Bahçeşehir University organized the "BAU 25th Year Award Ceremony" for its 25th anniversary. At the event, academics who contributed to science with research and international publications and all employees who contributed to the institution were awarded. Enver Yücel, Chairman of BAU, said he was happy to be in the top 500 among the world universities at the age of a quarter and said, "My biggest motivation is my love for my country."
BAU Chairman Enver Yücel, BAU President Prof. Dr. Şirin Karadeniz, BAU Board of Trustees members, and BAU academic and administrative staff attended the ceremony at BAU Beşiktaş Campus.
"We Are Glad To Have Reached Our Goal"
Enver Yücel told the story of the university's establishment and said, "This year, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, has a special importance for the Bahçeşehir University family. This year is the 25th anniversary of Bahçeşehir University, the flagship of the BAU Global network. We are experiencing the justified pride and happiness of accompanying the quarter century of our Republic with our university, which we set out to train future leaders. When we look back, we also had difficult times, but we never gave up on our dreams. We continued on the road and worked hard together with all our determination. At that time, we set a goal while starting. As a result, we will be among the top 500 universities worldwide in 25 years. Now, as we leave behind a quarter of a century, we are glad to reach our goal. Bahçeşehir University ranked 5th among universities in Turkey and 374th among all world universities in the field of "Industry Income," according to Times Higher Education 2023 data, the world's most prestigious rating agency.
"My Biggest Motivation Is My Love For My Country"
Enver Yücel stated that they have been working with determination for 25 years and continued his words: "I have been leading the BUEK group for almost 50 years. In this process, I both learned and taught every day. While making efforts for all these, my biggest motivation is my love for my country. If I can leave useful things to my country and humanity, especially if I can contribute to anything that my country needs, then the greatest happiness in the world will be mine. We have always made a universal decision with the understanding that our young people deserve the highest quality education and cannot be left behind by children from foreign countries. That's why I've been traveling abroad for almost 30 years and visiting the best schools in the world. Everyone is amazed when we say that we have achieved these in 25 years. There is no such example in the developed countries of the world. Not in America, Europe, or anywhere else. We have come to a very good place in the world ranking and have become an institution that provides education to 30 thousand students and 7 thousand 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 be important in tomorrow's world. Investing in a sector other than education is futile."
"Throughout 25 Years, We Always Produced"
BAU President Prof. Dr. Şirin Karadeniz said in the ceremony that throughout 25 years, they always worked together with an increasing momentum; "We are pleased to be here with you in BAU's 25th-year award ceremony. As you know, we are also celebrating the 100th anniversary of our Republic. Our Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk has said, "The most genuine guide in life is science." And following his path, our university witnessed the quarter of this century and will continue to do so. As a result, we thank everyone who contributed to BAU's quarter-century success. This year we are starting to celebrate our quarter age with Award Ceremony. Scientific events, conferences, and activities will be conducted with graduates and students throughout the year. When we look back at what has happened in 25 years, we, as scientists, have produced leading scientific outputs worldwide. When we look at our publications in the field of research, we have scientific outputs in almost every country in the world. At the same time, we have received projects from important institutions of the world and successfully carried out these projects. As a result, we have become an exemplary university for our country at an international level. We have chosen the educational models and approaches in the practice of all our faculties. We have also included the practices in business life to the university process through the COOP model. We constantly updated them and improved what could be new and different. In the coming years, we will continue to grow and raise young generations in the light of science by adding our innovative and pioneering works. May we have many 25 years."
BAU 25th-Year Awards Were Given
BAU Rectorate presented the BAU Social Benefit Award, BAU Contribution to Science Award, and BAU Honor Award to the faculty members who carried out projects. Firstly, BAU Hybrid Transformation Executive Board Chairman Dr. Ergün Akgün, who carries out studies in the fields of distance education, measurement and evaluation, educational technologies, educational data mining, and artificial intelligence, received the BAU Social Benefit Award for his contributions to Turkey and his work in the field of education. BAU Chairman Enver Yücel and Bahçeşehir University President Şirin Karadeniz presented the award.
BAU Faculty of Pharmacy Dean Prof.Serdar Durdağı, who made a name for himself with his drug studies against coronavirus, received the BAU Award for Contribution to Science. This award is given to faculty members who have succeeded in scientific studies, the number of scientific articles, citations, and representation in national and international scientific institutions. BAU Chairman Enver Yücel and Bahçeşehir University President Şirin Karadeniz presented the award to Durdağı, who has published two books and seven book chapters on computer-aided drug design and has approximately 180 research articles with an h-index of 39 in peer-reviewed medical chemistry and computational biophysics journals.
BAU Honor Award was given to BAU Sociology Department Founding President and TOSAM founding director Prof. Dr. Nilüfer Narlı, who devoted her life to science with her publications, books, and scientific studies. BAU Chairman Enver Yücel and Bahçeşehir University President Şirin Karadeniz presented the award to Narlı. She works on social-gender, society, and politics in Middle Eastern countries, Islamic movements, illegal immigration, military-civilian relations, and good governance.
Finally, at the award ceremony, academic and administrative staff who completed their 10th, 15th, and 20th years in the institution were given plaques.
TR
