The board established a five-member Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility.
Faculty members or students with a complaint regarding violation of their academic freedom
can now file a grievance with the secretary-general of the committee. The committee will
evaluate each case received and make its recommendation to the rectorate that either 1)
there is a need for a deeper investigation by a special ad hoc committee or 2) the
plaintiff be informed that there are no substantive grounds for the claim. The president
of the student council of Bilkent University will serve as an ex officio member of the
committee. The other four members appointed by the board are Prof. Dr. Ümit Berkman
(secretary-general), Prof. Dr. Mehmet Baray, Prof. Dr. Tayfun Özçelik and Assoc. Prof.
Dr. Osman Gürzumar.
The board approved a proposal for a new Master of Arts program in the Graduate School of
Education. The program will admit practicing teachers with at least two years of teaching
experience. It aims to give teachers a way to increase their professional competence and
qualifications, and to encourage school-based educational research.
Another proposal established a joint master's program at the Bilkent University Faculty of
Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences and Tilburg University in Holland. The
program is a dual Master's in Applied Economics, Finance and Operations Research.
Two additional proposals concerned the foundation of scientific research centers at
Bilkent. The Bilkent University Space Technology Research Center (BİL-UZAY) will work on
developing space-based technologies with a special emphasis on satellite design, assembly,
integration and testing. The Bilkent University Computational Electromagnetics Research
Center (BİLCEM) will be established to solve large-scale numerical electromagnetics
problems that have important real-life applications.
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