Sabancı University School of Languages has been accredited by one of the most renowned international quality assurance and accreditation bodies in language education, Evaluation and Accreditation of Quality Language Services (Eaquals) whose mission is based on excellence in language education.

Left to right: Pınar Demiral Gündüz (SL Program Coordinator), Jacqueline Einer (SL Director), Ludka Kotarska (Eaquals Director of Accreditation), Deniz Kurtoğlu Eken (SL PDR Coordinator), Aslı Tuan Acer (SL Administrative Affairs Manager)

Sabancı University School of Languages has had a very successful partnership for 12 years, actively contributing to a wide range of professional and academic projects. In line with the ever-growing importance on quality in education both locally and globally, in early 2020, the School of Languages started its work towards becoming an accredited member of Eaquals and applied for membership in October 2020. After undergoing a highly demanding inspection process in December 2020, the School of Languages received its certification as an Eaquals accredited member with outstanding success.After undergoing a highly demanding inspection process in December 2020, the School of Languages received its certification as an Eaquals accredited member with points of excellence in all 12 categories of quality standards. School of Languages Director, Jacqueline Einer shares her views on the accreditation process:

We wanted to certify the quality of our program and to enhance our international recognition by receiving the highly-respected Eaquals badge of excellence. The process was quite challenging as we were also going through the pandemic period, but it was also highly equally rewarding in terms of self-assessment, internal collaboration and institutional development. We are absolutely delighted and proud to have received an outstanding result with points of excellence in all twelve categories of the accreditation scheme for language institutions in Higher Education. We are very much looking forward to contributing to the Eaquals mission as an accredited member and to furthering our mutual collaboration.

Details of the areas of excellence in all 12 categories of quality standards as identified by Eaquals can be found HERE.

Details about Eaquals' work and associated organisations can be found at: https://www.eaquals.org/about-eaquals/our-aims-and-mission/

Students who students enrolled at universities other than Sabancı University can apply to the courses offered by Sabancı University to participate as special students.

·  To be able to take a course from graduate level, it is necessary to be a student enrolled in a master, doctorate or proficiency in art program in a higher education institution

2020-2021 Academic Year Spring Term Special Student Application

Sabancı University Istanbul International Center for Energy and Climate (IICEC) has released the eighteenth issue of IICEC Energy Market Newsletter. 

Please click to read IICEC Energy Market Newsletter.

Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering an Natural Sciences member Nur Mustafaoğlu is serving as one of the topic editors of MDPI journal “Micromachines” for two years. She is organizing a Special Issue as part of her duty. 

Nur Mustafaoğlu will closely work with the leading guest editors of Turkey and Japan in the field and handle peer-review processes of the submitted manuscripts on "3D in Vitro Tissue and Organ Models" topic.  

The system will become close to submissions on 25 June 2021. More information about the special issue can be found using this link.

Since 2002, Sabancı Graduate Business School aims to foster internationally respected academicians that can offer research-oriented solutions to current business problems.

The program is an integral part of our plan to cultivate top-notch researchers who can undertake rigorous research in their desired fields of study. It currently offers four concentrations in the Ph.D. program: Finance, Management and Organization, Business Analytics and Operations Management and Action Research.

With its strong academic faculty, research network and infrastructure, Sabancı Graduate Business School provides a stimulating environment for doctoral candidates with interest in management research.

There will be an information session about the Ph.D. in Management program with the following details: 

Date: February 6^th, 2021, Saturday

Time: 2 pm (GMT+3)

Location: Please click here for registration. We will send a zoom link to the registrants.

For more information about our program you can visit https://sbs.sabanciuniv.edu/en/phd-program

For any questions, you can send an e-mail to Didem Kocaer at didem.kocaer@sabanciuniv.edu

Click here for Sabancı University 2020-2021 Academic Year Spring Semester Graduate Programs Quotas.

The second international conference of the Horizon 2020 GEARING Roles Project, supported by the European Commission, was hosted by Sabancı University's Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence (SU Gender). In the online conference organized on 9-10-11 November 2020 with the theme of Gender and Leadership in Higher Education and Research, the participants shared their views related to various subject from women's representation in universities, research institutions, civil society organizations, and local governments to gender equality action plans.

Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence (SU Gender) hosted the second international conference of the Horizon 2020 GEARING Roles Project, supported by the European Commission. The conference, which took place online between 9-11 November 2020, discussed many topics to eliminate gender inequalities in representation and decision-making in higher education.

Professor Mangala Subramaniam, Butler Chair and Director at Purdue University, was the keynote speaker of the conference on Gender and Leadership in Higher Education and Research, and shared her experiences and suggestions related to gender equality in higher education under the heading “Leadership to Transform Institutions”. Stating that women make up the lowest-paid group among top executives at US universities, Professor Subramaniam added that the picture was even worse for non-white women. Pointing out to the importance of both institutional structure and process change for effective transformation, Mangala Subramaniam stated that structures lacking transparency slowed down institutional change. Subramaniam emphasized that the low number of women in leadership positions in higher education should be questioned, and also made suggestions on how women's voices and opinions could be included in decision-making processes.  According to Subramaniam, leadership for corporate transformation requires both emotional and intellectual labor, and on the way to inclusion, leaders need to “develop collaborations at the corporate level, not just at the individual level.” 

KAMALA HARRIS BECAME THE HOPE FOR GENDER EQUALITY

Subramaniam, who said that the election of Kamala Harris as Vice President in the last election in the United States created hope for the fight against gender-based, racial, and ethnic identity-based inequalities and opened the door to new opportunities, gave the following advice to women about leadership:

“Be clear about mutual expectations for a coherent vision. This makes independence possible. There is a fine line between transparency and privacy. You have to pay attention to that.  Aim for full promotion and build confidence. Research your role models, especially in the academic world, and do not give up on the role models you chose for yourself. And most importantly, make alliances for yourself and make men your allies.”

Ayşe Kadıoğlu, a faculty member at Sabancı University, said that this conference, which took place after Kamala Harris was elected Vice President of the United States, was a great hope for gender equality.

European Commission Project Officer Athanasia Moungou shared the following in her speech: “According to the EU Commission figures, 48% of doctoral graduates are women. However, as we climb the academic ladder a little further, gender inequality increases. At professor level, women make up just 24% of the workforce. This also applies to women authors, the ratio of female authors is just 32%. The ratio of female patent applicants is 9%. We want to fix the system, not just the numbers.” Addressing the growing importance of gender within the framework of European Commission projects, Mongou also mentioned that plans for institutional gender action would be among the conditions for applying to new framework programmes.

Prof. Dr. Meltem Müftüler Baç, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Sabancı University, stated that gender inequality was a serious problem in the academic world in Turkey, and said: “We see that the output of female researchers is less than that of men. The burden of female researchers is greater than that of male researchers. If a man submits 5 articles a year, that figure drops down to half for a woman. Because a woman has a lot of different things to do in her everyday life with her family. The pandemic has also created a very different situation. Female researchers are able to devote much less time to academic studies than before the pandemic. That is one of the reasons why men and women perform differently. We need leaders who recognize the challenges that women face.”

Hülya Adak, the Director of SU Gender, said: "As SU Gender, we are working to create an environment with pluralism and inclusiveness, where there is no discrimination. Instead of operating as a marginal and university-independent center, we want to radically transform the university. We aim to achieve gender equality at the university through the GEARING Roles Project.”

SU Gender GEARING Roles coordinators Ayşe Gül Altınay, Zeynep Gülru Göker, and İlayda Ece Ova stated that they created a Gender Equality Action Plan at the end of a participatory “co-creation” process at Sabancı University within the scope of the project and said: “About 100 faculty members, administrative employees, and students contributed to the preparation of this action plan. We created it together. We know that we will all own it together.”

The “Gender Equality Actions in Research Institutions to traNsform Gender Roles” (GEARING Roles) Project, in which SU gender is a project partner, is being carried out with 10 partner institutions in 6 European countries with EUR 3 million funding received from the European Commission's Horizon 2020 Programme. The project, which started in November 2019, is expected to last 4 years.

FEMALE LEADERS MANAGED THE PANDEMIC PROCESS BETTER THAN MEN

Gülseren Onanç, President of the SES Equality and Solidarity Association, stated that in countries with female leaders, the pandemic process was managed more successfully compared to countries run by men. Onanç said: “Female leaders have shown how they can take a good approach to solving clogged systems. From New Zealand to Germany, from Finland to Taiwan, these female leaders have certain characteristics in common: They are very competent and experts in their fields, they do not just look at the issue of equality on the female plane, they believe in holistic equality. Because they themselves come from the struggle, their ability to empathize with equality is high, and they can make decisions quickly. They have demonstrated how quickly they make decisions compared to numerous men and they have managed to protect their countries against the pandemic.”

In a session where the participants share information about projects carried out in various Turkish universities within the scope of European Commission projects; Ayşe Güneş-Ayata, Mary Lou O’Neil and Nurseli Yeşim Sünbüloğlu also shared information about the institutional efforts on gender equality at METU, Kadir Has University, and Özyeğin University. The importance of cooperation between universities was emphasized in this session.

Fuat Keyman, the Deputy Rector of Sabancı University responsible for Institutionalization and Social Contribution Processes, stated that SU Gender made very important contributions to creating a gender perspective in Sabancı University and universities could be patriarchal and male-oriented systems, but Sabancı University was among the best in terms of the implementation and internalization of gender equality.

Director of the Corporate Governance Forum of Sabancı University Melsa Ararat, who made a presentation entitled “Strategies and Solidarity for Leadership That Supports An Egalitarian Future from ‘He for She’ to ‘We for She’” in the second session held on 11 November, Wednesday with the theme of “Gender and Leadership in Higher Education and Research, said: “Studies conducted among female leaders in the field show that women are better at 17 of the 19 competencies required for leadership. Why is the change so slow when female leaders are so successful? Standardization and prejudice stand out as the reasons behind the low ratio of women.” Zehra Sayers, a faculty member at Sabancı University, emphasized that the real important issue related to gender equality was a change in mindset.

Maria Lucinda Fonseca, a Professor of Human Geography and Migration Studies at the University of Lisbon, Milica Antić Gaber, a Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Astrid Schloerscheidt, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, also participated in the session. Another participant of the session and a member of the Advisory Board of the GEARING Roles Project, Octavio Salazar, a Constitutional Law Professor at University of Cordoba, said that the contribution of men was very important for the positive transformation in universities which are masculine spaces.

The Study on Working From Home and Work-Life Balance under The Shadow of COVID-19, conducted by faculty members from Sabancı University and Istanbul University with the support of TÜBİTAK, investigated how those who live with their family and partially work from home during the pandemic in Turkey are affected by this situation and how they cope.

With the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020, many private companies and institutions in Turkey as well as all over the world have started working from home in order to ensure social isolation. At a time when work-life balance is often discussed, institutions had the opportunity to observe the effects of working from home.

The Study on Working From Home and Work-Life Balance under The Shadow of COVID-19, conducted jointly by Mahmut Bayazıt, a faculty member at the Faculty of Management Sciences of Sabancı University, and İlknur Özalp Türetgen, a faculty member at the Psychology Department of Istanbul University, with the support of TÜBİTAK revealed how white-collar employees who live with their family and partially work from home during the pandemic in Turkey are affected by this situation and how they cope. The research addresses work-family balance; work-, health-, and life-related experiences of individuals, and the effects of individual differences on their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The majority prefer to work in the office a few days a week

Combining the data related to the time individuals dedicate to their home, to work, and to themselves, perceived social support and job security during the pandemic period, the study shows that the work from home experience differs depending on factors such as seniority, gender, marital status, and having children. Accordingly, many employees participating in the study prefer to keep working from home for at least a few days or more a week after the pandemic; the number of those who want to return to work is higher among top managers, senior employees, and men. In the process of working from home, the group that experiences work’s impact on family the most is composed of first-tier managers, while the group that experiences family’s impact on work the most is composed of faculty members.

Women are more likely to work from home despite having more difficulties

The research reveals that women are having more difficulties to cope with the pandemic period compared to men. Women are observed to experience the conflict caused by work roles preventing family-related responsibilities and family roles preventing work-related responsibilities more commonly in this work from home period. According to the results, women take on household chores more than they do, even when their career takes precedence over that of their partner's; they show more signs of physical stress such as body pain and fatigue, and more signs of psychological stress such as helplessness and resentment. Both work-family conflict and family-work conflict are the highest among the group of women with children under the age of 6. Despite all these results, women prefer to work from home as often as possible after the pandemic compared to men.

Married employees dedicated less time to themselves

Another result of the study is that married employees experience a number of difficulties more commonly than those who were single during the pandemic. Accordingly, married employees spend more time on household chores and dedicated less time to themselves, while they have more difficulty separating their areas of work from home. The results of the study indicate that marital status as well as having children are among factors which affect the desire to work from home. Among employees without children, the ratio of those who prefer to work from home as much as possible is close to 35%, while it is less than 20% for those with children.

It is observed that those who had work from home experience before the pandemic have more family-work conflicts than those who started working from home after the pandemic, had difficulty with transition from work to home during the day more frequently, and prefer to protect their working space from the rest of the home.

Levels of physical and psychological strain decreased over time

The 3rd report of the study shows that participants' levels of both physical and psychological strain and their conflicts between work and family areas decrease significantly over time during the pandemic. At the same time, during the pandemic period, there is a significant change in the individuals’ levels of satisfaction (in areas such as work, family, health) between weeks.

According to research findings, after June 1st, when the quarantine period ended, the time allocated to work and home increased rapidly, while the time allocated to self decreased. Another finding of the study is that those who receive high levels of social support from their manager and family have lower physical and psychological strain and higher satisfaction levels.

Please click here for the full study results

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About The Study on Working from Home and Work-Life Balance under The Shadow of COVID-19

This 8-week longitudinal study conducted with the support of TÜBİTAK investigated the work-life balance, various experiences related to work, health, and life, and effects of individual differences on experiences of salaried employees working a full time or part time job who had to work remotely from a house which they shared with others due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The research data of the study consisting of two phases was collected using the online survey method betwee 23 May-13 July. The fist phase of the study included 441 employees and the second phase of the study involving the longitudinal data included 163 employees.

Emre Selçuk, a faculty member at the Psychology Program of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), has received the TÜBİTAK Incentive Award.

According to the statement of TÜBİTAK, Emre Selçuk, who has received the incentive award in the field of Social Sciences, was given this award because of his “outstanding work at the international level on the effects of social relations on well-being and health in the field of psychology”.

Emre Selçuk conducts research in the fields of Social Psychology, Close Relationships, Attachment, Marriage, and Sensitivity. 

We congratulate our faculty member. 

The Times Higher Education (THE) announced the results of the World Universities Ranking 2021 by Region. Sabancı University ranked in four subjects this year: “Social Sciences”, “Computer Science”, “Engineering and Technology” and “Physical Sciences”. 

For the first time, Sabancı University ranked in the 201-250 bracket among 791 universities in Social Sciences, and ranked first among 10 universities in Turkey.

Sabancı University ranked in the 201-250 bracket among 827 universities in Computer Science, and ranked first among 7 universities in Turkey.

Sabancı University ranked in the 301-400 bracket among 1098 universities in Engineering and Technology, and ranked second among 29 universities in Turkey.

Sabancı University ranked in the 601-800 bracket among 1149 universities in Physical Sciences, and ranked third among 27 universities in Turkey.

THE World University Rankings by Subject are announced in 11 different subjects. These subjects include the following:

“Social Sciences”, “Business and Economics”, “Education”, “Law”, “Arts and Humanities”, “Life Sciences”, “Physical Sciences”, “Psychology”, “Clinical and Health”, “Computer Science”, and “Engineering and Technology.”

Although the methodology used for THE World University Ranking by subject is based on the World University Ranking indicators, the methodology is reorganized by making different weighting depending on the dynamics of the relevant subject.