Uşak University International Relations Office organized an international event “2nd International Staff Week”on 16^th-17^thMarch 2021 and brought together the university Rectors and institution representatives who have an agreement with Uşak University within Erasmus + andMevlana Exchange Programs.

Prof. Dr. Savaş said, "We broughtthe most important budgetsin Turkey to our university through EU Projects, Consortium, the ICM and KA2 projects." at the beginning of the event.

Rector of Uşak University Prof. Dr. EkremSavaş, stated in their opening speech that because of the pandemic, the 2nd international staff week cannot be realized face-to-face as the first one; nevertheless, a total of 45 university and institution representatives from 20 countries with whom they have agreements with Erasmus + and Mevlana Programs participated in the event even if it is on-line this year. Drawing attention to the fact that Uşak University has contributed greatly to internationalization studies in the last three years, Prof. Dr. Savaş said, “We have a total of 3,196 international students from 61 countries. We have taken important steps in internationalization since 2018. The number of bilateral cooperation agreements within the Erasmus + and Mevlana Exchange Programs increased. We made a total of 29 agreements in the Erasmus Program and 20 agreements in the Mevlana Program. By increasing the number of agreements, we enabled our students and staff to benefit from these exchange programs. We brought the most important budgets in Turkey through EU Projects, Consortium, the ICM and KA2 projects to our University.”

Rector Savaşended their presentation about the development of Uşak University by thanking all the participants and expressing that they want to hold the third of the international staff week in the next academic year face-to-face after the pandemic and to host the participants in Uşak.

Digital Network Expanding

International Relations Office Coordinator Dr.ÖzgürTarhan, stated that the theme of the event this year is “Digital Network-In” and gave information about the activities to be held in the two-day event in their opening speech.

Local Values Were Introduced

In the program's morning session, invited speakers HAVELSAN Management Consultant Tolga ERKMEN “Future Readiness”, Turkey's National Agency Representative Expert Ahmet Fatih IŞIK “Erasmus Projects in Turkey” and Ankara University Erasmus CoordinatorInst. Onur HOŞNUT “Virtual and Blended Mobility in the New Erasmus Program” made their presentations.

The afternoon session began with the presentation of Inst. Gaye KURU who introduced Turkish culture and presentation of Prof. Dr. Rainer M. Czichon who gave information about the history and archeology of Uşak. Then, the demonstrations of the mixed exhibition, Ceramic, Illumination and Miniature works and of Zeybek dance prepared by Faculty of Fine Arts academicians in Uşak University were performed.

A Five-Minute Challenge to Introduce the Institutions

The first session of the second day of the International Week started with the introduction of international programs in which Uşak University is actively involved. The presentations on Erasmus program by Inst. İbrahim UZ, on Mevlana Exchange program by Dr. TolgaKargın and on the Office for Foreign Students and the activities of the office by Dr. Lecturer Ferhat KARAMAN were made. After the presentations, the participants from various countries introduced their universities and had the opportunity to share their contact information to found new partnerships through the activity entitled “Five Minutes Challenge to Introduce Your Institution”.

A panel entitled “Digitalization, Blended Learning and Virtual Mobility”

In the first afternoon session, eight participants carried out their projects’ dissemination activities by introducing their ongoing projects. In the second session, the panel entitled “Digitalization, Blended Learning and Virtual Mobility” was held through the presentations of Dr. Tolga KARGIN from Uşak University, Turkey, Dr. Suriati ABAS from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, US, Dusana FINDEISEN from Slovenian Third Age University, Slovenia, Olena KORHYKOVA from Open Europe NGO, Spain and Maya DANOVA from VIOne Consultancy, Netherlands. After the question and answer session, a demonstration of classical and modern Turkish music was performed.