Atatürk University Rector Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı attended the Council of Higher Education Research Universities Meeting, which was organized under the leadership of the President of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar.

The meeting held at the Erciyes Cultural Center took place with the participation of  President Özvar, as well as the President of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, YÖK Members, rectors and vice-rectors of 23 Research universities,  3 of which are foundation universities.

In the opening speech, President Özvar expressed his ecpectation that the higher education institutions should be pioneers in raising qualified manpower and creating knowledge and technology experience in line with Turkey's development goals. Özvar said: "The Republic of Turkey has made higher education accessible throughout the country in recent years in order to increase the quality of the country's human resources and to meet the increasing demand for higher education by the young population. Moreover, Turkey wants to produce qualified information in terms of its primary objectives and to secure its economic returns. In our country, with the will of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the financial support programs for higher education have been enriched in order to increase both the quality of universities and their international competitiveness. We believe that the research universities could become  respected members of the global information society with their qualifications.”

President of YÖK Özvar: “First steps have been taken for Research Universities Support Program”

Pointing out that research universities will be allocated resources by the Presidency's Strategy and Budget Department every year according to the results of the performance evaluation, Özvar said: "The objectives of higher education institutions in development plans are important to us. We make efforts, and deal with the needs of our country. In this context, the priority areas in the 11th Development Plan have been matured as a result of consultations in which their matching with the fields of health, advanced technology and social sciences were assesed.  In addition to all these studies, as you know, we held various meetings with the Presidency of Strategy and Budget on the issue of providing special support programs for increasing the research capacity of universities. As a result of these productive meetings, we took the first step towards implementing the Research Universities Support Program on March 17, 2022 with the protocol we signed with our Strategy and Budget President. I would like to take this opportunity to thank, once again, on behalf of the universities, our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the generous support he has provided to research universities. I find it necessary to emphasize the importance of this step, especially in terms of being an application in which the intentions and initiatives of the research universities are directly implemented. I wish you good luck.”

TÜBİTAK President Mandal: “Our universities have important tasks in the development of human resources”

Speaking at the meeting, TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, on the other hand, stressed the importance of research management in universities, adding that there are special quotas reserved for Research Universities. "Our expectation from research universities in the development of human resources is that more undergraduate students are involved in the process. We have programs for this. Our 35,000 students from high schools and another 35 thousand from secondary schools have applied to the High School Students Research Project competition, however, there are just a thousand applications from universities. We have students at our universities with such syness, we are trying to deal with this," he said.

Prof. Dr. Gündoğan explained the importance of matching

A member of the Executive Board of YÖK Prof. Dr. Naci Gündoğan, on the other hand, gave information about the Research Universities Support Program Cooperation Protocol signed between the Presidency of Strategy and Budget and the Presidency of the Council of Higher Education on March 17, 2022. Gündoğan explained the results of the matching of research universities in the focus areas of Social, Health and Science/Engineering in which they are competent, as well as their priority areas in the 11th Development Plan, laying emphasis on its importance.

Rector Çomaklı: “We intensify Education-Training, Research and Development and Community Service Activities”

Making an evaluation on the subject, Atatürk University Rector Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı, on the other hand, stated that Atatürk University, a rooted education center with its 65-year history, scientific studies, research and contributions to the country's higher education, has gained a new dimension with the New Generation University Design and Transformation Project. "The change process has gained a new dimension with the mission of Research University. We continue our academic studies on and on." he added.

"20 State and 3 foundation universities, which were declared as Research Universities with the Research-Oriented Mission Differentiation and Specialization Program, continue their education, research and development and social service activities. Research universities will support the research and innovation ecosystem, as well as the development of new information and technologies, the training of experts, scientists and researchers who are competent in their fields, and their works are promoted by the Council of Higher Education within the framework of the pioneering roles and responsibilities they have undertaken in cosistent with their missions. The fact that performance-based resources will be transferred to research universities every year with the protocol signed between the Presidency Strategy and Budget Department and the Council of Higher Education in the past days will encourage and motivate the administration and researchers of the research universities and increase our international competitiveness. I hope that the road map drawn will be beneficial for our country and our universities. With these feelings and thoughts, I would like to thank our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of YÖK, TÜBİTAK President, YÖK Members and everyone who has a share in the positive implementation of this process." 

Atatürk University was matched in 15 fields within the scope of Research-Oriented Mission Differentiation and Specialization Program

As a result of the evaluations of the YÖK Presidency, Atatürk University was matched in the fields of Chemistry and Food Supply Security, which are among the sector headings in the 11th Development Plan. In addition, it took part in the matches proving its competence in Clinical Research-Vaccine in the field of Health, Smart and Innovative Materials in the field of Science / Engineering, Space Sciences and Satellite Technologies and Artificial Intelligence Technologies, and in Economics and Education in the field of Social Sciences. Atatürk University, which was matched in 15 fields in total, was among the top 5 universities that were matched with the highest number of fields among state research universities.

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION DIRECTORATE – 25.03.2022