Our Rector Attends the 6th European Women Rectors Conference as an Invited Speaker

The “6th European Women Rectors Conference organized by the European Women Rectors Association (EWORA) took place on May 13-14 at the University of Malmö in Sweden. This year, the conference was held under the theme of “Responding to Evolving Challenges: Best Practices for Women Leadership in Academia” to discuss various policies, strategies, and best practices employed on a global level towards achieving gender equality in academia. EWORA invited women in leadership positions at universities and research organizations, gender experts and members of higher education networks. As the invited speaker of EWORA, Özyeğin University Rector Prof Dr. Esra Gencturk delivered a speech during the Plenary Session I.  During the session chaired by Ms. Krista Varantola, Vice President of EWORA, Prof. Dr. Esra Gençtürk was accompanied by invited speakers Prof. Rianne Letschert, Rector of Maastrich University, and Prof. Beate A. Schücking, Rector of  University of Leipzig.

Özyeğin University Rector Prof. Dr. Esra Gencturk began her speech sharing some figures pertaining to both our University and academia in Turkey. Prof. Dr. Gençtürk drew attention to the changes in the female-male student body at Özyeğin University to date and delivered an in-depth presentation about Özyeğin University’s undertakings towards achieving gender equality in academia. Prof Dr. Esra Gencturk also informed participants about the PLOTINA Project and Gender Equality Plan (GEP), both carried out by our university under the theme of “Gender Equality”, an important constituent of our sustainable management philosophy at OzU. “Gender equality is one of the core values at our university. Our primary goal is to ensure gender equality and gender balance in every unit as needed. To achieve this goal, as the Rector’s Office, we work directly and closely with our Gender Equality Unit and human resources specialists”, remarked Prof. Dr. Gençtürk. Prof. Dr. Gençtürk also pointed out the women-men ratios both in academia and politics in Turkey.

 The 6th EWORA conference, through the interactive panels and sessions attended by leaders and executives, provided an opportunity to discuss the main obstacles to gender equality at the managerial positions and investigate new methodologies for building up best practices.

About EWORA

European Women Rectors Association (EWORA) is a full-fledged international non-profit association established in Brussels under Belgian Law in December 2015 to promote the role of women in leadership positions in the academic sector and to advocate gender equality in higher education and research. In addition to developing new policies and strategies, EWORA is renowned for its international undertakings aimed to provide guidance to decision makers through a series of conferences towards achieving gender equality in higher education.