Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Faculty of Architecture, Interior Architecture Department’s preparations for the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) has been completed. A statement made on the topic said: “Our department has always uncompromisingly worked its hardest for the best quality education. In this regard, CIDA accreditation preparations are now completed and achieved its goal”. In 2014, the Interior Architecture Department’s both Turkish and English programs were granted accreditations for 2 times by Germany-based AQAS (Agency for Quality Assurance) during the time when Prof. Dr. Uğur Ulaş Dağlı was the Head of the Department and with Assist. Prof. Dr. Münevver Özgür Özersay and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Afet Coşkun as the coordinators, respectively.
“I am Proud of My Department”
It was stated that the inspection was successfully carried out virtually by the visiting team of the America-based CIDA accreditation between 31 March and 11 April 2023. EMU Interior Architecture Department Head Assoc. Prof. Dr. Afet Coşkun made a statement and said: “I have to express that I am proud of EMU Interior Architecture Department, of which I am a part. We put forth a great effort with the participation of all our full-time faculty members, part-time lecturers, students, graduates and other stakeholders. Accreditation is the examination and inspection of the education given by an educational institution by another objective agency. Therefore, in addition to the certification of our education quality with accreditations, the international validity of quality education will increase thanks to the documents that will be given to our students with their diplomas”.
Accreditation Committee Manages the Process
Active preparation process for CIDA accreditation has commenced following the successful completion of the AQAS accreditation for the second time. In January 2020 when Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zehra Öngül was the Head of the Department and Assist. Prof. Dr. Kamil Güley was the Vice Head, the Accreditation Committee was coordinated by Prof. Dr. Özlem Olgaç Türker and consisted of the following members; Assist. Prof. DR. Ahenk Yılgın Damacı, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hacer Başarır Dindiç, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Guita Farivarsadri and Prof. Dr. Kağan Günçe in “Report Committee” and, Assist. Prof. Dr. Seyit Ermiyagil in “Visual Communication and Archiving Committee”. When Prof. Dr. Kağan Günçe left the committee, Prof. Dr. Nil Paşaoğlıları Şahit joined the committee as co-coordinator. Research assistants Sıla Su Yanar, Mine Abraşoğlu, Sıla Akman, Tochukwu Nnaji Valentine, Soheil Soleimani, Berkay Ergür, A. Oytun Kayan, Şevin Emektar, Mohamad Akkad and Ogün Ertekin provided contributions in various periods of the process.
Positive Response from CIDA
The virtual site visit, where CIDA auditors evaluated many principles under the CIDA Standards declared by CIDA, took place between 31 March and 11 April 2023. The evaluation process of the Department of Interior Architecture, English and Turkish Interior Architecture Undergraduate Programs, which are evaluated based on evidence such as the course documents showing the learning outcomes, will be concluded in October with the field visit team’s transfer of their findings to CIDA and the evaluations of the CIDA Accreditation Board. A very positive response was received from the visitors who made the CIDA site visit at the last meeting. Giving information about the process, Prof. Dr. Özlem Olgaç Türker made the following statements; “For a program, external evaluations such as accreditation / quality control play a developing role. In fact, these processes, which are based on the self-control processes of institutions, objectively increase the quality of education of institutions with a process based on development; makes the quality permanent; it acts as a catalyst in making invisible quality visible.”
