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Bahçeşehir University (BAU), Türkiye's face to the world, opened the 2014-2015 academic year with a magnificent ceremony.
Many prominent academics, business people, politicians and students attended the opening ceremony, held simultaneously with BAU International University Washington DC and BAU International University Berlin.
Following a moment of silence and the National Anthem, the first speech of the opening ceremony was delivered by BAU President Prof. Dr. Şenay Yalçın. Yalçın said: "We are entering this academic year, too, under the influence of significant natural and social events taking place in the world and particularly around our country: the workers we lost in occupational accidents in recent months, and the ongoing conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Africa, Ukraine and Palestine. Despite all these problems around us, we are entering our new academic year with the happiness of living within the Republic of Türkiye, a country with a democratic consciousness and a strong state tradition. We believe in respecting people and nature; that humanity will find happiness in a culture of living together; that races, religions, languages and sects are the beauties of humanity; and that humanity should forget arms and bloodshed and devote its resources largely to health, nutrition and education. Like all sensible people in our country, we wholeheartedly support economic stability, democratization, and peace and tranquility in every corner of our 780 thousand square kilometers."
"WE ARE THE FOUNDATION UNIVERSITY WITH THE MOST INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS"
Stating that, as Bahçeşehir University, they have always considered it their duty to support every positive step taken in the world and to make scientific and academic contributions, BAU President Prof. Dr. Şenay Yalçın said: "As a result of our work, which we always carry out with a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, student preferences for our university have reached a proud level today. Including the international students who joined us this year, the number of students we serve exceeds 18 thousand. With students from more than 90 countries, we remain the foundation university with the largest number of international students. The world has now understood the importance of tearing down walls and building bridges. The globalization process requires university students to be educated as world citizens equipped to work anywhere in the world. For this reason, the validity of our University's principle of 'internationalization in higher education' is clearly evident."
"BAU IS A WORLD UNIVERSITY"
Emphasizing that they are an international university with campuses opened in many countries around the world, Yalçın addressed the students: "You have a very strong academic staff and respected professors from around the world who are authorities in their fields. You should benefit from them to the fullest. BAU, a world university, is not only in İstanbul; it is now in Boston, Rome, Casablanca, Busan, Hong Kong, Washington DC, Toronto, Silicon Valley, Japan, Cologne and Berlin. You should aim to make greater use of Bahçeşehir University's global network and all its opportunities."
"AN ENVIRONMENT OF ORIGINAL AND FREE THINKING IS A FUNDAMENTAL NEED"
Stating that the cornerstone of a university is an environment of original and free thinking, Prof. Dr. Şenay Yalçın said: "No matter how magnificent its equipment and facilities, the indispensable, vital need and cornerstone of a university, as I emphasize at every opportunity, is an environment of original and free thinking. The source that creates this environment and makes it continuous and lasting is the university's academic staff. I am happy to be working with such a staff at our University. I would like to express my respect, affection and trust to each of you, my academic colleagues, who have taken on the honorable duty of equipping our young people, our source of pride and the guarantee of our future, with science and virtue, and raising them as 'generations free in thought, free in conscience and free in knowledge,' as the Great Atatürk pointed out. I extend the same appreciation to the hardworking and dedicated members of our administrative and service staff, who make great contributions to our education processes."
"WE ARE MOVING FORWARD WITH FIRM AND CONFIDENT STEPS"
Stating that each of Bahçeşehir University's centers is moving forward with firm and confident steps and that this great success has been achieved in only 16 years, BAU Chair of the Board of Trustees Enver Yücel said: "Today we are excited to be launching not only the academic year of Bahçeşehir University but also the academic year of our two new universities. This time next year, we hope to be opening the academic year of our Batumi university as well. Each of Bahçeşehir University's centers is moving forward with firm and confident steps. All these achievements were realized in 16 years. I congratulate my valued colleagues and our academics who strove for, contributed to and achieved these successes."
THE WORLD'S EYES ARE ON BAU
Emphasizing that they are one of the leading education groups in the world and the region, Enver Yücel said: "Everything we do and every success we achieve is followed not only in Türkiye but all over the world. After health, education tourism has now become one of the world's important economic concepts. The main reason for this is that countries have realized that education is one of the key driving factors of their economies. In the 2012-2013 academic year, the contribution of international students to the American economy was 24 billion dollars, and these students created employment for 313,000 people. As a country, we are still far behind such an interaction. Of course, it is gratifying that BAU reaches the largest number of international students in Türkiye. I congratulate and thank our colleagues who tour the world every year to promote our university in the international arena."
"TÜRKİYE MUST NOT MISS THE INFORMATION AGE"
Stating that none of the more than 190 Turkish universities has established a university or center anywhere in the world, Enver Yücel said: "Türkiye must not fall behind in this race. Having missed the industrial revolution, Türkiye must not miss the 'information age.' The one and only way to catch the information age is to produce science and to use science for the benefit of humanity. This can only be achieved under the leadership of universities. Universities must produce science and lead the way. We need to embrace the understanding that 'education is for people' and focus our knowledge production on the benefit of humanity."
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