Uşak University Advisory Board, which was established with the participation of managers from public institutions, organizations and non-governmental organizations in Uşak held its first meeting of 2023 in order to ensure sustainable collaboration and to share experiences.

The meeting was held at the Uşak University Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Congress and Culture Center Senate Hall under the chairmanship of Rector Prof. Dr. Ekrem Savaş and was attended by Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Kenan Taş, Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sinan Gürcüoğlu, and representatives from Uşak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UTSO), Uşak Organized Industrial Zone (UOSB), Uşak (Leather) Mixed Organized Industrial Zone, Uşak Provincial Directorate of National Education, Uşak Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, Uşak Provincial Directorate of Industry and Technology, Zafer Development Agency Uşak Investment Support Office Coordinatorship, İŞKUR Provincial Directorate, Uşak Chamber of Tradesmen and Craftsmen, Uşak Provincial Directorate of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change, Uşak MÜSİAD Presidency, TİKON General Presidency, Balta Orient Textile Industry and Trade Inc., and a graduate of Uşak University ,Melike Fidan.

During the meeting, opinions and suggestions were received by informing about the ongoing quality processes at our university, internship and workplace trainings of our students, efforts to increase the employment of our graduates, and university-industry cooperation.

In the opening speech of the meeting, Rector Prof. Dr. Savaş stated that since the earthquakes that caused deep sorrow in our country and caused the loss of many lives, they have been working to do whatever they can as a university and gave information about the activities carried out by Uşak University since the first day of the earthquake.

Prof. Dr. Savaş explained the important breakthroughs and quality studies of Uşak University in the recent period and said, "As of today, our university has 96 professors, 97 associate professors and 283 Assistant Professors, as well as 213 lecturers and 196 research assistants. The number of master's degree programs, which was 47 in 2017, reached 62 in 2022. In addition, the number of doctoral programs increased from 14 in 2017 to 25 in 2022. While there was 1 academic staff for every 45 students in 2017, there was 1 academic staff for every 31 students in 2022. Within the framework of the Erasmus program, while we had 60 agreements in 2017, 50 more agreements were made in the 2018 - 2022 period, and the number of agreements with 26 countries increased to 110."

Accreditation activities continue unabated

Prof. Dr. Savaş said, "We went through the YÖKAK Institutional Accreditation Program (KAP) process in 2022. Uşak University deserves to receive such an accreditation. The more we increase the number of these accreditations, the more we certify our quality education. We applied to FEDEK, which conducts accreditation, evaluation and information studies for the teaching programs of the Faculties of Science, Literature, Science-Literature, Language and History-Geography, for the accreditation of some of our departments in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and to EPDAD for the accreditation of some of our departments in the Faculty of Education. We also received pre-evaluation acceptance from STAR for the accreditation of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences and from IAA for the accreditation of the Faculty of Islamic Sciences. When we accredit our departments, we may have the chance to increase the student profile from 500 thousand to 100 thousand in OSYM rankings. We are doing all the work for good students and good academicians to prefer Uşak University."

International recognition of Uşak University is increasing

Stating that there has been a noticeable increase in the number of academic publications and citations over the years, Prof. Dr. Savaş said, "The number of all publications, which was 662 between 2006-2016, reached 1849 between 2017-2022. Our number of citations also reached 14241 from 1931. There were also increases in our number of TÜBİTAK projects. In 2017, we increased the number of applications from 3 to 99 and the number of acceptances to 40. There is also a noticeable increase in the number of printed resources of our university. Our university continued to take place in world rankings in 2022. Our ranking in URAP goes up year by year. In the URAP Turkey State Universities Ranking, we ranked 79th in 2022-2023 (among 121 universities) and 38th in the ranking of universities established after 2000. We also continued to take place in the world university rankings; Webometrics, SCImago, THE World University Rankings and UI Green Metric in 2022."

DTS Design Center's designs in the international arena

Underlining that Uşak University continues its university-industry, university-city and regional development activities without slowing down, Prof. Dr. Savaş also gave information about the studies carried out. Prof. Dr. Savaş said, "The number of analyses in our Scientific Analysis and Technological Application and Research Center (UBATAM) has increased. In 2021, 415 tests and reports were made at UBATAM, while 693 reports were made in 2022. Our Continuing Education Center increased the number of trainings. In 2022, a total of 606 hours of trainings were organized. Our Technology Transfer Office (TTO) also continues to accomplish important works. We opened the US-TECH center. We provide trainings for qualified employment. In our Regional Development-Oriented Specialization activities, our Leather, Textile, Ceramics (DTS) Design Center stands out with its national and international works. While our design center signed protocols with 11 industrial organizations in 2022, it cooperated with 40 different industrial organizations and established bilateral collaborations with 5 different universities abroad. Our DTS Design Center, which prepared 112 Emergency Service, UMKE, PTT and General Directorate of Forestry personnel's clothing design and technical specifications, has also started working with HAVELSAN."

Employer- University collaboration

Prof. Dr. Savaş stated that they also consulted with the advisory board for the need for qualified employment in our province and said, "Alumni Office and Career Development Coordinatorship assigned a representative academician from each department on this issue. In this respect, our senior and graduate students come together with our industrialists and companies according to their qualifications. We make revisions to our curriculum / programs according to the feedback we receive from our business people."

The meeting ended with Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Kenan Taş giving information about the 'Presidential Talent Gate' platform and receiving the opinions, suggestions and wishes of the participants.