A seminar titled “EU Funds and Project Opportunities for Universities” was organized by Uşak University European Union Education, Research and Application Center. In the online seminar attended by Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Osman Birgin and interested people from many universities and institutions, Bülent Özcan, Director General for Financial Cooperation and Project Implementation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs, gave information about both funds and scholarships.

The seminar was moderated by Uşak University European Union Education, Research and Application Center Director Dr. Lecturer Pınar Çağlayan. Prof. Dr. Bülent Özcan explained the funds provided by the European Union and related to the education sector through examples from Turkey. In his presentation, Özcan gave detailed information about the programs that universities can benefit from, the opportunities and scholarships that academics and students can benefit from.

Explaining that EU funds are coming to Turkey and the conditions under which these funds will be used, Özcan said; “Funds are coming to Turkey through different channels. Our universities are important actors in these fields. One of them is the pre-accession financial assistance tool. We call it IPA for short. IPA is a support received during the candidacy period, a resource given directly from the EU, and a budget transferred directly to us by the EU, which is in the nature of a grant and our country does not pay any contribution. The second source is the Union programs. These programs are thematic and on topics that the EU considers important. For example, if I say Erasmus Plus, everyone in the education community knows it. Like Erasmus Plus, union programs in the field of innovation and technology, such as Horizon Europe, Horizon Horizon Europe, are another area of support. Unlike İPA, these are programs that we as a country are included by paying a participation fee, so we can progress by setting a budget and benefiting from the budget we set or afterwards. In addition to these, there are scholarship funds that both our academics and students will benefit from. With these funds, participants can go to the member countries of the union and conduct research.”

The seminar ended with answering the questions.