Yıldız Technical University (YTU) has performed student and staff mobility under the project type “Learning Mobility of Individuals” in compliance with the objectives set out in the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education and YTU’s internationalization strategy. YTU aimed to attract incoming students/staff as well as outgoing students and staff for exchange mobility. With special attention paid to non-discrimination, transparency, equal access, full academic recognition, YTU aimed to achieve its quantitative and qualitative objectives. The participants and partner institutions are monitored at each step of their mobility in terms of the quality of their mobility management and the risk for decreasing the quality is prevented or kept under control to a great extent thanks to the mechanisms for monitoring and support. In the relevant project time, 29 incoming students, 8 outgoing students, 42 incoming staff had the opportunity to take part in the Project as participants as a result of a detailed and eliminative selection and nomination process. Unfortunately, 89 outgoing staff selected right before the pandemic could not complete their exchange process. The underlying objective that YTU had adopted while conducting the selection and nomination process was to obtain the optimal outcomes from that particular mobility project. Language competence and academic performance were the basic measurable criteria that were considered during the nomination and the distinguished participants from each group; that is, students and staff, were selected and nominated as a result of a transparent and fair process. YTU also put emphasis on promoting the program in order to encourage people who’ve never benefited from Erasmus+ to apply for the mobility. Erasmus+ Office put special attention on transparency of each process step and provided equality of opportunity for all students and staff. However, being aware that nomination is only the starting step, it was followed by a guidance and monitoring process so as to preserve the quality of each mobility. Orientation and supporting activities were performed on a regular basis by both academic and administrative coordinators with an aim to illuminate the participants about the fundamentals and significance of their upcoming mobility. YTU not only aimed to increase the number but also the quality of the mobility as it is aware of the fact that a successful project should be comprised of qualified participants in a good quantity so as to reach its objectives by means of an effective chain of activities conducted by the Departmental and Institutional Erasmus Coordinators. Guidance, monitoring, supporting, mentoring activities were scheduled within the relevant mobility call calendar and all of the participants were informed about that in advance. The most visible impacts were obtained on the foreign language strategy and the participants' approach for staff training mobility abroad. YTU’s good performance in this type of project attracts the attention of many local, national, and international institutions, and therefore it welcomes many visitors from those institutions in order to share its experience and provide guidance in terms of implementing such kind of a project. This makes a good contribution to the reputation of the university, which, in the long-term, will increase its chance to take part in more projects and establish more qualified partnerships.All things mentioned for the exchanges that have already been completed, aside, for obvious reasons, YTU could not meet its aimed budget performance due to the global pandemic. Right before the first case was diagnosed in Turkey in March, we had just completed our outgoing staff exchange application and selection process and due to abroad bans for civil servants and of course general public health regulations, none of the selected staff could complete their exchange processes until the end of the project year.

This action supports physical and blended mobility of higher education students and staff from EU Member States and third countries associated to Erasmus+ to any country in the world. Students in all study fields and cycles can take part in a study period or traineeship abroad. Higher education teaching and administrative staff can take part in professional development activities abroad, as well as staff from the field of work in order to teach and train students or staff at higher education institutions.

This is a project for higher education student and staff mobility between Programme Countries and Partner Countries. Please consult the website of the organisation to obtain additional details.

Yıldız Technical University (YTU) has performed student and staff mobility under the project type “Learning Mobility of Individuals” in compliance with the objectives set out in the ErasmusCharter for Higher Education and YTU’s internationalization strategy. YTU aimed to attract incoming students for an exchange semester. With special attention paid on non-discrimination, transparency, equal access, full academic recognition, YTU aimed to achieve its quantitative and qualitative objectives. The participants and partner institutions are monitored at each step of their mobility in terms of the quality of their mobility management and the risk for decreasing the quality is prevented or kept under control to a great extent thanks to the mechanisms for monitoring and supporting. In the relevant project time, 21 incoming students, 5 outgoing students, 20 incoming staff and 28 outgoing staff had the opportunity to take part in the Project as participants as a result of a detailed and eliminative selection and nomination process. The underlying objective that YTU had adopted while conducting the selection and nomination process was to obtain the optimal outcomes from that particular mobility project. Language competence and academic performance were the basic measurable criteria that were considered during the nomination, and the distinguished participants from each group; that is, student and staff, were selected and nominated as a result of a transparent and fair process. YTU also put emphasis on promoting the programme in order to encourage people who’ve never benefited from Erasmus+ to apply for mobility. Erasmus+ Office put special attention on transparency of each process step and provided equality of opportunity for all students and staff. However, being aware that nomination is only the starting step, it was followed by a guidance and monitoring process so as to preserve the quality of each mobility. Orientation and supporting activities were performed on a regular basis by both academic and administrative coordinators with an aim to illuminate the participants about the fundamentals and significance of their upcoming mobility. YTU not only aimed to increase the number but also the quality of the mobility as it is aware of the fact that a successful project should be comprised of qualified participants in a good quantity so as to reach its objectives by means of an effective chain of activities conducted by the Departmental and Institutional Erasmus Coordinators. Guidance, monitoring, supporting, mentoring activities were scheduled within the relevant mobility call calendar and all of the participants were informed about that in advance. The most visible impacts were obtained on the foreign language strategy and the participants’ approach for a staff training mobility abroad. YTU’s good performance in this type of project attracts the attention of many local, national and international institutions, and therefore it welcomes many visitors from those institutions in order to share its experience and provide guidance in terms of implementing such kind of a project. This makes a good contribution to the reputation of the university, which, in the long-term, will increase its chance to take part in more projects and to establish more qualified partnerships.

One of the main building blocks under the Green Deal policy is the “Circular Economy Action Plan” focusing on sustainable resource use, design and production for a circular economy, with the aim to ensure transform the EU into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, ensuring economic growth while improving the well-being and health of citizens and future generations.Increasing the number of expert researchers and key profiles in the field of circular economy within the scope of the EU Green Deal is of great importance for the fulfilment of the determined policy objectives. ECO-SPHERE is a COFUND postdoctoral programme focusing on circular economy for sustainable product design and resource efficiency offering 24 postdoctoral fellowships of 24-months length in diligently designated research areas on eco-design, energy, water/wastewater, material recovery, waste management, economic policy, climate change, sustainability, and business models. ECO-SPHERE is coordinated by the Department of Environmental Engineering at Yildiz Technical University in collaboration with Dokuz Eylul University. The 5-year programme will be executed in a broad range of research areas incorporating circular economy weighing European Union Circular Economy Action Plan, European Green Deal, United Nations SDGs, and Paris Agreement. Circular economy studies for resource and energy-intensive sectors will be carried out in order to ensure sustainable development together with all stakeholders, in which People, Planet and Profit are handled in an integrated manner. ECO-SPHERE will concentrate on industries with high circularity potential such as electronics and information technology, automotive, packaging, plastics, textiles, construction, food, water, and energy. Moreover, ECO-SPHERE will have a human-centric approach and focus on empowering consumers and providing them with cost-saving opportunities, making circularity work for people and cities.