06/04/2026
Foundations Development Directorate (FDD) welcomed a delegation from Amsterdam University College (AUC) Academic Core, at Sabancı University’s Tuzla Campus between 25-27 March 2026. This was AUC’s second visit to our institution and there was much excitement for another upcoming collaboration this summer, all of which aim excellence in teaching through sharing of institutional experiences and mutual policy development.
This visit marked a milestone building on the initial encounter at Core Curriculum Summer Retreat 2025, held back in September 2025, since this time around students from AUC also accompanied academics.
Academics, researchers and students from Sabancı University and Amsterdam University College came together over a rich three-day program designed to facilitate genuine knowledge exchange. The guest delegation observed FDD’s distinctive approach firsthand, attending a variety of classes including traditional lectures, active learning sessions, and recitations. Visitors had a chance to observe and reflect on the FDD’s strategy of merging conventional teaching methods with active learning by embedding peer learning into course structure through discussion sections, recitations and undergraduate learning assistants (LAs). There was also an opportunity to learn about and reflect on Sabancı University’s unique Civic Involvement Projects (CIP) and the Academic Development Program (ADP) through the experiences of Sabancı University students who took various roles in these structures that uniquely contribute to the core curriculum program.
The program included a focused discussion on the future of university education in the era of generative AI, the value and challenges of multidisciplinary core curricula, and most importantly, students’ reflections on their lived experiences of such programs as the Foundations Development Program (FDP) and the Academic Core. Participants spoke candidly about the pressures facing higher education and university students, the irreplaceable role of human educators and what it means to design a curriculum that produces not only skilled graduates but genuinely well-rounded global citizens.
The event concluded with a forward-looking commitment to continue and formalize this partnership, with plans to co-design an AI literacy course that draws on the expertise and perspectives of both FDD and Academic Core. This collaborative course is envisioned to be a concrete and lasting product of the partnership, one that reflects the shared belief that preparing students to engage critically and responsively with generative-AI is among the most pressing tasks facing universities today.
Participants included Dora Achourioti, Deniz Aktan Küçük, Çiğdem Altıntaş, Süphan Bakkal, Marloes Cornelissen Aydemir, Melanie Eijberts, Willemijn Eijsink, Emre Erol, Wade Geary, Yunus Gençtürk, Cem Güneri, Kaya Hlinska, Defne Işık, Duygu Karaoğlan Altop, Yalçın Can Kılıç, Ayşe Nur Kolivar Abadoğlu, Faik Kurtulmuş, Shannon McBriar, Sevgin Özer, Aykun Özgen, Matteo Paganin, Mina Rohnebaek, Sude Tıraş, Defne Toker, Ekin Toprak, Aslıhan Ünsal.
