he panels for the “Preservation of Academic Heritage in the Middle East Project”, which has being carried out by the Council of Higher Education under the auspices of the Presidency of Turkey, are being held on international platforms.

Following the first panel held in New York on December 2, 2018, the second panel was held in Berlin on December 10, 2018. The project was also introduced at the Arts & Ideas Festival of SMI University in Pakistan on December 19, 2018.

Yunus Emre Institute hosted an important panel in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, which is considered as the center of Europe. Prof. Dr. Zeliha Koçak Tufan, CoHE Executive Board Member and Project Coordinator, Prof. Dr. Eyüp Ertuğrul Karsak, Rector of Galatasaray University, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Verşan Kök, Rector of Middle East Technical University, and Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar, Rector of Marmara University, participated as panelists.

The inclusion process of Syrian academics and students into academic life and education in Turkey and the legislative arrangements were discussed in the panel.

The CoHE Delegation attended the receptions hosted by Mehmet Kemal Bozay, Turkish Ambassador to Permanent Representation of Turkey to the EU, and Zeki Levent Gümrükçü, Ambassador of Turkey to Belgium. The delegation met with British, Greek, German and Belgian Parliament members, members of the European Commission and the rectors of University of Kent, Catholic University of Leuven, Ghent University and University of Antwerp and visited the European Parliament.

In these official visits, the delegation gave information to its European counterparts about the recent developments in Turkish higher education and the projects that were realized for the first time by the New CoHE, which are mission differentiation and specialization, 100/2000 Doctoral Scholarship Project, YUDAB Scholarships, research universities and the studies on the education of refugees in Turkey. After meeting with the Turkish students receiving education abroad, the CoHE delegation returned to Turkey.