Ergün Alver
The 'OMU Alumni Day 2022' event at the Ondokuz Mayıs University Life Center brought together OMU graduates from different generations.
The event started with meal service and continued with opening speeches, concerts, and folk dance performances. After the opening speeches, each of the oldest graduates of OMU, Akif Gülle, Prof. Dr. Nalan Kiziltan, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necmi Dege were presented OMU remembrance by Rector Prof. Dr. Yavuz Ünal.
Vice Rectors Prof. Dr. Cengiz Batuk, Prof. Dr. Mahmut Basoglu, Prof. Dr. Sevim Alisir, Prof. Dr. Selim Eren, Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Dr. İdris Varıcı, Rector Advisors Prof. Dr. Nalan Kızıltan and Lect. Halil İbrahim Zengin, academicians, heads of departments, students, and alumni also attended the event.
Speaking at the event, Rector Prof. Dr. Yavuz Ünal greeted OMU graduates from different periods at the beginning of their words, saying, “Meeting our graduates again made us feel the same excitement we felt when we met for the first time. I would like to thank each and every one of you for your participation.”
Pointing out that graduates who have become members of the OMU family should be supported by their universities, Rector Ünal said, “Our graduates should keep their ties with their universities alive through 'feedback' because information and technology are changing, methods and methodology are changing, so everything is changing, and perhaps the leading actor of change is universities. Therefore, OMU needs somehow to transfer its experience at this point to its graduates. It does not matter much which faculty or department the graduate graduated from. However, if he did not maintain his professional competence and competencies in his later life, we see that the graduate consumes and dissolves himself after a while. Therefore, the University needs to feed its graduates; to achieve this, a backward demand must come from those graduates. Here, from time to time, seminars, panels, etc., in faculties, through the Continuing Education Center or the Distance Education Center. We want to implement this feedback we mentioned through events. Both parties must be willing and willing to produce an effective value from this activity. If the demand comes from our graduates in the field of employment, we believe that this effort will achieve absolute results.”
Rector Ünal stated that new students enter the crucible of a culture that started with the first graduates of the University and is inherited over time, and continued their words stating, "Here, new students are kneaded in this culture, and you are the most important instrument and actor of this culture. Therefore, establishing healthy communication between new students and graduates makes it possible for today's generation to receive more qualified education. This is what I mean when I say feedback; that is, we want you to know that any proposal from our graduates regarding the renewal and updating of the current education is valuable for us, and we will respond to them. At this point, what we want is; to raise a generation that has the identity of OMU, feels this privilege, and is honored and trusted by being a member of a university with a brand value."
In their speech, Rector Ünal talked about the 3-legged revision work that OMU has been carrying out for one and a half years in a determined and stable way, including education, research and development (R&D), and service to society, and stated, "In a two-and-a-half-month period, we will consider and revise graduate and associate degree programs in the same format. We believe that these efforts will affect the brand value of OMU in the future and will be reflected in concrete indicators in 2023. For we see that there is a very determined and stable march in our university. OMU, which ranked 31st among universities in Turkey in 2020, is now 26th. Our university has achieved a 5-level rise in 2 years, with a value increase of approximately 35 percent. This is not the position that Samsun and OMU deserve, so our goal is to be in the top 10. Yes, we are on the right track, but there is still a long way to go and a lot of work to do."
Rector Ünal, drawing attention to the R&D and application performance of OMU, underlined that the University experienced an 80 percent jump in the one year from 2020 to 2021 and said, “This leap continued with 100 percent in the first seven months of 2022. In the context of R&D and implementation, I should state the following: When we become an actor in the development of our region and contribute to the competitiveness of our country, we will be able to say, “Yes, we are playing this role.” As OMU, we hope to have a structure that utilizes both the region’s economy and trade, as well as its art and literature.Ünal stated, “OMU, to which we all belong; will become a brand university when it reaches a structure that walks steadily towards the future, has ended the conflicts within itself, and attained peace; everyone has the same concern about the future and turns in the same direction, and embraces each other while growing up. Already, our 2023 goal is to be a research university. There are 11 universities in Turkey that have received institutional accreditation, and OMU is one of the first five universities to achieve this accreditation. Moreover, we are among Türkiye’s top 50 entrepreneurial universities. In 2023, we will be one of the 20 research universities in Turkey. At this point, all kinds of offers, wishes, and suggestions of our esteemed graduates will be essential data to enable us to achieve these goals, and we request you to give your hand for the construction of OMU that you want to see in the future.”.
Bringing the increase in the number of patents at the university to the attention of the participating graduates, Prof. Dr. Ünal conveyed the developments as of 2021 with the following words: “OMU had ten patents in 2021, and 8 of them are ISIF (İstanbul International Inventions Fair) awarded. In the seven months of 2022, the number of patents registered by OMU was 13, and 7 were awarded. Currently, our University ranks 4th in patenting in Türkiye. We see these as data showing that we are walking on the right path, in the right direction, and with the right steps.”
Referring to the internationalization process, OMU Rector reminded that nine different languages are spoken at OMU, which has approximately 5 thousand international students from 120 different countries, and added that they attach particular importance to the diversity of students from different geographies.
Rector Ünal also commemorated the founders of the OMU Foundation, who made a great sacrifice in the establishment of the university, with love and gratitude and emphasized that they are grateful to them.
Taking the stage afterward, OMU Alumni Coordinator Dr. Lect. Alaattin Altın, on the other hand, stated that they are happy to meet and host the alumni at the Alumni Day event, which could not be held face-to-face in 2020 and 2021 and said, “Through the programs we will organize, we aim to strengthen communication with our esteemed alumni, to enable you to benefit from the opportunities of our University, and to guide our current students by sharing your experiences. We want you to know that we are always with you on this path that we set out with the slogan of 'OMU is always with you even if you graduate.' Our request from you; is to follow the training and certificate programs prepared through the Career Center, Distance Education Center, and Continuing Education Center. I believe that together we will do our best to make OMU a brand university. I am also proud to be an OMU graduate and to serve OMU and OMU students.”
Coordinator Altın said, “This program is just a beginning, and we hope that we will organize many more enthusiastic, exciting, and well-attended programs in the coming years.” and expressed their gratitude to everyone who supported and contributed to the Alumni Day event.
In addition to the event, the 'Alumni Identity Card' application initiated by the OMU Alumni Coordinatorship was introduced by Alumni Coordinator Dr. Lect. Alaattin Altın. After the identity card presentation, Rector Prof. Dr. Yavuz Ünal, an OMU graduate, was presented with a symbolic identity card.
The event ended after the souvenir photo shoot of the OMU family.
DİNLE