Atatürk University Rector Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı participated in the 6th Term Meeting of the Eastern Anatolia Project Region Universities Association (UNIDAP), hosted by Bingöl University with the presence of the Chairman of the Council of Higher Education (CHE), Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar.

CHE President Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar and CHE Executive Board Member Prof. Dr. Naci Gündoğan attended the 6th term meeting of UNIDAP, which was founded to unify the powers of universities and development agencies in the Eastern Anatolia Region, to conduct joint studies and contribute to the development of the region they are in. UNIDAP was established to conduct joint studies and contribute to the region's development. Rectors of Ağrı İbrahim Çecen, Ardahan, Bingöl, Bitlis Eren, Erzincan Binali Yıldırım, Erzurum Teknik, Fırat, Hakkari, Iğdır, İnonü, Kafkas, Munzur, Muş Alparslan, Sivas Bilim ve Teknik, Sivas Cumhuriyet, Van Yüzüncü Yıl Universities also attended the meeting.

Stating that bringing together academic, physical, scientific, and human resources, ensuring the development of partnership and cooperation processes in line with the realization of investments and services in a concise, planned, projected, effective, and efficient manner is the primary objective of UNIDAP, whose principal objective is social development,  Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar, President of Higher Education Council, stated that the realization of the project as an international university makes meaningful contributions to the region's higher education, and added: "At the annual meetings, we meet with the representatives of the EAP Region Universities Association to appraise the completed work and plan the road map for the years ahead. In this context, I am glad to meet with you, our esteemed guests, at the sixth UNIDAP conference."

President Özvar: "Our Universities Have Commenced the Institutionalization and Maturation Process."

President Özvar noted that the DAP Regional Development Administration and sixteen regional universities came together with the belief that unity is stronger and that the union of universities was established in 2014, saying, "We met with you in Erzurum exactly ten months ago and had a great time. I also expressed my thoughts on regional development and the role of institutions at the meeting. Higher education institutions have the propensity to be identical to one another, which I underlined in my speech. As I pointed out at the time, the fact that all universities strive to be similar and have the same objective is a hindrance to development and advancement. I mentioned that we believe it to be advantageous to specialize some of our institutions in instruction, some in research and technology creation, and others in regional development. At this time, I would like to clearly state: There are varying degrees of institutionalization among universities in Turkey. Nonetheless, nearly all of them have experienced a fairly intensive stage of institutionalization. Consequently, I am glad to see that our higher education institutions, particularly between 2006 and 2008, have emerged from the "establishment phase" and are now in the "institutionalization and maturation process."

Student and academician profiles should reflect diversity.

Diversity in the student and academician profiles of our higher education institutions and universities is one of the most fundamental expectations we have of these institutions. Therefore, on the one hand, we anticipate that you will attract students from throughout the nation, and on the other, we anticipate that you will provide an easily accessible and high-quality education service in your region. Students from various geographies who enroll in our universities will be the greatest asset to our institutions and the foundation of the future social network that will be established throughout the nation.

With these views in mind, I believe that our meeting today will be fruitful and contribute to the growth of our nation's higher education system and regional development-focused procedures. He concluded his speech by saying, "I would like to thank all UNIDAP member universities, especially our Bingöl University, which hosted our meeting, the DAP Regional Development Administration, and all those who contributed to the establishment of this organization, and to greet my respect to you all."

Rector Çomaklı "Our universities continue to be the architects of Total development" 

Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı, the rector of Atatürk University, evaluated the conference by stating that the issues of the provinces in the region were discussed, as were solutions in the fields of education, energy, industry, agriculture and animal husbandry, culture, and tourism, and stated,  Our universities, which are institutions that serve to improve and enhance the life quality in their region, as well as all of their functions and stakeholders, continue to be the architects of total development by bringing together each of our provinces in the EAP Region through the spreading of qualified information. I hope that the outcomes of the 6th term meeting of UNIDAP, one of the organizations in which collaboration has produced significant results, would be valuable to our country and region."

At the meeting, projects contributing to regional development were discussed.

Rector Çomaklı stated, in reference to the relevance of specialized programs for regional growth being discussed at the conference, that "each university delegate provided details regarding their university studies. At the conference, several initiatives that would contribute to regional development, covering agriculture and livestock, industry, human-social capital and social infrastructure, institutional capacity, infrastructure, and the environment, were examined. After becoming a Research University, we released information on both our studies and the initiatives we developed in the realms of science, research development, and social contribution. Our university formerly hosted the UNIDAP. I'd like to thank my esteemed colleague Prof. Dr. İbrahim Çapak, and everyone who contributed to this term's meeting at Bingol University. I'd also like to thank our YOK President, Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar, for his close attention, guiding recommendations, and contributions to our region, particularly their support for universities. he stated.

After the speeches, the agenda topics were appraised, the studies were discussed, the academic and scientific steps to be done were developed, and opinions on the prepared projects were exchanged.

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION DIRECTORATE – 07.11.2022