More Students Than Ever Represent Türkiye in the European Students’ Union (ESU)

ANKARA – The number of students accepted to the European Students’ Union (ESU) Quality Assurance Student Experts’ Pool, which was established in 1982, today consists of 45 National Unions of Students from 40 countries, and represents approximately 20 million students in Europe, has reached a record-breaking number in 2022. ESU has approved ten students from various universities to be members for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Mehmet Bora, the student member of the Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (THEQC) and the Chair of THEQC Students Commission, and Erdoğan Taha Akbaş, THEQC Students Commission member and Head of Ataturk University’s Students’ Quality Community, have been accepted to the pool as members for the first time this year. In addition, the terms of office of Ömer Faruk Sönmez (Izmir Democracy University) and Sena Çatal (TED University), THEQC Students Commission members, who were accepted to the pool for the 2021-2022 academic year last year, have been extended by ESU for one year. Similarly, the terms of office of Simge Ayyıldız, a former member of THEQC Students Commission and the Founding Head of Karabük University’s Students’ Quality Society, and Eda Eren, the Head of Hacettepe University’s Students’ Quality Research Society, have been extended for one year.  

Eren Çanga (Hacettepe University), Hilal Karaoğlan (Boğaziçi University), and Berkay Tarım (Hacettepe University), who became THEQC student evaluators by participating in the Quality Ambassador Training Program (QAP-22) and Quality Ambassador Workshop (QAW-22) conducted by THEQC Students Commission and the THEQC Evaluator Training given by THEQC in 2022; and Süleyman Solmazgül (Nişantaşı University), the THEQC evaluator, succeeded in becoming members of the pool.

Two students in 2020, eight in 2021 and ten in 2022 from Türkiye became members of ESU’s Quality Assurance Student Experts’ Pool (see Table 1). In the pool, where 73 members from 25 countries were accepted this year, the country with the highest number of members is Türkiye (ten members), while Spain has nine and Romania has eight members.

Commenting on the advanced ESU membership of Türkiye, Prof. Muhsin Kar, THEQC President, said that the devoted work of THEQC Students Commission, established in 2019, gave rise to student awareness about quality assurance work in Turkish higher education institutions and resulted in the involvement of students in these works. President Kar added that THEQC regards this success as an indicator of student experience increasing day by day. Congratulating the students who have become new members and whose memberships have been renewed, President Kar wished the students success in their work.

Table 1: the table showing the distribution of ESU Quality Assurance Student Experts’ Pool members by country.

What is ESU?

ESU is an umbrella organization formed by 45 National Unions of Students from 40 countries. The Student Experts’ Pool within ESU is a platform that allows students to learn about quality assurance in higher education and share their views and experiences, thereby encouraging active student involvement in the quality assurance system. For detailed information, please visit https://esu-online.org/.