Celebration of the Decennial Anniversary of ISER Writing in Higher Education and the New Year Greetings for 2025

Esteemed Stakeholders,

As we enter 2025, the Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (THEQC) is pleased to share with you the excitement and hopes for the new year. This year also marks the decennial anniversary of the Institutional Self-Evaluation Report (ISER) writing, which has a special meaning and importance for us.

The past 10 years have been a period of transformation for the Turkish higher education system, and significant progress has been made in quality assurance practices. ISERs have played a key role in improving the self-evaluation capacities of Turkish universities and bringing transparency, accountability and continuous improvement to the Turkish higher education system. These reports have provided a perspective to improve institutional functioning and guide decision-makers, and have added value to each of our stakeholders, from students to academics.

Today, the Turkish HEIs are implementing exemplary practices in disseminating quality culture in the national and international arenas. In the next 10 years, THEQC aims to build on these achievements and further increase the transformation capacity of the Turkish higher education system. In this context, it is critical to develop quality assurance systems with a more inclusive, stakeholder-oriented and innovative approach.

In particular, we believe that student involvement should be considered as one of the key elements of quality assurance processes. The opinions, assessments and active involvement of students play a pivotal role in increasing the capacity of the Turkish HEIs to improve themselves and to produce solutions in line with the requirements of the age. In the new cycle, THEQC will continue to work with them to ensure that students are involved more intensively in these processes. In 2025, we will continue to build a more comprehensive and effective quality assurance ecosystem together with the support of valuable HEIs and stakeholders of THEQC. We believe that together we, the quality volunteers, will contribute to a brighter future. I wish everyone health, happiness and success in the New Year. I also wish that the HEIs will achieve new goals during their quality journey.

Sincerely,

Prof. Ümit Kocabıçak
THEQC President