Özyeğin University Shortlisted Among Top 8 Universities in “THE AWARDS ASIA 2019” in ‘Outstanding Support for Students’ Category

Times Higher Education (THE), a London-based higher education ranking institution, has announced the shortlisted universities for THE AWARDS ASIA 2019 which are presented to universities in recognition of their best practice examples across five categories. The award program is recognized as the Oscars of Higher Education and this year for the first time, universities from the continent of Asia were admitted to the award program. Özyeğin University was shortlisted among the top 8 universities in the Outstanding Support for Students category with its Sectoral Education Program (SE Program). This year, approximately 80 universities from 21 countries applied for THE Awards Asia. Özyeğin University qualified to be one of the three Turkish universities in the shortlist across all categories. Özyeğin University was also qualified to be one of the two Turkish universities in the “Outstanding Support for Students” category. The winners of THE Awars Asia will be announced during THE Asian University Summit, which will take place from April 30 to May 2, 2019.

In addition to ranking the world’s best universities, THE (Times Higher Education), the UK-based higher education ranking institution, has been running the THE AWARDS program to recognize the world’s best practices for the past 14 years. For the first time this year, THE admitted the Asian universities to extend the reach of these highly prestigious awards with its inaugural THE Awards Asia. THE Awards Asia 2019 will be conferred across five categories:

•        Leadership and Management Team of the Year
•        International Strategy of the Year
•        Teaching and Learning Strategy of the Year
•        Outstanding Support for Students
•        Technological Innovation of the Year

About OzU Sectoral Education Program (SE Program)

As per the mission and vision we have adopted as Özyeğin University (OzU) since our founding, we aspire to be a financially accessible entrepreneurial research university which transforms the lives of our stakeholders. Our innovative Sectoral Education Program (SE Program) is designed to transform the educational experience of students, our primary stakeholder, by enhancing the value of their education and employability. Through this program, we differentiate ourselves with an educational philosophy that takes sectoral knowledge, soft skills and work experience; which are missing in undergraduate curriculum in Turkey; and integrates them systematically into students’ learning journey. The Sectoral Education Program has three interdependent components. First is the academic component designed to augment the degree programs with eight Sectoral Solutions courses focusing on various industries, career tracks and soft skills.  Second is the co-curricular mandatory internships which are managed by our academic units.  OzU is the only university in Turkey with a mandatory internship for all its undergraduate degree programs to ensure that all students gain relevant occupational experience. Third are extra-curricular non-credit internships which include on-campus work opportunities as well as institutional agreements with select firms to offer a month long, off-campus, paid internships to freshmen and sophomores.   These special opportunities are designed to help students with building their resume and thinking about career choices from the initial stages of their educational journey.

We take pride in the fact that the unique support system we offer to our students through our SE program has been shortlisted by Times Higher Education, one of the world’s most prestigious ranking institutions, among the top 8 best practices in the Outstanding Support for Students category in its ranking across Asia.