Being an International Student Kastamonu Workshop, the third event of the project "Being an International Student through the Eyes of Youth" within the scope of Erasmus KA154 Support to Policy Reform carried out by the International Migration Association (UGDER), was hosted by our University between 27-29 November 2023.
The last day of the project, which was carried out within the scope of the Erasmus + KA154 project carried out by Harran University Migration Policies Application and Research Center, took place in the Technopolis building of our University.
On the last day of the workshop, our students met with our Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hamdi Topal and Harran University Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Tahir Güllüoğlu and shared their opinions and suggestions.
The program was attended by our Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hamdi Topal, Harran University Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Tahir Güllüoğlu, Harran University Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Abdulcenap Cevheri and Vice Rectors Prof. Dr. Kasım Yenigün, Prof. Dr. Ömer Küçük, General Coordinator of Foreign Relations M. Öztürk Akcaoğlu, academicians and students.
The opening speech of the program was made by Assoc. Prof. Hakan Gülerce, Director of Harran University Migration Policies Application and Research Center.
In his speech, Assoc. Prof. Gülerce underlined that the migration process is a two-way process both in terms of social acceptance by local students, a culture of welcome, and adaptation by immigrants to their destination.
After Gülerce's speech, the students introduced themselves and shared their opinions and suggestions about the project.
Our University, Harran University and Ankara Social Sciences University are among the partners in the project, which is supported by the Turkish National Agency within the scope of Erasmus+ projects in order to ensure the participation of young people in social life.
The project, which will continue until the end of 2023, aims to identify the problems experienced by international students studying in our country and to support the process of these students to live in harmony with the local society.
"Those who come to our country from different geographies bring with them a wealth of culture"
Our Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hamdi Topal, who took the floor after the students expressed their views, stated that those who come to our country from different geographies bring with them the richness of culture and pointed out that it is important to reveal the problems arising from cultural differences from the perspective of international students. Stating that a person living in Africa and a person living in Europe cannot be the same, our Rector stated that great efforts are needed to understand each other. In addition, our Rector underlined that he aims to attract students from many countries of the world to our university and pointed out that there is a lot to learn from different cultures and that the walls between us should be broken down.
"When we come together and talk in the right way, every problem will be solved in a short time"
Speaking after our Rector, Harran University Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Tahir Güllüoğlu said the following in his speech: “We do not know each other, but we are in the same environment, we are together, but we have become a youth that does not talk to each other and lives in their own worlds and communicates by phone. In fact, we need to leave this aside and become a youth that knows each other, talks and interacts with each other. The more we get to know each other, the better we understand how much we have to learn from each other. Following the speech, Rector Prof. Dr. Güllüoğlu stated that there are no problems that cannot be solved, and that people have the problem of not expressing the problems correctly, and underlined that if they come together and talk correctly, every problem will be solved in a short time.
At the end of the event, Youthpass certificates were distributed to the students who participated in the workshop. Being an International Student, Kastamonu Workshop ended after a group photo.
