Bahçeşehir University Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary

Bahçeşehir University organized the "BAU 25th Anniversary Award Ceremony" especially for its 25th founding anniversary. At the event, academics who contributed to science through research and international publications and all employees who contributed to the institution were honored with awards. Saying that he is delighted that BAU has entered the top 500 universities in the world at a quarter century of age, BAU Chairman of the Board of Trustees Enver Yücel said, "My greatest motivation is my love for my country."

The program, held at BAU Beşiktaş Campus, was attended by BAU Chairman of the Board of Trustees Enver Yücel, BAU President Prof. Dr. Şirin Karadeniz, members of the BAU Board of Trustees, and BAU academic and administrative staff.

"Happily, We Have Reached Our Goal"

Telling the founding story of the university, Enver Yücel said: "This year, in which we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Türkiye, has a special significance for the Bahçeşehir University family. This year marks the 25th founding anniversary of Bahçeşehir University, the flagship of the BAU Global network. We feel the justified pride and happiness of accompanying a quarter century of our Republic with our university, which we founded to educate the leaders of the future. Looking back, we had difficult days, but we never gave up; we did not abandon our dreams, we kept going, and we all worked wholeheartedly together with all our determination. When we set out back then, we had set a goal: to be among the top 500 universities in the world within 25 years. Now, as we leave a quarter century behind, happily, we have reached our goal. According to the 2023 data of Times Higher Education, the world's most prestigious ranking organization, our Bahçeşehir University ranked 5th among universities in Türkiye and 374th among all world universities in the field of 'Industry Income.'"

"My Greatest Motivation Is My Love for My Country"

Stating that they have worked with determination for 25 years, Enver Yücel continued: "I have been leading the BUEK group for nearly 50 years. In this process, I have both learned and taught every single day. While striving for all of this, my greatest motivation has been my love for my country. If I can leave useful and beneficial things to my homeland and to humanity, especially if I can be of benefit in any area my country needs, then the greatest happiness in the world will be mine. With the understanding that our young people deserve the highest quality education and cannot fall behind the children of foreign countries, we have always made decisions on a universal scale. That is why I have been traveling abroad for roughly 30 years and visiting the best schools in the world. When we say we have achieved all this in 25 years, everyone is amazed. There is no such example in the developed countries of the world. Not in America, not in Europe, not anywhere else. By reaching a very good place in the world rankings, we have become an institution educating 30,000 students, including 7,500 international students. But this is not enough. We need to continue to educate the young generation in a qualified way. If we can educate them well, we will have an important place in the world of tomorrow. Investing in any sector other than education is futile."

"We Have Always Produced for 25 Years"

Saying at the ceremony that they have worked together with ever-increasing momentum for 25 years, BAU President Prof. Dr. Şirin Karadeniz said: "We are happy to be with you at our award ceremony in BAU's 25th year. As you know, this year we are also celebrating the 100th anniversary of our Republic. On the path of our great leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who said 'The truest guide in life is science,' our university has witnessed a quarter of this century and will continue to do so. On this occasion, we thank everyone who contributed to BAU's quarter-century of success. This year, we are starting to celebrate our quarter century with the BAU 25th Anniversary Award Ceremony. There will be various scientific events and conferences throughout the year, and many wonderful events with our alumni and students. When we look back at what has happened in 25 years, we see that, as scientists, we have produced pioneering scientific outputs in the world. When we look at our publications in research, we have scientific outputs in almost every country in the world. At the same time, we have obtained projects from major organizations around the world and successfully carried them out. We have become a model university for our country in terms of internationalization. In all our faculties, we have chosen education models and approaches that are embedded in practice, and within the scope of the COOP model, we have included business-life practices in the university process together with the sector. We have constantly updated these and made improvements on them, asking what could be new and different. In the coming years, by adding our innovative and pioneering work on top of all this, we will continue to grow with quality and to educate young generations in the light of science. May we have many more 25 years."

BAU 25th Anniversary Awards Find Their Winners

The BAU Office of the President presented awards to faculty members conducting project work, namely the BAU Social Impact Award, the BAU Contribution to Science Award and the BAU Honor Award. First, Dr. Ergün Akgün, Chair of the BAU Hybrid Transformation Executive Board, who carries out work in the fields of distance education, measurement and evaluation, educational technologies, educational data mining and artificial intelligence, was deemed worthy of the BAU Social Impact Award for his contributions and work in the field of education in Türkiye. Dr. Ergün Akgün's award was presented by BAU Chairman of the Board of Trustees Enver Yücel and Bahçeşehir University President Şirin Karadeniz.

The BAU Contribution to Science Award, given every year to faculty members who have achieved success in areas such as scientific work, number of scientific articles, number of citations, and representation in national and international scientific institutions, was received by BAU Faculty of Pharmacy Dean Prof. Dr. Serdar Durdağı, known for his drug research against the coronavirus. Durdağı, who has two books and seven book chapters published on computer-aided drug design and approximately 180 research articles with an h-index of 39 in peer-reviewed medicinal chemistry and computational biophysics journals, received his award from BAU Chairman of the Board of Trustees Enver Yücel and Bahçeşehir University President Şirin Karadeniz.

The BAU Honor Award was given to Prof. Dr. Nilüfer Narlı, Founding Head of the BAU Department of Sociology and founding director of TOSAM, who has dedicated her life to science and has guided social life and education with her publications, books and scientific work. Narlı, who carries out work on gender, society and politics in Middle Eastern countries, Islamic movements, irregular migration, civil-military relations and good governance, received her award from BAU Chairman of the Board of Trustees Enver Yücel and Bahçeşehir University President Şirin Karadeniz.

Finally, at the award ceremony, plaques were also presented to academic and administrative staff who have completed their 10th, 15th and 20th years at the institution.