Quality in Higher Education Discussed at CIU
The Conference on “Quality in Higher Education” (IQC) and the International Educational Technologies Conference (IETC) hosted by Cyprus International University (CIU) in cooperation with Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Sakarya University and Kocaeli Health and Technology Universities has been successfully accomplished.
Speaking at the opening of the conferences held face-to-face and online, CIU Rector Prof. Dr. Halil Nadiri expressed his pleasure in hosting such a great organization and stated that he believed that the papers presented at the international conference will shed light on both quality studies in higher education and new developments in educational technologies.
On the first day of the conference, former President of Higher Education Quality Board and Rector of Kocaeli Health and Technology University Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Elmas made a presentation titled "Quality in Higher Education". Pointing out that important steps have been taken regarding quality in the Turkish Higher Education system, Elmas said, “Changes always happen in the world. However, the acceleration in the pace of changes in recent years has been increasing and human adaptation is becoming more difficult.”
Prof. Dr. Elmas emphasized the importance of individuals having competencies such as communication, analytical thinking, critical thinking, innovation, active learning and digital as the only way to clarify this matter.
Participating in the conference as a speaker, Çankaya University faculty member Prof. Dr. Buket Akkoyunlu, in her speech entitled "Quality assurance in online course design in higher education", shared the information that "COVID-19 has shown the importance and urgency of quality processes in online learning, and that quality and quality assurance in online learning environments are sometimes overlooked."
At the event, the invited guests who made presentations were Prof. Dr. Steve Harmon from Georgia Institute of Technology, Prof. Dr. Rozhan M. Idrus from University of Sains Malaysia, Prof. Dr. Badrul Khan Rector of McWeadon University of Education, Prof. Dr. Carlos Francisco De Sousa Reis from the University of Coimbra in USA, Prof. Dr. Douglas Franklin from Ohio University, Professor Dr. Susan Copp from George Washington University, Professor Dr. Teresa Franklin from Ohio University., Prof. Dr. Buket Akkoyunlu from Çankaya University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aylin Tutkun Ünal from Üsküdar University, Assist. Prof. Dr. Federica Incerti from George Mason University and Harvey Singh, Founder and CEO of Instancy Inc. of America.
In the two-day organization hosted by CIU was attended by 150 local and foreign scholars, and in addition to the presentations, workshops for teachers were also held.