Higher Education Council (YÖK) President Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar stated that face-to-face education will be introduced at universities in the 2021-2022 academic year, as was the case 1.5 years ago, and teaching opportunities will be further enriched with distance education methods such as online, synchronous and asynchronous.
President of YÖK Özvar made statements regarding the start of face-to-face education at universities in the 2021-2022 academic year. Wishing that the new academic year will be beneficial for all students, parents and all academic staff, YÖK President Özvar congratulated the students who will start university this year according to the results of university entery exams (YKS).
"DISTANCE EDUCATION IS NOT EDUCATION ITSELF"
Expressing that students have been continuing their courses through distance education in universities for 1.5 years, Özvar said, "Distance education is part of higher education, not itself. Distance education cannot be expected to replace or replace face-to-face education in higher education. The main thing in formal education is face-to-face education. As YÖK, we believe that face-to-face education is essential and a rule in all our universities. However, natural conditions sometimes do not allow face-to-face education as in formal education."
"NOW IT WILL BE DONE FACE TO FACE"
Explaining that the guide includes details about the education and training processes as well as the Covid-19 measures, Özvar gave the following information:
"In our universities, education and training will now be done face to face. We have also completed the necessary legislative work so that universities can conduct some of their courses with distance education methods and share them with our universities. In our universities, 40 percent of the courses or 40 percent of any course can be done through distance education. In this way, while face-to-face education continues in our universities, our students will be able to take part of the course through distance education methods. Thus, education and training activities will be carried out in our universities with blended (hybrid) education methods."
"FACE TO FACE, ONLINE, SYNCRONIC AND ASYNCHRONIC CAN BE APPLIED"
Özvar stated that blended education is a course or a part of a course delivered via the internet in addition to face-to-face education.
"In distance education, it may not always be online, some of the materials such as notes and speeches from the lessons can be pre-loaded into the system. Therefore, students can access these lectures and grades whenever they want without live lectures. Since our universities know the distance education method well, they can deliver some of the courses face-to-face, while simultaneously delivering these courses to their students online, which we call synchronous. Thus, in addition to face-to-face education, distance education methods such as online, synchronous and asynchronous education will be provided in a richer way. Therefore, education and training will be started in this way this year, just as we did face-to-face education at our universities 1.5 years ago. We look forward to welcoming our students to our universities," he added.