Sabancı University Professional Graduate Programs 2023 Commencement Ceremony was held on Sabancı University Tuzla Campus with the participation of the Founding Chair of the Sabancı University Board of Trustees Güler Sabancı.
Speaking at the commencement ceremony, Sabancı University President Yusuf Leblebici said, “Our goal is not only to be the best in Turkey but also to take our deserved place as a real research university that is recognized and appreciated all over the world. We continue to work intensively towards this goal."
Özge Bulut Maraşlı, a 2001 MBA graduate of Sabancı University, the Chair of Fabu Makine Sanayi A.Ş., and an Independent Board Member of İş Girişim Sermayesi, Akmerkez GYO and BluTv, who attended the ceremony as a guest speaker said: “I faced the facts about my career during the MBA program. I experienced breaking points, I found my own driving force here."
Sabancı University Professional Graduate Programs 2023 Commencement Ceremony was held on Sabancı University Tuzla Campus. The ceremony, at which 257 students graduated, took place with the participation of the Founding Chair of the Sabancı University Board of Trustees Güler Sabancı, Sabancı University President Yusuf Leblebici and Sabancı University Secretary General Ali Çalışkan.
Speaking at the commencement ceremony, Sabancı University President Yusuf Leblebici said, “Today, we bid farewell to our graduates who have successfully completed our university's Professional Graduate Programs. Despite the negative factors such as the pandemic, earthquake disaster, and uncertainty of the economic environment that we have experienced recently, at Sabancı University, we have not slowed down, and have made no compromise on the comprehensive breakthrough and transformation process we have been in for the last 5 years."
Stating that the success rankings of new students joining Sabancı University are increasing every year, Yusuf Leblebici said: “According to the university exam results, we managed to almost triple the number of students we admitted from the top 1000 in 5 years. We are very pleased to be educating Turkey's highest quality students in our Graduate and Professional Graduate Programs. We wholeheartedly believe that we are the university that best prepares its students for the business world, with the strength of our truly interdisciplinary education approach. We are pleased to observe that 97 percent of our graduates enter business life in the sectors they prefer as soon as they receive their diplomas or continue their postgraduate and doctoral education in the country of their choice. More than 23 percent of Sabancı University graduates continue to work successfully abroad in the most prominent companies and organizations in various countries of the world."
President Leblebici said, "Our goal is not only to be the best in Turkey but also to take our deserved place as a real research university that is recognized and appreciated all over the world." He continued, “We keep working intensively towards this goal. As a direct result of these efforts, we continue to increase our position in world university rankings year after year. The fact that we are one of the three universities from Turkey in the top 400 in the Times Higher Education (THE) 2024 rankings, covering the World's Best Universities, and that we have the highest research score confirms that our efforts have yielded positive results. Sabancı University Executive Development Unit EDU continues its steady rise in the field of custom programs in the rankings announced every year by the Financial Times. EDU, which first entered the lists in 2018 at 78th place, climbed rapidly in the rankings, ranked 42nd among world universities last year, and 36th this year.”
Yusuf Leblebici said that the Entrepreneurship Support Unit and Incubation Center, SUCool, which was established on the campus to pave the way for students and faculty members who want to step into the world of entrepreneurship by establishing their own companies, will be opened next week. Leblebici continued, “Our center will simultaneously offer more than 50 entrepreneurial students the opportunity to advance by setting up their own companies. We are also launching a venture fund to support the investments of early-stage startups. In addition, we have gained strength with 58 new faculty members who joined us in the past 3 years, more than half of whom came directly from abroad. Among the new young faculty members who have joined us, the number of successful graduates who have completed their doctoral degrees at the best universities in the world after graduating from Sabancı University and decided to return to us is also increasing. We will continue to create and develop together in the coming period."
“I found the driving force of my career during my MBA education at Sabancı University”
The guest speaker of this year's commencement ceremony was Sabancı University 2001 MBA graduate Özge Bulut Maraşlı, who is the Chair of Fabu Makine Sanayi A.Ş., and also an Independent Board Member of İş Girişim Sermayesi, Akmerkez GYO and BluTv.
In her address to the graduates, Özge Bulut Maraşlı said the following: “I started working in the finance department of a multinational company in 1993. My goal was to become CFO and then CEO. After 8 years, I questioned whether I should continue as a financier. When Sabancı University opened, I applied for an MBA in 2001. In the program, we came together with people from so many different sectors and with so many different work experiences that we learned to understand and express ourselves to each other and to solve problems with world values together. We received a very intensive academic education for one year. During this period, I also faced the facts about my career. I experienced breaking points, but our professors were always with us throughout this process. I found my own driving force here. Later, I joined a field where I could also do investor relations and corporate relations. I moved on to a TV company that sells content to 180 countries. I got my crazy ideas accepted. I didn't stop learning. Both I and my team continued to receive education at Sabancı University EDU. I have always followed my dreams. Today you are starting a new path. Do not lose the courage to achieve your dreams. No matter what, remember to create impact and benefit for society.”