The Rationale for Hybrid Transformation

The diversity and speed of digitalization, the spread of technological development into every field, and the radical change in the most basic services that make up everyday life have in fact taken on an entirely different dimension with the pandemic. With the pandemic, the “new normal” has brought with it a number of irreversible changes, and different needs showing very large changes in a very short time have emerged. In education, too, this situation should not be seen merely as a temporary change; attention should be paid to the fact that it is a transformation and that this transformation must be designed with a strategic perspective and road map.

The BAU Family, which since its foundation has made it its mission to transfer innovation within the international academic community and to generate original added value, has prepared a road map to lead this transformation as an important stakeholder in the process. The focal point of this road map is “BAU Hybrid University Quality Management and Standards.”

BAU hybrid university quality standards are classified under five categories. In making these classifications, the aim was to maximize the contributions of stakeholders not only in teaching and learning processes but in all service processes that directly or indirectly affect them. Thanks to this standardization, all administrative and academic units will have measurable metrics for the minimum quality of service they must meet in the services they provide. On the other hand, by redesigning administrative and academic processes so that they feed each other and bringing them together functionally in a single melting pot, this structuring aims to reflect the interdisciplinary approach, which has become part of BAU's academic culture, in all of the university's operational processes. In defining the Hybrid University, the definition must first be expressed clearly and explicitly from a managerial perspective.

In this context, it should be emphasized that it is a new management approach and process in which the university's traditional hierarchical structure is preserved while being blended with an agile management approach in an optimal balance. At this point, with this optimal balance, a matrix management approach has been adopted that includes agile units alongside the central hierarchical structure. In terms of managerial communication, our task is to present the traditional and agile approaches as an original model compatible with both our own system and the global system.

In terms of educational processes, the definition of the Hybrid University refers to supporting all learning and teaching processes at BAU with educational technologies so that learners achieve higher outcomes in all areas of development, including academic, psychosocial, career, physical, ethical and intellectual development, and to designing and developing their higher education experience in line with the needs of the age, by gaining an interdisciplinary perspective, focusing on scientific work and original production, and equipping them with 21st-century skills and technological competencies. Accordingly, this transformation aims to individualize the university learning experience in an effective, efficient and engaging way by enriching learning experiences such as face-to-face and online education, interdisciplinary education, global learning experiences, and industry, research and application centers and the entrepreneurship center. In short, it should be seen as the redesign of learning processes on and off campus (online, global, internships, etc.), and it should be clear that face-to-face learning and the rich, instructive life lessons of the campus are not being abandoned.

Structured with a holistic systems approach, the BAU hybrid university model also aims to develop research and development in quantity and quality in line with BAU's goals, to review and automate all processes in order to improve the student experience and the quality of education, and to increase the local, national and international impact of the social benefit generated. To achieve all these goals, the entire administrative and academic structure must work in an integrated manner, be accessible within a hybrid working arrangement, and establish data-driven decision-making mechanisms that can deliver fast and accurate results.

Behind this approach lies not only the idea of overcoming the challenges encountered during the pandemic, but also the passion to be a pioneer of the modern educational approach, which is evolving into a very different structure in a globalizing world. In this context, the aim is to follow a road map that strengthens learning outcomes by focusing on improving the quality of education at every step taken.

This change particularly emphasizes the more effective and efficient delivery of individual-specific, in other words individualized, services that take into account the individual's own core areas of development, such as academic, physical, psychological, sociological, intellectual, ethical and career development, which are part of BAU's culture. In addition, other important goals include facilitating the transfer of learning outcomes to professional life; developing intercultural competence through learning, experience, and international professional observation and experiences by making effective use of the rich opportunities offered by the BAUGLOBAL network; and strengthening our alumni network internationally by increasing its support and impact among stakeholders.

Considering all these aims and goals, a hybrid learning experience should be understood as students gaining experience off campus, in R&D, in industry and in the international arena, without limiting activities to the campus. In this context, it is important to encourage the enrichment of the development and career process through international R&D and industry collaborations, programs such as Erasmus and World Exchange, and BAUGlobal certificate and dual-up programs. All of these goals aim to make the learning experience accessible to students anytime and anywhere with an agile approach, to increase efficiency in the design of on-campus activities, and to strengthen 21st-century competencies by basing the entire learning experience on an interdisciplinary perspective.

In summary, making every stage of the learning and teaching process technologically and institutionally accessible, reachable and individualizable, and ensuring continuous data-driven improvement, is an important focus of the Hybrid University approach.