The opening ceremony of the 2023-2024 Academic Year was held at the Presidential Complex, Beştepe National Congress and Culture Centre with the presence of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The ceremony was attended by Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Numan Kurtulmuş, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, President of the Council of Higher Education Erol Özvar and state officials, as well as ministers, members of the Council of Higher Education, heads of relevant institutions, ambassadors, rectors, academics and students.

-President Erdoğan; "Universities change both the fortune and history of a country with the generations they raise".

In his speech at the ceremony, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that universities are universal institutions with traditions that contribute to the intellectual development of students, enabling them to discover their talents, as well as being a home of science, and said: "Universities change both the fortune and history of a country with the generations they raise. Universities, which are the locomotive of human, economic and social development, constitute the driving force of international competition for countries."

In his speech, YÖK President Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar wished that the 2023-2024 Academic Year would be beneficial for students, academics, administrative staff and the country and said, "As the Council of Higher Education, our vision for the Turkish Century is to build an innovative and competitive higher education system that adopts a quality-oriented and academic performance-based management approach, supports university-industry cooperation models with its diversity and the manpower profile that our country needs, is finally sensitive to national, regional and global problems, and guides the future at a universal level."

Uşak University is the Best University in Turkey in Contributing to Local Development

Following the speeches of Erol Özvar, President of the Council of Higher Education and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the "Council of Higher Education 2023 Outstanding Achievement Awards", which are given by YÖK in four categories as "individual, institutional, special field and special", were presented to their owners.

Uşak University, which won the 'Contribution to Local Development' award in the institutional category, added a new one to its achievements in regional development projects. Receiving their awards from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Uşak University Rector Prof. Dr. Ekrem Savaş and Faculty of Engineering faculty member and project coordinator Prof. Dr. Yaşar Gök experienced great pride.

Uşak University Left Behind All Universities in Turkey in Contribution to Local Development

In his statement after the event, Uşak University Rector Prof. Dr. Ekrem Savaş underlined that Uşak University is a "regional development and qualified employment-oriented university" and stated that they are happy to receive the "Contribution to Local Development" award within the scope of "2023 Higher Education Council of Higher Education Outstanding Achievement Awards".

Rector Savaş said, "We are one of the Regional Development Oriented Universities, which was first announced by our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2016. Our regional development-oriented studies are rewarded. Today, the award presented to us by our President Mr. Erdoğan has given us great honour and pride. I would like to thank our President of the Council of Higher Education Prof. Dr. Özvar and all members of the Council of Higher Education for their support, especially our President. As Uşak University family, we will continue to achieve important successes in the 2023-2024 academic year.''

-Savaş; Our project will bring a solution to an important problem in leather industry, which is the leading sector of Uşak-

Rector Savaş stated that the project, which was carried out by Prof. Dr. Yaşar Gök, faculty member of the Faculty of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, aimed to produce formic acid from biomass, and gave the following information about the project

''Formic acid, which is one of the chemicals that bring serious costs in the leather industry, which is one of the leading industrial sectors of Uşak region, is used for cleaning the leather before calcination, increasing the chemical permeability during tanning, and pH regulation after second tanning and dyeing. It is used in very high quantities especially in Uşak Leather Industry. Current research have been intensified for the production of formic acid, but a high efficiency, environment-friendly and economical production process has not yet been developed. Within the scope of our award-winning project, it is aimed to utilise the biomass resources in and around Uşak for the production of formic acid used in the leather industry."

Rector Savaş was accompanied by Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Prof. Dr. Rahşan Ilıkçı Sağkan, Dean of the Faculty of Education Prof. Dr. Bülent Çavaş, Director of the Vocational School of Justice Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fulya Akyıldız, Director of the Civil Society Studies Application Research Centre Lecturer Halime Durkut and students Şeyma Demirci and Halide Başkara.