Erasmus+ ICM (Worldwide) Achievement

Koç University Office of International Programs provides several opportunities for students and staff along with research activities and cultural awareness.

We are glad to share that Koç University has received an important amount of Erasmus+ICM grants this year by taking the 9th place among 75 universities eligible for funding. Koç University has been collaborating with the leading global institutions to explore new partnerships for the mobility of students and academic staff members. Partner universities commit to the quality requirements of the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education in all aspects of the organization and management of the mobility, in particular the recognition of the credits (or equivalent) awarded to students by the partner institution.

Three new ERC Grants at Koç University!

The European Research Council operates according to a “curiosity-driven”, or “bottom-up”, approach, allowing researchers to identify new opportunities in any field of research. Accordingly the portfolio ERC funded projects spans a wide range of topics and research questions. ERC projects were in the category of the so called ’Starting’ grants for relatively younger faculty while the remaining four were in the category of the so-called ‘Consolidator’ grants for relatively more senior faculty members.  We are delighted to announce that all three of our ‘Starting’ grant project proposals have been approved for funding, representing a total funding level of 5.5 Million Euros, including 20% institutional overhead.  The three Koç University ‘Starting’ Grants are the only grants approved by the ERC at Turkish universities in this round.

Updates on International Networking and Partnerships

While COVID-19 has been affecting our lives on a day-to-day basis, Office of International Programs team continues its mission to form international connections and partnerships for Koç University.

PIM Conference

In September 2020, OIP team attended the 47^th Annual PIM Conference which was organized by Bocconi University for PIM Network members. The conference aimed to provide a venue for participants to network, share best practices, discuss PIM’s strategies for growth and development and collectively address issues that impact international education.​ While attending thought provoking sessions and discussions with attendees from all around the world, OIP members also had individual meetings with its partners and prospective partners.

EAIE Conference

A week after the PIM Conference, OIP attended the EAIE Community Exchange Virtual Conference, which took place between Oct.14^th and Oct. 16^th. The 3 day event welcomed more than 1600 participants from 57 countries. OIP team had the opportunity to connect once again with KU’s international partners and was inspired by the partners.

Jindal Law School Global Virtual Conference

The pandemic has deeply impacted the imagination of and practices in global legal education. O.P. Jindal Global University hosted distinguished speakers in their Global Virtual Conference on “Reimagining & Transforming the Future of Law Schools and Legal Education: Confluence of Ideas During & Beyond Covid-19” during 25-27 November 2020. The Conference brought law school deans, distinguished professors, legal educators, lawyers and judges from India and from different regions of the world to deliberate on some of the key global issues in the form of 20 thematic sessions over three days. Dean of Koç University Law School Prof. Bertil Oder was invited to represent Koç Law School in the conference on “Shifting Focuses in Legal Research During the Pandemic” by Jindal Law School.

SSUN Webinar Series

Social Sciences Universities Network (SSUN) (https://ssun.info/) promotes cooperation between universities in talent training, scientific research, academic innovation, as well as policy and regulation formulation. Member universities actively participate in global governance and act as pacemakers of higher education in the humanities and the social sciences.

SSUN held its first webinar series to discuss and investigate Artificial Intelligence from multiple perspectives, with the participation of scholars from SSUN Member Institutions. As one of the members of SSUN, Koc University was represented in the SSUN’s webinar series by Prof. Erdem Yörük on November 25^th, 2020 with his seminar titled “The Potentials and Challenges of Using Artificial Intelligence to Understand Social Movements”

New Institutional Partnerships

• Koç University and the University of Chicago, The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, signed a partnership agreement that also supports the mobility of PhD students in the area of Archeology and History of Art.
• Following a cooperation as part of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Global Youth Leaders Summit for the last 3 years, Koç University and PolyU have formalized their cooperation by signing a partnership agreement for student & faculty mobility, and promotion of joint teaching and research activities.
• Successful collaboration under the Erasmus+ ICM (Worldwide) project has led Higher School of Economics  St. Petersburg and Koç University to sign a partnership agreement for student & faculty mobility, and promotion of joint teaching and research activities.

• Koç University and Università di Salerno – DISPAC, signed a partnership in the fields of Art History, History and Archaeology for Student and Faculty exchange under the Erasmus+ K103 scheme.
• Our successful partnerships with these institutions have been expanded in different academic fields; KU Leuven in the field of Faculty of Arts; Humboldt University of Berlin in the field of Department of Archaeology and Queen Mary University of London in the field of History.

The Global Recruitment Team was all over the world on Zoom this summer and fall!

This year, the GRT traveled all around the world virtually covering Central &South Asia, Middle East&North Africa, Eastern Europe&Türkiye, Western Balkans, China, Germany, Pakistan, Qatar, and many more locations to meet talented prospective students.

The full list can be reached here. Don’t forget to check our website regularly to join the events in your country!

A new cohort of international students has now joined the KU community

A new cohort of international students joined the Koç University community at the start of October 2020 bringing their knowledge, experiences, languages, and more to our diverse campus.

As of Fall 2020, the total number of full-time international students at Koç University is 542 with 43% undergraduate, 20% master, and 38% Ph.D. students from 34 different countries, which means 7% of the total student body.

Click here to see our online orientation video and check our Instagram to learn more about the many and varied ways in which our international students help Koç University advance its process of internationalization as a world-class research-intensive university.

Now it is easier to apply to study at Koç University

We are excited about our new partnership with Dreampply as a student application management solution platform. Our application process is now simplified and efficient for international candidates.

Check out our new online application platform regularly here for news, webinars, and other events to stay connected to the KU community.