YÖKAK President Prof. Dr. Ümit Kocabıçak informed the staff of our university about the "Importance of Accreditations in Universities and Accreditation Processes" at the meeting held at Kastamonu University Central Library Sezai Karakoç Hall on July 22, 2024.
The meeting was attended by our Rector, Prof. Dr Ahmet Hamdi Topal, Vice-Rectors, Prof. Dr Ömer Küçük and Prof. Dr Mehmet Atalan, senate members, unit quality commission members, university quality commission members and university sub-commission members.
Our Rector, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hamdi Topal, made the opening speech of the meeting. In his speech, our Rector said that they aim to continuously improve the processes of education-training, research-development, social contribution and management system with quality assurance in higher education within the scope of the cycle of "planning, implementation, controlling and taking measures" and stated that our university has created target activity plans for education-training, research-development and social contribution in its units and that it carries out its activities in line with its annual targets.
Our Rector also stated that they attach importance to the accreditation process and said that eight programs have been accredited in the last three years, applications have been made for ten programs, and application preparations for eight programs are ongoing. Awareness and accreditation preparation training is provided through the commission to raise awareness about program accreditation and accelerate the process.
"We took place in international rankings with our research and development performance."
Prof. Dr Ahmet Hamdi Topal stated that the research processes at our university are carried out by BAP, TTO, Specialization Coordinatorship and Data Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinators. Our Rector emphasized that research performance is monitored by the research and development performance indicators in the strategic plan of the institution and reported in six-month periods. He also stated that the research and development performances included in the target activity plans of the units are monitored through the academic data management system.
Stating that as a result of the monitoring and improvement activities carried out within the scope of the PDCA cycle, our university has made significant progress in research performance, our Rector stated that as a result of these achievements, our university has managed to take place in critical international rankings such as THE and QS. Our Rector, Prof. Dr Ahmet Hamdi Topal, said that these achievements are an essential step towards achieving the institution's strategic goals and that he believes they will achieve tremendous success in the future.
"The importance of quality understanding in universities is increasing daily."
Prof. Dr Ümit Kocabıçak, President of YÖKAK, took the floor after our Rector and stated that the importance of university quality understanding is increasing day by day and that all universities in this process better understand it. Stating that YÖKAK is involved in 3 stages of the quality process in Turkey, Prof. Dr. Kocabıçak explained the duties and responsibilities of YÖKAK by saying that it is to manage the institutional accreditation process of 208 universities in the country, to organize the accreditation processes of faculties and programs in universities and national and international communication processes in this process, and to carry out studies to increase the quality assurance culture in Turkey.
"Institutional accreditation is the only solution to overcome the recognition problem."
Prof. Dr. Kocabıçak stated that foreign students studying in Turkey experience recognition problems when they return to their countries after graduation and underlined that institutional accreditation is the only solution to the recognition problem. Prof. Dr. Kocabıçak stated that universities in Europe and America aim to achieve quality from the East to the West. Quality assurance is essential for massifying education in America. Stating that 73 out of 208 universities in our country have received institutional accreditation, Prof. Dr. Kocabıçak underlined that they attach importance to quality and accreditation to close the gap between newly established and well-established universities.
Stating that quality processes are evaluated according to the principles of accountability, transparency and improvement in education, Prof. Dr Kocabıçak underlined that the impact of academic activities carried out in universities to contribute to society should also be increased in the quality process. Stating that they are a systematic institution in quality studies, Prof. Dr. Kocabıçak noted that the accreditation certificate, which is provided by many similar institutions in the world by demanding high prices from universities, is provided free of charge by YÖKAK and announced that they would be authorized to issue a quality certificate to any university in the world in the coming years.
Prof. Dr. Kocabıçak explained the process of accrediting the programs of universities as follows: "In accreditation processes, we recognize international agencies and authorize national agencies. Even if the agency we do not authorize accredits your program, we do not publish them in the YKS guide, and we do not send them to the Vocational Qualifications Authority (VQA) to get the Turkish Qualifications Framework (TQF) logo."
Explaining that there are 7,873 undergraduate programs in Turkey, Prof. Dr Kocabıçak said, "There are 347 types, such as computer engineering and medicine. Unfortunately, only national and international agencies can accredit 175 of them. There are no programs to accredit the remaining 172 types. There is no organization to accredit law in Turkey and nationally. Only 1178 of 7,873 undergraduate programs are accredited. The average figure in Turkey is 17 per cent," he said, evaluating the accreditation performance of universities.
"The institutional accreditation process developed rapidly at Kastamonu University"
Stating that the quality management system will be at the center of issues such as opening programs, student admission, internationalization and recognition in the future, Prof. Dr. Kocabıçak gave an example of the managerial approach defined as the PDCA (Plan - Implement - Check - Take Measures) cycle. Stating that the accreditation and quality process should be adopted by everyone from the top management of the institution to the students, Prof. Dr. Kocabıçak said that accreditation is a team game and emphasized that Kastamonu University's institutional accreditation process has developed rapidly as a young university established in 2006.
The event ended with a souvenir photo shoot after the presentation of a gift by our Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hamdi Topal to YÖKAK President Prof. Dr. Ümit Kocabıçak.
