The 302nd Senate Meeting of our University was held on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, at 14.00 in the Rectorate Senate Meeting Hall. One item on the agenda was devoted to the Research and Development and Social Contribution areas among the sub-criteria of the Institutional Accreditation Programme (KAP) and the Institutional Self-Evaluation Report (KİDR) carried out at our University within the processes of the Higher Education Quality Council (YÖKAK).

The briefing was delivered by Assist. Prof. Hakan SİPAHİ on behalf of the Coordinatorship of Accreditation, Academic Evaluation and Quality. The presentation covered the sub-criteria of the two areas, the maturity levels declared for these criteria and the evidence on which those levels rest, with particular attention to the role of decision-making bodies in research and social contribution processes.

Preparations for the KAP site visit were also discussed. The online pre-visit with the evaluation team will take place on Monday, 26 October 2026, and the on-campus site visit will be held between 15 and 18 November 2026. It was explained that separate sessions will be held throughout the visit with senior management, boards, academic and administrative units, students, graduates and external stakeholders, and that the evaluation is designed to seek the field counterpart of what is written in the report.

The second part of the presentation introduced four institutional systems that feed the quality assurance system. The Quality Data Management System (KVYS) enables quality documents to be managed from a single address and accessed through permanent links. The Giresun University Communication Centre (GİMER) allows stakeholder applications and feedback to be received and monitored through a single channel.

The Academic Data Management System (UNİS) brings together records from YÖKSİS, ORCID, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar, gathering the publication, project, patent, citation and activity information of academic staff on a single platform. The renewed Graduate Information System serves to maintain the connection established with graduates and to use graduate feedback in the improvement of programmes.

The presentation drew attention to the shared function of these four systems: conducting quality assurance work on an evidence basis depends on recording decisions, practices and results in a traceable manner. These systems constitute the environments in which such records are produced and kept.

Preparatory work for the Institutional Accreditation Programme continues with briefing sessions at unit and board level. Documents, interview guides and current announcements concerning the process are available at kalite.giresun.edu.tr.