’ is now set to be the first two weeks of August. We are thus quite excited and are ready for an intense August.
July is also the time for our younger guests (high school students as well as 4-13 year old kids) who come to our campus to attend our various summer programs.
Our English Language Center (ELC) for Kids program for 4-13 year olds has been running for 6 years and provides an opportunity for children to be immersed in 3 to 4 weeks of an entirely English language environment. Native English speaking tutors recruited from abroad guide the students through many activities throughout the day; close to 60% of the students stay in the dormitories while others come and go daily. Parents are generally delighted about the ELC for Kids program; we view these kids as our future students, as once they have seen this beautiful campus why would they ever want to go anywhere else? I would like to thank our General Secretary and his team for creating this wonderful program and making it a huge success.
Other Summer Programs at KU are tailored for high school students, giving them an opportunity to be a part of university life while allowing them to improve their academic background and gain experiences in developing their skills in coding and research.
Three main summer programs are offered by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA); Summer Academy for students who want to have an entry to university life, Summer English Camp for students who want to improve their English and Pre-College Programs for students who want to take college classes to get prepared for college in Turkey and abroad.
Two other summer programs are offered by our Office of the Vice President for Research & Development (VPRD); Summer Research Program for both high school and university students, and ‘An Introduction to Computer Programming’ program organized by Koç University in collaboration with Stanford University teachers and students for high school students. The Research program pairs students with research-active faculty, allowing them to receive unique first-hand exposure to cutting-edge scientific research. The program which runs in collaboration with Stanford University is highly specialized and involves intense lectures, assignments and group discussions giving students a very strong introduction to computer programming, a skill that is becoming ever more important in this day and age.
Even though our summer programs have been available only for the past few years, we are very encouraged to see that there is growing interest among the top high schools in Turkey to join our programs each year. I would like to thank our Vice Presidents for Academic Affairs and Research & Development respectively for their leadership and hard work in getting these programs off the ground and making them reach a point of high demand.
I am also very happy to announce that in our 6th year of participating in the “The Most Successful Koç Employees” award program, celebrating best practices within the entirety of Koç Group companies, our university won the first prize in the categories of Digitizers (Dijitalleşenler) and Creative Innovators (Yaratıcı Yenilikçiler). The "Çatalhöyük Research Project Archive" by our Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED) and "CYCLOPS – Projection Based Augmented Reality Computer" by College of Engineering Prof. Hakan Ürey and his team were the respective winners this year.
Each year we have attended the Award ceremony for this competition, we have not come empty handed and usually received the first place in the categories we participate in. This record surely sets the bar quite high for the future but I see these awards and recognitions as accolades on our quest to be a center of excellence as an institution. I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of standing together with our teams on that stage each year, in front of the top management of Koç Group. I wholeheartedly congratulate both teams for their exemplary work.
In July, we also commemorated those who have bravely lost their lives to protect our republic and our democracy during the coup d'état attempt against our government on July 15, 2016 and we offer our heartfelt condolences to their families and loved ones and also express our respects for those brave citizens who were wounded in the course of resisting this uprising.
On behalf of our entire university community, we once again strongly condemn this loathsome act against our democracy and the free will of our people.
At Koç University, we are determined to protect and preserve our republic, our democracy, our country and our future by working our hardest to capture excellence in education and in scientific research and to thereby pioneer the elevation of the standards of living of our country and our people.
Best wishes and regards to you all,
Umran Inan
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