This document summarizes Özyeğin University's accreditation journey with EAQUALS. It discusses forming an accreditation committee and volunteers to conduct a self-assessment. The self-assessment process involved identifying areas of strength and areas for improvement based on EAQUALS criteria. An advisory visit provided feedback, with some requirements and recommendations. The university addressed requirements and held informative meetings with staff. A successful inspection in 2016 resulted in Özyeğin University becoming fully accredited across all of its language programs, with no outstanding requirements.

1. An Accreditation Journey
Gökçe Ünlü – gokce.unlu@ozyegin.edu.tr
Serkan Aras – serkan.aras@ozyegin.edu.tr
Özyeğin University/İstanbul
©Eaquals Eaquals International Conference, Riga, 27 – 29 April 2017 www.eaquals.org 1

2. Who are We?
• Özyeğin University - ISTANBUL
• English Medium University
• School of Languages (ScOLa):
3 Programs:
*English Prep (Foundation Year) - 1242 Sts
*UGEng - 1820 Sts
*Modern Languages - 650 Sts
• Number of Instructors: 123

3. menti.com
Code: 214612
©Eaquals Eaquals International Conference, Riga, 27 – 29 April 2017 www.eaquals.org 3

4. What is Accreditation?
• In my opinion, accreditation is…
• For my institution, accreditation is…
©Eaquals www.eaquals.org 4Eaquals International Conference, Riga, 27 – 29 April 2017

5. Accreditation Process
©Eaquals Eaquals International Conference, Riga, 27 – 29 April 2017 www.eaquals.org 5

6. Why Accreditation?
• to prove that we meet a general
standard of quality.
• to be recognized by employers and
recruiters
• to offer students a better chance of
having their credits transferred to other
reputable institutions, if they decide to
obtain a graduate or doctoral level
education.
• to have an International Identity

7. How Did We Start?
• Several options offered to the staff
and the staff selected the option
which fit with the notions of the
institution.
• We all decided to go for EAQUALS.

8. Why EAQUALS?
EAQUALS is an international association of
institutions and organizations involved in
language education.
Accreditation by EAQUALS is the primary
means by which providers of language
courses can demonstrate their compliance
with high international standards designed
specifically for language learning services.

9. The First Step:
Self-Assessment Process
• Forming a group of volunteers (6
people) in addition to the university
accreditation committee
• Getting the self-assessment criteria
of EAQUALS and splitting into
groups of two to identify what we
had and what we needed to improve

10. Self-Assessment Process:
Where were We?
1. Management and Administration
2. Teaching and Learning
3. Course Design and Supporting Systems
4. Assessment and Certification
5. Academic Resources
6. Learning Environment
7. Client Services
8. Quality Assurance
9. Staff Profile and Development
10.Staff Employment Terms
11.Internal Communications
12.External Communications

11. Self-Assessment Process
• Having completed the initial
evaluation by the volunteer group,
sessions were organized with the
whole school to further diagnose
and act on the needs of the school
with the suggested activities in the
Self Assessment booklet.

12. Self-Assessment Process
What? By Whom? When?
Vision and mission should
be revisited.
All staff (ScOLa)
Ethos and Teaching
Philosophy should be
written.
All staff (ScOLa)
ScOLa Effective Teaching
Criteria should be formed
based on the EAQUALS
criteria, teachers’needs and
the institution’s
expectations.
Management and
all staff (ScOLa)

13. Ethos and Teaching
Philosophy
1. The purpose(s) of the education in ScOLa is/are
to...
2. The students in ScoLa learn best by...
3. When I'm (we're) teaching, my (our) main goals
are...
4. The things that I (we) value about my (our)
teaching are…
5. Which of the tools, methods, techniques,
approaches do/can you use in your daily
classroom practice?
6. The most effective teaching tools, methods,
techniques, approaches (ideally) for our context
are...
©Eaquals Eaquals International Conference, Riga, 27 – 29 April 2017 www.eaquals.org 13

14. Self-Assessment Process
• In co-operation with other parties in
the institution, we had meetings with
the all staff and worked to prepare
the necessary documentation.

15. Having Completed The Self-
assessment Process: Should
we be frightened by ‘the
Monster’?
• In - - - - - ment
• Aw - - - ness
• Co - - - dence

16. Having Completed The Self-
assessment Process: Should
we be frightened by ‘the
Monster’?
• Involvement
• Awareness
• Confidence

17. Having Completed The
Self-assessment Process:
Advisory Visit?
• Should we have an advisory visit?
• Getting prepared as if it was the real
inspection.

18. Advisory Visit
(November 2015)
A smooth advisory 3-day visit with one inspector
• 34 class visits in 3 programs in total
• Focus group meetings with staff and students
• Meetings with different parties in management
(from rector to admin)
• Inspection of documentation
• Inspection of university premises
• Follow-up feedback meeting with relevant parties

19. After The Advisory Visit
• Almost 2 months later, advisory report
arrived with some items in red and some
items in blue.
Red---
Requirements we had to fulfill to get
accredited
Blue---
Recommendations we could apply to further
improve our school

20. Actions After the
Advisory Visit
One sample of
REQUIREMENTS – (Teaching
and Learning)
???
Implement fully the class
observation plan and make sure
all instructors will be observed
this academic year.
Considering the needs
of instructors while
designing an
observation cycle
One sample of
RECOMMENDATIONS –
(Learning Environment)
Consider decorating the
classrooms with educational
posters, boards for displaying
students’ work and classroom
language charts, etc.
Exihibiting the projects
that have been made by
students

21. How did we Come up
With Solutions?
With the all staff in groups,
• we went over not only the
requirements but also
recommendations (transparency).
• we came up with solutions.

22. Inspection (May 2016)
• 52 class visits in 3 programs in total
• Focus group meetings with staff and
students
• Meetings with different parties in
management (from rector to admin)
• Inspection of documentation
• Inspection of university premises

23. Follow-up feedback
meeting with relevant
parties
3 options
• Not getting accredited
• Getting accredited on the condition
that some requirements are carried
out
• Getting accredited without any
requirements

24. Happy Ending ☺
The Only University of which all programs
(Preparatory School, Undergraduate
English, Modern Languages) have been
accredited.
No requirements ☺

25. Got Accredited: Verdict
Letter (July 2016)
The School of Languages Ozyegin University
was inspected by Eaquals in 2016 and met
the high standards required for Eaquals
accreditation. The teaching, the course
programmes, as well as the course
organisation, the learning resources, testing
and evaluation were all judged to be of high
quality. It was found that the institution takes
great care to protect the welfare of its clients
and staff, and all publicity materials produced
by the institution are accurate and truthful.

26. Excellence in 8 Areas
1. Management and Administration
2.Academic Resources
3. Learning Environment
4. Client Services
5. Staff Profile and Development
6. Staff Employment Terms
7. Internal Communications
8. External Communications

27. ©Eaquals Eaquals International Conference, Riga, 27 – 29 April 2017 www.eaquals.org 27

28. Any
Questions/Comments?

29. Gökçe Ünlü – gokce.unlu@ozyegin.edu.tr
Serkan Aras – serkan.aras@ozyegin.edu.tr