Higher Education Council (YÖK) President Erol Özvar said, “As of April 3, 2023, it has been decided to provide face-to-face education in classes to students who wish, with the distance education currently being implemented, only for the Spring Semester of the 2022-2023 Academic Year.” said.
Erol Özvar, President of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), made statements regarding the 2022-2023 Academic Year Spring Semester.
Some of the headlines from Özvar's speech are as follows: “We allocated the dormitories of our universities to our citizens who were damaged by the earthquake right after the earthquake. At this stage, our dormitories provided a very important service both in housing and in meeting other basic needs and played an important role in eliminating the first effects of the earthquake.
Our scientists play a critical role in the rebuilding of our cities and the rehabilitation of society after the earthquake. Our higher education institutions continue to fulfill the requirements of their responsibilities in this difficult period.
Out of a total of 4 million 187 thousand higher education students in Turkey, excluding open education, approximately 676 thousand reside or are registered in earthquake provinces. Therefore, I can say that one out of every 6 students in the higher education system is directly affected by the earthquake.
I should remind you that, together with our students, approximately 18 thousand academicians working in 17 universities in the region that were directly damaged by the earthquake were also directly affected by the disaster. The number of administrative personnel working in our universities located in the earthquake zone is around 30 thousand. I regret to share with you that we lost a total of 589 students in this great disaster. 148 academic and administrative personnel lost their lives in the earthquake.
As of March 30, 2023, when we look at the building damage situation in the campuses of 11 universities in 18 provinces, we see that 4 buildings are demolished, 127 buildings are heavily damaged, 427 buildings are moderately or slightly damaged, and 642 buildings are undamaged. However, our campuses are generally in better condition than many other institution buildings in cities.
As the Council of Higher Education, due to the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquake on February 17, 2023, we decided to conduct distance education in the 2022-2023 Academic Year Spring Term, and to re-evaluate the issue and share it with the public in April.
As of April 3, 2023, only for the Spring Semester of the 2022-2023 Academic Year, together with the distance education currently being implemented, it will be possible to provide face-to-face education to students who want it without the condition of attendance. Making the necessary arrangements by making the necessary arrangements by making the necessary decisions regarding the teaching of the students, not applying the restriction that maximum 6 percent of the courses in a semester can be given through distance education, according to the ECTS credits, which is included in the 30th article of the Procedures and Principles Regarding Distance Education in Higher Education Institutions in force, Students who are continuing their education in another higher education institution as a student can continue their education in the same way. or face-to-face in the spring term, summer term or the next education and training period, midterm exams in the spring term are made online by distance education methods, except for the programs that include practical training, which is given the right to special students, on the basis of the principle of transparency and auditability. It is also possible to use multiple choice online exams, assignments, online quizzes, projects, Learning Management System activities, Learning Management System usage analytics and similar applications. It has been decided to be determined by the authorized boards.”