2011-2012 Academic Year Has Begun

Bahçeşehir University started the 2011-2012 Academic Year with an opening and honorary doctorate ceremony. Presidents and academics from Technische Universität Berlin in Germany, San Diego State University in the USA and the University of Oxford in the UK attended the opening ceremony of the new academic year. At the ceremony, where an Honorary Doctorate was conferred on Prof. Dr. Şahin Albayrakof Technische Universität Berlin, guests also included Tayfun Acarer, President of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, and Turkcell CEO Süreyya Ciliv .

YALÇIN: "WE ARE RAPIDLY ADVANCING TOWARD OUR GOAL OF THE TOP 500 UNIVERSITIES"

Delivering the opening speech at the ceremony, President Prof. Dr. Şenay Yalçınpointed out that Bahçeşehir University has developed and grown with increasing momentum every year since its founding, and underlined that thanks to its international agreements, high-profile projects at home and abroad, and the progress achieved in university-industry cooperation, it is rapidly advancing toward its goal of becoming one of the world's top 500 universities. Yalçın said, "Today our university carries out active joint projects and studies with 105 distinguished universities from the USA to Japan, including prestigious world universities such as Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, TU Berlin, Oxford and Mukogawa."

STEINBACH: "BAHÇEŞEHİR UNIVERSITY'S RATE OF GROWTH IS ASTONISHING"

After Prof. Dr. Şenay Yalçın, who noted that, considering the increase in the number of international students, Bahçeşehir University attracts the most successful students not only within its own borders but also in its region, Prof. Dr. Jörg Steinbach, President of Technische Universität Berlin, took the floor. Expressing his pleasure at being in Istanbul, Prof. Steinbach said, "Bahçeşehir University's rate of growth and the point it has reached both astonish and excite me. You have long since crossed your borders. Our greatest wish is to cooperate in every field with Bahçeşehir University, which is now a well-known university in Europe."

YÜCEL: "NOW IS THE TIME TO TURN THE CURRENTS INTO ENERGY"

Next to take the floor was the Chair of the Bahçeşehir University Board of Trustees, Enver Yücel . Yücel began his speech by wishing everyone a successful new academic year and went on to talk about the goals he wishes to achieve in the new period. Stating that the necessary breakthroughs will be made in the fields of educational sciences, health sciences and medicine in the new academic year, Enver Yücel said, "We are on the shores of the Bosphorus, the heart of Istanbul. There is something we have known for years: we know there are strong currents in the Bosphorus. Now the time has come to turn these currents into energy. From here, I call on both the President of Bahçeşehir University and the President of Technische Universität Berlin: produce every move, technology and development that will turn this current in the Bosphorus into energy. The Bosphorus should now be lit by its own energy. I want to say clearly that I now want to look at the Bosphorus having earned it." Enver Yücel added that they have accelerated their efforts to admit students in health sciences and medicine in the coming period, and that they will invest 200 million dollars in education within 3 years, primarily in medicine. The ceremony ended with the conferral of an Honorary Doctorate on Prof. Dr. Şahin Albayrak of Technische Universität Berlin.