Established in 2019, Gaziantep Islam Science and Technology University - GISTU, besides being a new university, prioritizes being a dynamic, multicultural university with international standards. Our goal in participating in the Erasmus+ programme is to increase more comprehensive and innovative applications to become an international university. GISTU aims to maintain, develop and strengthen its relations with domestic and foreign universities, institutions, and organizations on solid ground. It is one of our goals to cooperate with partner universities by developing joint projects and thus ensure the internationalization of our students, academic and administrative staff. With internationalization, GISTU aims to carry out current research in education and training at a global level, to reach international standards practically, to follow and use up-to-date knowledge with innovative and scientific perspectives, and to increase its competitiveness. In this way, GISTU aims to ensure that its students, academic and administrative staff compete effectively and efficiently at the international level. GISTU emphasizes the importance of international issues with its multicultural, well-equipped academic and administrative staff, courses, and up-to-date and innovative training programmes.
Within the scope of the Erasmus+ programme, the main goal of our institution is to ensure the mobility of students and academic and administrative staff, to increase the projects carried out with joint agreements, to increase the mobility of students and academic staff accepted to our institution from abroad by rapidly progressing towards becoming a higher education institution that provides education in European standards. In addition, within the context of the planned internship/practice mobility, it is aimed for our students to have the opportunity to do internship/practice at universities, related institutions, and organizations abroad so that they see the needs of the globalizing world from a broader perspective and determine their career plans in this direction.
Participation in the Erasmus+ programme will bring the management understanding of our institution to a better point, thus increasing its autonomy and accountability. This situation is considered an important step in increasing the transparency of our institution. Besides, as GISTU, one of the most important issues for us is providing a non-discriminative environment for students and academic and administrative staff. Our university aims to create an international campus by ensuring the participation of students, academic and administrative staff in teaching and learning, and socio-cultural activities, regardless of different language, religion, race, gender, culture, and disability.
Participation in the Erasmus+ programme is not only comprehensive and innovative but also enables and contributes to the formation of “greener” projects. As part of this effect, GISTU (with 382,454,00m2 open campus field) is suitable for the implementation and support of a greener environment and campus projects for students coming with Erasmus+ mobility. With these projects to be implemented, socialization among all participants will be supported by social projects, and a greener campus project will also be implemented. Each student who comes as a participant of the mobility programme will contribute to a greener campus project by planting trees and flowers together with academic and administrative staff. Awareness-raising projects to protect and feed stray animals in and around the campus will be developed and implemented in cooperation with non-governmental organizations. All these projects and events will also be shared on social media accounts. As a result of the partnerships established through the Erasmus+ programme and with the development of strong cooperations and relations, tolerance and cultural awareness will be enhanced. There are wheelchair ramps and elevators for disabled students in the open and closed areas of our university, and innovative and ergonomic projects will be developed to facilitate the life of these individuals on the campus. Our university aims to be a green, environmentally friendly, street animal-friendly, and disabled-friendly university.
Our university offers many opportunities for students, academic and administrative staff to increase physical activities with its indoor and outdoor facilities (basketball and football fields, tennis courts, bicycle, and walking tracks). In this respect, our university supports the individual and intellectual development of students, academic and administrative staff. In addition, our university offers students the opportunity to live in nature, with a student dormitory for approximately 500 people on campus.
Erasmus+ will contribute to our university's education at international standards through student, academic, and administrative staff mobility and exchange programmes. In this context, by participating in the Erasmus+ programme we aim to:
1. Increase the international mobility of students, academic and administrative staff,
2. Ensure the modernization of higher education,
3. Increase the number of students who respect the diversity, have a broad vision, and are well-equipped,
4. Motivate the students to become lifelong learners,
5. Respond to the needs of the globalizing world in line with joint projects,
6. Contribute to the scientific literature by developing joint projects and preparing publications with participating international colleagues (academic staff),
7. Create new fields of activity by cooperating with partner universities, institutions, and organizations,
8. Contribute to the participating students to gain work experience not only in their own countries but also in different geographies of the world,
9. Reflect innovative and futuristic practices in our own education programmes as a result of the shared knowledge and experience gained by the participating academic staff through giving lectures or seminars at international universities.
The aforementioned goals are guidelines for achieving our goals of high education standards in line with the internationalization strategy of GISTU. GISTU aims to be the new generation university preferred by the Z and Alfa generations with its global orientations that produce and use knowledge by integrating education and research with Erasmus+ programmes, based on interdisciplinary work, prioritizing entrepreneurship and futuristic practices, giving importance to multiculturalism and creativity. While integrating education and research with Erasmus+ programmes, GISTU aims to be a new generation university that produces and uses knowledge, uses interdisciplinary work as a base, prioritizes entrepreneurship and futuristic practices, attaches importance to multiculturalism and creativity, creates value on a global scale, and is on the preferred list of the Z and Alpha generations. With the cumulative benefits provided by Erasmus+ programmes, our goals will become achievable in a shorter time. Through international collaborations, projects, and mobility programmes, GISTU will contribute to creating an intercultural bond and awareness, increasing the visibility of the university, increasing the success of students and academic staff, and in this way the development of the country and society. Erasmus+ programme will also provide access to “the right to equal education” at the international level, and to know and use foreign languages at a more effective level. Being aware of the importance of increasing the number of students and academic staff participating in Erasmus + programmes, we plan to raise the number of scientific and social activities by following the current developments in this field. With the presence of these current realities, GISTU agrees to be a part of this entire global network.