Gökhan Çetin
Ondokuz Mayıs University Advisory Committee held its ninth meeting at OMU Beach Resort with broad participation in order to strengthen the university, city and industry cooperation by bringing together the important actors of the city.
Mayor of Samsun Metropolitan Municipality Mustafa Demir, retired State Council Member Osman Tural, the Director General of Foundations Burhan Ersoy from Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Head of Eastern Black Sea Project Regional Development Administration (DOKAP) Hakan Gültekin, retired Director General of Civil Aviation Bahri Kesici, Head of Samsun Chamber of Commerce and Industry Salih Zeki Murzioğlu, Chairman of Samsun Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sinan Çakır, Vice Chairman of ASTAŞ Holding Kaya Aşçı, Chairman of Borsan Group Adnan Ölmez, Chairman of Samsun Yurt Defense Industry Zafer Aral, Member of SAMPA Board Bülent Üstündağ, General Secretary of OKA İbrahim Ethem Şahin, KOSGEB Samsun Provincial Director Nebahat Livaoğlu, managers of Samsun's leading institutions and organizations including business people Ali Kuloğlu, Şuayip Sevgi, Vice-Rectors, faculty deans, academicians, 34 Advisory Committee members consisting of Student Council Representatives attended the meeting hosted by OMU Rector Prof. Dr. Yavuz Ünal.
During the meeting, information was given about the developments in OMU and the evaluation of the current situation, as well as the education revision strategies, R&D studies of OMU, and what has been done during the Covid-19 pandemic process. In the meeting, which is in the form of brainstorming without being tied to a specific agenda, new ideas were generated and the areas of cooperation between the university and the industry were discussed. The meeting chaired by Rector Prof. Dr. Yavuz Ünal was very fruitful.
Delivering the opening speech of the breakfast meeting held at OMU Beach Resort, Rector Prof. Dr. Yavuz Ünal gave an overall evaluation on the current situation and said that they would like to enrich the region’s value with the studies at OMU.
Emphasizing the importance of the suggestions of the members attending the meeting, Rector Ünal said; “I would like to talk more about your suggestions, criticisms and what needs to be done here. What we really want is that representatives of different sectors will contribute to us within the framework of cooperation. The ideas of this team are extremely important in creating achievable goals that we hope will support us.”
Sharing their plans and goals, Rector Ünal emphasized that they would like to realize 6 goals as a priority. The goals that are set are as follows; to be among the top 10 universities, to directly associate education activities with R&D studies and reflect their practices on the field, to have the ability to adapt to the new developments, to ensure our university has a strong brand and to direct developments, produce and report strategic information and take initiatives in accordance with its own position, and to transform Samsun into a research center of the region.
Prof. Dr. Yavuz Ünal stated that they are working on educational revision, and improving library services and in the field of health, the hospitals of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine and the rehabilitation center are important institutions for the region and they will increase their efforts to provide better service in these places.
Underlying the importance of R&D studies in his presentation, Rector Ünal said that they would apply a perspective that prioritizes their work that can turn into production, contribute to science, and undertake a mission within the scope of social responsibility. Rector Ünal, who explained that they will establish support offices by structuring research centers, added that they have developed “US Social Software” for university-industry integration. In addition, Ünal said that they want to focus more on hemp seeds and water buffalo by expanding the fields of cooperation between Teknopark/TTO and the sector.
Giving a brief speech at the meeting, Mayor of SMM Mustafa Demir expressed his thanks and gratitude to those contributing to this formation on behalf of Samsun and said that the concept of University-Industry cooperation is a concept that needs to be developed with collaborations.
Burhan Ersoy stated that he believes that Ondokuz Mayıs University, which contributes to the youth, education and future of the country with its strong academic staff, will grow more with the board formed by taking the business and education world as stakeholders.
Emphasizing the importance of teaching IT law, maritime law, aviation law and genocide law courses in the relevant faculties, he said that it is important to train experts in these fields.
Head of Eastern Black Sea Project Regional Development Administration (DOKAP) Hakan Gültekin also mentioned briefly the contributions they have made to the region and stated that he feels honored to be a member of the Advisory Committee at OMU, the university he graduated from. In addition, Gültekin emphasized the importance of the university acting together with all actors of the city and expressed that the university should be integrated with non-governmental organizations.
During the meeting, the members of Advisory Committee put forward many ideas regarding the development of university-industry cooperation. The participants came up with the idea that OMU, one of the leading universities in Turkey with the number of international students, could use this human resource much more efficiently in promoting the industry, Samsun and the country. Another issue that was emphasized at the meeting was the importance of practical training for students. All the participants agreed that the students should be on the field for a much longer time to apply their theoretical knowledge in practice, thus what should be done in this regard was discussed. In addition, R&D studies, increasing production in agriculture and animal husbandry, identifying products with high added value were discussed in detail. It was stated that it is necessary to boost the university-industry collaboration to get most out of research. The meeting ended after an overall evaluation of the agenda items.
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