Moderated by Sabancı University Graduate Emre Başkan, the night was attended by Güler Sabancı, Founding Chair of Sabancı University Board of Trustees, and Prof. Dr. Yusuf Leblebici, President of Sabancı University, in addition to managers of Sabancı Holding Group companies, leading representatives of the business world, Sabancı University alumni, scholarship students, and donors.
The biggest surprise of the night, which was held with the theme of "Make a Promise for the Future", was the small sculptures made of sound waves of the promises made by university students for the future according to the theme. Malhun Tosun, an undergraduate student in the Industrial Engineering Program of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, presented the first of the sculptures on display throughout the night to Güler Sabancı, Founding Chair of Sabancı University Board of Trustees. The sculpture included the sound waves of Malhun's promise for the future, which was "I will prevent the food crisis that may occur in the future by specializing in the field of agricultural economics".
Delivering a speech at the event, Güler Sabancı, Founding Chair of Sabancı University Board of Trustees, said the following:
“Today, there are among us those who graduated from our university and hold important positions in very important companies. This journey is one that is going well. This success is crowned with your achievements. But if we walk together, if you do not forget this place, if you follow this university, make a promise, and give support to young people, we will be stronger. The most asked question in life is which school you graduated from. That brand grows with you. The level that our school has attained in 23 years is thanks to you”.
“You picked the champions!”
On the night, Güler Sabancı also shared a memory she had when Sabancı University was founded in 1999: “When we started our education in 1999, we were visiting the university with our International Board of Overseers Member Chad Holliday. The campus was not completely finished, we had 250 students. He chatted with them. He said that we picked the champions and that we should follow these students and the future well, and that these children have the power to make a change wherever they go. Now is the time for our graduates to follow their universities.”
Güler Sabancı continued as follows: “We set out to establish a world university. You all work in world companies. The greatest wish of the late Sakıp Bey was that our graduates 'be successful wherever they go in the world'. At the point to which the world has come today, we all see how important this is. Now we are paving the way for our young people together by saying “Make a Promise for the Future”.
“More than 55 percent of our students at our university have scholarships”
In his speech, Sabancı University President Prof. Dr. Yusuf Leblebici said: “Currently, there are over 5300 students at our university. 80% of our students are undergraduate and 20% are graduate and doctoral students. This year, according to the results of the Higher Education Institutions Exam, we have included 790 very bright young people, including the student ranking 1st in the exam, among these students. The number of students we received from the first 1000 was 140. We have become the university with the highest score in Turkey in terms of the minimum scores required for admission to faculties. 36 percent of our undergraduate students are accepted as scholarship students as they start our university. This rate further increases to 55 percent with the contribution of need and success scholarships. In other words, more than 55 percent of our students are scholarship students.”
Stating that they are among the universities with the highest number of projects and the highest project budget in Turkey in the field of research, Leblebici said, “We are not content with just being the best university in Turkey anymore, we are continuing our efforts to become one of the leading research universities in the world. We aim to reach more successful and needy young people in our 'Make a Promise for the Future' scholarship program, which is inspired by the promises made by our young people to solve problems for a stronger future and a better world”.
At the “Make a Promise for the Future” event, IRG Corporation Founding Partner Giovanna Guzman, Sabancı University Graduate Syed Hunain Imran, Sculptor Leyla Aktaş Rosenberger, Bulgurcu Foundation Founder Ayşen Bulgurcu, and Sabancı University Graduate Selin Kaya, who are among the Sabancı University scholarship fund donors, each delivered a speech.