Aslı Demirgüç-Kunt, who served as the Chief Economist of the Europe and Central Asia region at the World Bank and who currently works as a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development, has been included in the Distinguished Research Fellowship program of our university.

Making a statement on the subject, our President Yusuf Leblebici said, “We are delighted to add one more distinguished scientist, who served as the Chief Economist of the Europe and Central Asia region at the World Bank, who has achieved international success, and who has a worldwide reputation for her studies, into the Distinguished Research Fellowship program that we started in the 2019-2020 Academic year.”

Aslı Demirgüç-Kunt will contribute to our University with her studies in finance and private sector development.

Other members of our Distinguished Research Fellows program include Mete Atatüre, Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and Director of Studies and Tutor at St. John’s College, Özlem Ayduk, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Director of the Relationships and Social Cognition Lab., and Fellow of the Society of Personality & Social Psychology, Holger Alexander Klein, Lisa and Bernard Selz Professor of Medieval Art at the University of Cambridge, and Director of the Sakıp Sabancı Center for Turkish Studies at Columbia University, Serdar Taşran, Principal Engineer at Amazon Web Services, and Mehmet Toner, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Who is Aslı Demirgüç-Kunt?

Asli Demirgüç-Kunt is a former Chief Economist of the Europe and Central Asia region at the World Bank, a position she held until August 2022, and currently a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development. Over her 30-year career in the World Bank, she also served as the Director of Research, Director of Development Policy, and the Chief Economist of the Finance and Private Sector Development Network, conducting research and advising on financial and private sector development issues.

The author of over 100 publications, she has published widely in academic journals and is among the most-cited researchers in the world. Her research has focused on the links between financial development, firm performance, and economic development. Banking and financial crises, financial regulation, access to financial services and inclusion, as well as SME finance and entrepreneurship are among her areas of research. She has also created the Global Financial Development Report series and Global Findex financial inclusion database. 

She was the President of the International Atlantic Economic Society (2013-14) and Director of the Western Economic Association (2015-18) and serves on the editorial boards of professional journals. Prior to joining the World Bank, she was an Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from Ohio State University.

One of the world’s leading scientists, Prof. Dennis G. Whyte, Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Plasma Science and Fusion Center, and member of the American Physical Society, is coming to Turkey for an event hosted by Sabancı University Istanbul International Center for Energy and Climate (IICEC), to explain the latest developments in fusion technology and the success factors of the technology they have developed.

Organized by Sabancı University IICEC, the seminar on “Accelerating Fusion Energy and Innovation”, which will be delivered by Prof. Dennis G. Whyte, will take place on Friday, October 14, 2022 at the Seed in the Sakıp Sabancı Museum.

IICEC Seminar: “Accelerating Fusion Energy and Innovation”

Date:   14 October 2022, Friday

Time:   10.00 - 11.00 - Registration

11.00 - 12.00 - Seminar

12.00 - 12.15 – Q&A

Place: The Seed, Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Emirgan
Sakıp Sabancı Cd. No:42, Sarıyer / Istanbul

Aydın Aysu, graduate of Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Microelectronics undergraduate program in 2008, and of Electronics Engineering graduate program in 2010, received the Research Scholar Program (RSP) award given by Google.Aydın Aysu, one of the 6 researchers who won the RSP award in the field of cybersecurity, will investigate cybersecurity problems in Google's devices running artificial intelligence. Within the scope of the award, it is aimed to detect information leakage from errors that may occur in the hardware of the devices or to predict and repair, at an early stage, incorrect operations that may occur.

Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Economics Program 2010 graduate Seda Peksevim's doctoral project was awarded the best doctoral research project by the Investments & Wealth Institute.

Seda Peksevim, who graduated from Sabancı University Economics program in 2010, is doing her PhD in Finance at Boğaziçi University. The study entitled 'Are Pension Funds Liquidity Providers? Evidence from EM Countries' prepared by Peksevim was selected the best doctoral research project by the Investments & Wealth Institute. The article which will be prepared as a result of the project will also be published in the Journal of Investment & Consulting.

Stating that Sabancı University made significant contributions to her career, Seda Peksevim said: “I think the infrastructure provided by the Sabancı University Economics department was very important for me to receive this award. I can see that the skills I have gained in the economics department, especially in the field of data science, encourage me to examine research topics in finance with different methodologies. In this context, I would like to thank all my professors in the Department of Economics. I consider this award a result of my passion for academia thanks to them. I am also happy to win this award on behalf of Turkey from an institution such as the Investments & Wealth Institute.”

Sabancı Business School Faculty Member Raha Akhavan succeeded in swimming in the 16-km-long Strait of Gibraltar, located between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, in 5 hours and 46 minutes.

Raha Akhavan, who has significant achievements in swimming, completed the second course of the Oceans Seven, which is considered the most difficult sea crossing in the world. Akhavan swam the Strait of Gibraltar on September 24, 2022, becoming the first Iranian woman to do it.

Stating that they swam on a difficult course, Raha Akhavan said, “Despite the shorter distance, there were very strong winds and currents in the strait that pushed the swimmers into the Mediterranean and prevented them from landing in Morocco. For this reason, the swimmers were asked to speed at least 3 km per hour and to complete the course in a maximum of 6 hours. I completed the course by swimming for 5 hours and 46 minutes.”

You can read the interview with Raha Akhavan, who managed to swim for 15 hours last year across the Catalina Channel in the USA, known as "the Swimmers' Mount Everest", in which we talked about many subjects from her passion for swimming to her goals from this link.

Moderated by Sabancı University Graduate Emre Başkan, the night was attended by Güler Sabancı, Founding Chair of Sabancı University Board of Trustees, and Prof. Dr. Yusuf Leblebici, President of Sabancı University, in addition to managers of Sabancı Holding Group companies, leading representatives of the business world, Sabancı University alumni, scholarship students, and donors.

The biggest surprise of the night, which was held with the theme of "Make a Promise for the Future", was the small sculptures made of sound waves of the promises made by university students for the future according to the theme. Malhun Tosun, an undergraduate student in the Industrial Engineering Program of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, presented the first of the sculptures on display throughout the night to Güler Sabancı, Founding Chair of Sabancı University Board of Trustees. The sculpture included the sound waves of Malhun's promise for the future, which was "I will prevent the food crisis that may occur in the future by specializing in the field of agricultural economics".

Delivering a speech at the event, Güler Sabancı, Founding Chair of Sabancı University Board of Trustees, said the following:

“Today, there are among us those who graduated from our university and hold important positions in very important companies. This journey is one that is going well. This success is crowned with your achievements. But if we walk together, if you do not forget this place, if you follow this university, make a promise, and give support to young people, we will be stronger. The most asked question in life is which school you graduated from. That brand grows with you. The level that our school has attained in 23 years is thanks to you”.

“You picked the champions!”

On the night, Güler Sabancı also shared a memory she had when Sabancı University was founded in 1999: “When we started our education in 1999, we were visiting the university with our International Board of Overseers Member Chad Holliday. The campus was not completely finished, we had 250 students. He chatted with them. He said that we picked the champions and that we should follow these students and the future well, and that these children have the power to make a change wherever they go. Now is the time for our graduates to follow their universities.”

Güler Sabancı continued as follows: “We set out to establish a world university. You all work in world companies. The greatest wish of the late Sakıp Bey was that our graduates 'be successful wherever they go in the world'. At the point to which the world has come today, we all see how important this is. Now we are paving the way for our young people together by saying “Make a Promise for the Future”.

“More than 55 percent of our students at our university have scholarships”

In his speech, Sabancı University President Prof. Dr. Yusuf Leblebici said: “Currently, there are over 5300 students at our university. 80% of our students are undergraduate and 20% are graduate and doctoral students. This year, according to the results of the Higher Education Institutions Exam, we have included 790 very bright young people, including the student ranking 1st in the exam, among these students. The number of students we received from the first 1000 was 140. We have become the university with the highest score in Turkey in terms of the minimum scores required for admission to faculties. 36 percent of our undergraduate students are accepted as scholarship students as they start our university. This rate further increases to 55 percent with the contribution of need and success scholarships. In other words, more than 55 percent of our students are scholarship students.”

Stating that they are among the universities with the highest number of projects and the highest project budget in Turkey in the field of research, Leblebici said, “We are not content with just being the best university in Turkey anymore, we are continuing our efforts to become one of the leading research universities in the world. We aim to reach more successful and needy young people in our 'Make a Promise for the Future' scholarship program, which is inspired by the promises made by our young people to solve problems for a stronger future and a better world”.

At the “Make a Promise for the Future” event, IRG Corporation Founding Partner Giovanna Guzman, Sabancı University Graduate Syed Hunain Imran, Sculptor Leyla Aktaş Rosenberger, Bulgurcu Foundation Founder Ayşen Bulgurcu, and Sabancı University Graduate Selin Kaya, who are among the Sabancı University scholarship fund donors, each delivered a speech.

Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Art Gallery is hosting two unique students exhibitions. The exhibitions titled Sparks 2022 and Proj 3V.2 (Physical and online) can be seen between 5-28 October 2022.

Proj 3V.2

Following a successful project last year, the Fine Arts Diploma Program, McNally School of Fine Arts, and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (VAVCD Program), Sabancı University continues with another online collaborative project activity. Students from both institutions collaborate online and produce artworks with proposed topics for the 2022 showcase at FASS ART Gallery (Sabancı University) and ICAS gallery (LASALLE College of the Arts).

The objective of “Project 3V.2: Visualize, Voice and Vision” 2022 encourages students (artists and designers) to engage in critical analysis collectively, reflection and research to investigate the issues that revolve around social, cultural, historical, environmental, and contemporary artistic practices. The learning approach includes online discussions with students and supervisors from both sides.

In this edition (Spring semester), Project 3V.2 further explore the collaboration between students of both institutions based on the concept of global cities, environment and sustainability through online seminars led by students and advisors. The project’s outcome is showcased at the FASS ART Gallery, Sabancı University and the ICAS Gallery at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore.

Click for exhibition details...

SPARKS 2022 

Another exhibition that will take place at the Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Art Gallery is SPARKS 2022. SPARKS 2022 continues to adopt the open concept, primarily to accommodate students who intend to realize their imagination and creativity in art, design, and artistic expression with digital media courses (3D Modeling, 3D Animation, Digital Video, Motion Graphics and Art).

Click for exhibition details...

Selçuk Artut’s new exhibition “Geomart-ut7” can be seen at Ataturk Cultural Center between 1-23 October 2022.

Selcuk Artut, who gave information about the exhibition said the following: “Geometric patterns sometimes appear as a reflection of an order we observe in nature, and sometimes as abstract results of an intuitive process that emerges with different techniques applied. The geometric patterns obtained with the help of a simple compass and ruler reveal a prosperous world with their complex structures that appear at different levels in the visual content they offer us and their perfect layout. In the art of geometry, which takes its inspiration from deep abstractions, we encounter some mysterious bridges that are tried to be built between the representation and the imagined. When these bridges are skillfully built, they have a simple structure that allows us to look through a window that leads to absoluteness, repetition, eternity, simplicity, complexity, order, and chaos. In this series of works titled Geomart-ut7, I try to present a transformation where simple geometric forms can gain movement and turn into complex structures in a world of perception where meaning takes its breath away from expression. I wish to make visible the connections between the past's geometric art and the present's generative art, shrouded in mist.”

For the ELAE Stage 2 Results click here.

Exam result code explanations are as follows:

SL (Satisfactory in the ELAE)*: indicates students who have received the required grade or above in the September 27th ELAE and who have gained the right to start their faculty studies as Fall (regular) Freshman in the 2022-2023 Fall Semester.

UL (Unsatisfactory in the ELAE): indicates students who have not been able to obtain the required grade in the ELAE on the 27th September, 2022.

NA (Non-attendance): indicates students who did not attend the exam and is equivalent to a “UL” grade.

Grade bands are as below:

Students who do not receive a passing grade will be placed in the Foundation Development Year at either Route 3 or Route 4.

We wish you success in your studies,

The School of Languages Directorate

Please click to see your result.

SL (Satisfactory in the ELAE) : This indicates those students who were successful in the 26th September English Assessment Exam  (Stage 1) and who have the right to take the English Assessment Exam  (Stage 2) on September 27th.

UL (Unsatisfactory in the ELAE): This indicates those students who were unsuccessful in the 26th September English Assessment Exam. Those who receive an unsatisfactory grade from the English Assessment Exam will be placed at an appropriate level in the 2022-2023 Foundation Development Year based on their exam results.

2022-2023 Academic Year Fall Term-Foundation Development Year Classes will start on Monday, 3rd October 2022. The student class lists and class schedules will be be announced on MySU on Friday, 30^th September 2022 at 3.00 pm. Registration to courses are done by the School of Languages. Students themselves do not need to register to courses.

NA (Non-Attendance): Students who do not take the ELAE “NA” grade will be evaluated as an “UL” grade.

Those students who were successful in the 26th September English Language Assessment Exam  (Stage 1) and who have the right to take the English Language Assessment Exam  (Stage 2) on September 27th can check the details given below.

STAGE 2 DATE, TIMES and PLACE:

Tuesday, September 27th, 2022, 09:30-15:00 (details below) / FENS G077

9:30 – 11:00 Writing

11:00 – 12:00 Listening

12:00 – 13:15 Lunch

13:15 – 15:00 Reading

For the identification check to be done in time, we ask that students who will take the exam be at the exam hall half an hour before the exam starts and that they bring some official identification which includes their photograph (such as a passport, identification card, driver’s license) with them. Students should also make sure that they bring a pencil, eraser and any other necessary pieces of equipment with them.

There is no make-up for the ELAE.

The results of the second stage will be announced on the external web page of Sabancı University through the SU web-page. These results will be announced on Wednesday, September 28th at 10:00 pm.

Information about results will not be given out over the telephone to avoid any misunderstanding.

ELAE results are announced as letters of the alphabet. As stated in our regulations, no results are released as numeric values.