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I n t e r n a t i o n a l i s a t i o n
i n
E u r o p e ’ s
u n i v e r s i t i e s
INSTITUTION
Pamukkale Üniversitesi WEBSITE
www.pau.edu.tr ADDRESS
Kinikli Campus 20070 Denizli Turkey
‘Removing barriers’
Pamukkale University, Turkey Pamukkale University has 42 000 students and some 3 500 staff in its 14 faculties, 4 graduate schools, 6 higher education schools and 11 vocational higher education schools. Use of IT enables exchange students to collect their transcripts and certificates within one week of the final exams. This expedites the recognition of courses by their home institutions. It was awarded the ECTS Label in 2012.
‘We wanted to remove all the barriers for any exchange students, whether they are our own students or foreign students,’ says Hüseyin Bağcı, Rector of Pamukkale University. ‘We know that recognition of the courses is one of the most important barriers that can face students. By gaining the credentials required for the ECTS Label, we showed our commitment in this direction.’ Throughout the Bologna Process implementation and ECTS Label application preparations, ‘we evaluated and updated all of our programmes and courses according to national and international standards. We reduced duplication, and the approach to courses and teaching changed. Learning outcomes became the priority. The motivation and response from all faculty members were outstanding. I can certainly state that we moved one step further in the direction of student-centred learning as opposed to teacher-centred education.’ Crucial factors in this achievement were ‘motivating the staff, educating and informing them on new developments and approaches and providing them with the necessary tools.’ A strong IT team is ‘a must’ throughout the process, he insists. ‘We expanded our IT team to support the implementation of the ECTS and the monitoring of all the stages.’ But the effort was worth it. ‘The implementation made our study programmes more visible, transparent and reliable for all current and prospective partner institutions.’