Architectural Education Accreditation Association (MiAK) 1st Term 1st Board of Directors Activity Report
1. INTRODUCTION
Association for Accreditation of Architectural Education (MiAK) was established on the 10th of September, 2019 with 74 Founding Members consisting of 5 legal and 69 real persons. MiAK was first planned in 2006 in cooperation with the academicians of the Department of Architecture working at various universities and the Chamber of Architects and started its activities in 2007 under the name of Architectural Accreditation Board within the framework of the Regulation of the Architectural Accreditation Board (MiAK) adopted by the General Assembly of the Chamber. Since two departments submitted letters of intent that year and one department submitted the Self-Assessment Report, the first visit was made in 2008. It has been carrying out accreditation activities for 12 years. The purpose of the establishment of MiAK, which received the 2-Year Quality Assessment Registration Certificate on November 17, 2021, as an association, is defined as contributing to the improvement of the quality of education in the Departments of Architecture established in various universities in Turkey.
2. CORPORATE INFORMATION
Only legal entities subject to public and private law and real persons providing academicians, educators, graduates, and professional services to MiAK, who will support the objectives of MiAK with their aims and activities, can become a founding member at the establishment stage and a member by the decision of the Board of Directors after the establishment. MiAK organs are as follows:
a. General Assembly (MiAK-GK),
b. Board of Directors (MiAK-YK)
c. Auditory Board (MiAK-DEK)
ç. Economic Business Administration
d. Architectural Accreditation Board (MiAK-MAK)
e. Advisory Board (MiAK-DAK)
f. Coordinators
The General Assembly is the most authoritative decision-making body of the MiAK and consists of the members registered with the MiAK. Article 13 of the MiAK Charter states that "The Board of Directors shall consist of seven (7) regular and seven (7) substitute members elected by the General Assembly by secret ballot for a period of two (2) years. Two (2) original and two (2) substitute members of these members are elected from among the candidates recommended by the Central Board of Directors of the Chamber of Architects TMMOB (Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects). In the event of a vacancy from the original memberships, the substitute members shall be called to duty according to the order of votes they received in the election in the General Assembly. The members of the Board of Directors work on a voluntary basis. The Auditory Board consists of three regular and three substitute members elected by the General Assembly by secret ballot for a period of two years. The Architectural Accreditation Board consists of seven members. The members of the Architectural Accreditation Board are determined from among the faculty members of the Department of Architecture who have at least fifteen years of experience in the evaluation of architectural education or architects with at least 15 years of experience. Five of the seven members are selected from among the candidates formed by the Communication Group of the Heads of Departments of Architecture Schools (MOBBİG), and the other two members are determined by the Chamber of Architects TMMOB.
MiAK Board Members:
Members of the Board of Directors in the 1st Term of MiAK are as follows:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Candan Çıtak (Chairman as of 11.03.2022, Vice Chairman until 11.03.2022)
Prof. Dr. Lale Özgenel (Vice Chairman as of 11.03.2022, Member as of 22 December 2021)
Prof. Dr. Ayşen Ciravoğlu (Secretary Member)
Prof. Dr. İpek Akpınar Aksugür (Treasurer Member, as of 22 December 2021)
Prof. Dr. Gül Koçlar Oral (Member)
Prof. Dr. Deniz İncedayı (Member)
H. Bülend Tuna (Member as of 11.03.2022)
Prof. Dr. Neriman Şahin Güçhan (Chairman until 18.05.2020)
Prof. Dr. Gülçin Pulat Gökmen (Chairman between 18.05.2020 - 11.03.2022)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sait Ali Köknar (Treasurer Member, until 22 December 2021)
3. MiAK 1st TERM STUDIES and ACTIVITIES
The 1st Term studies of MiAK as an association and the 8th Term studies of MiAK-MAK (Architectural Accreditation Board) cover the period between September 2020 - November 2022. After the association phase, MiAK is called the Association for Accreditation of Architectural Education, and the Architectural Accreditation Board is called MiAK-MAK. The necessary preparations were completed during the period and the application for the "Quality Assessment Registration Certificate" within the scope of national recognition was made to YÖKAK (Higher Education Quality Board). In September 2021, the MiAK Self-Assessment Report was delivered with its detailed attachments. As a result of the registration application made with the documents prepared by MiAK before and during the association process, the "Quality Assessment Registration Certificate" was granted by YÖKAK as of November 2021 and MiAK continues its activities with national recognition. The documents developed by MiAK-MAK during the application and submitted with the self-assessment report are as follows.
• Quality Assessment Registration Certificate Renewal Application Self-Assessment Report
• Association for Accreditation of Architectural Education (MiAK) Charter (2019)
• MiAK List of Founders (2019)
• MiAK-MAK Operational Principles (2020)
• MiAK-MAK Accreditation Requirements (2021)
• MiAK-MAK Accreditation Processes (2021)
• MiAK-MAK Quality Assurance Certificate (03.12.2020)
• MiAK Code of Ethics (2021)
• MiAK Budget and Financial Affairs Directive (15.06.2021)
• MiAK Archiving Directive (15.06.2021)
• MiAK-MAK Accreditation Process Evaluation Form
• MiAK YÖDEK (Higher Education Academic Evaluation and Quality Improvement Commission) Quality Assessment Registration Certificate (13.12.2011)
• MiAK YÖK (Higher Education Board) Quality Assessment Registration Certificate (26.05.2015)
• MiAK Organization Chart (September 2021)
• MiAK Economic Administration Tax Plate (2021)
• MiAK Economic Administration Trade Registry Certification (11.01.2021)
• MiAK Economic Administration Lease Agreement (January 2021)
• MiAK Association Lease Agreement (01.03.2019)
• MiAK Consistency Committee Directive (15.06.2021)
• MiAK Quality Assessment Unit Directive (01.12.2020)
• MiAK Visiting Teams Pool (2008-2021)
• MiAK Association Account Statement (2019-2021)
• MiAK Economic Administration Account Statement (2021)
MiAK Activity Agenda:
During the period, 15 MiAK Board of Directors Meetings, 1 MiAK Auditory Board Meeting, 1 MiAK Quality Assessment Unit meeting, and 1 MiAK Consistency Committee Meeting were held. In addition to these meetings, MiAK stakeholders participated in 5 meetings invited by education and accreditation institutions and made presentations on behalf of MiAK. See: http://www.miak.org/?p=sayfalar&sayfa_id=36
Within the scope of the YÖKAK MiAK Monitoring Program, it was audited on 24 May 2022 and was successful. In June 2022, the District Governorship Audit was completed.
Throughout the period, work on corporate identity development continued and the www.miak.org website was developed and brought up to date. MiAK-MAK Calendars, MiAK Agenda, announcements, news, and documents from MiAK are published and shared up to date on the website.
4. MiAK-MAK 8th TERM STUDIES
The 1st Period studies of MiAK as an association coincide with the 8th Operational Period of the Architecture Accreditation Board. After the association phase, MiAK is called the Association for Accreditation of Architectural Education, and the Architectural Accreditation Board is called MiAK-MAK. In the MiAK-MAK Operational Principles, the term of office of the members of the Architectural Accreditation Board is defined as two years. The election of the five members of the Architectural Accreditation Board is made by the heads of the departments at the meetings of the Communication Group of the Heads of Architecture Departments. Candidates are voted, and the others who attend the meeting have one vote. The ratio of academician-professional people to architects was determined in this way by the heads of departments and Chamber officials during the establishment phase. During the establishment phase of the Association, the current members of the Architectural Accreditation Board, who were elected by MOBBİG(Communication Group for Heads of Schools of Architecture) and TMMOB Chamber of Architects Headquarters and who were among the founders of the Association, continued to work as direct MiAK-MAK members, based on the date they were elected and started to work. New member elections were held to replace the members whose term of office expired in 2021.
During the period, 33 MiAK-MAK Meetings (total of work, secretariat, and board meetings), 3 MiAK-MAK Program Information Workshops, 2 MiAK-MAK Visiting Team Workshops, 1 MiAK-MAK Advisory Board Meeting were held. MiAK and MiAK-MAK attended the 49th 50th 51st 52nd MOBBİG Meetings, presentations were made and members of the accreditation board were elected.
Members of the Board of Directors in MiAK-MAK's 8th Term are as follows:
Prof. Dr. Mine Özkar (Chairman)
Ass. Prof. Derya Yorgancıoğlu (Vice Chairman)
Prof. Dr. Ayşen Ciravoğlu
Assoc. Prof. Arbil Ötkünç
Ass. Prof. Üyesi Aktan Acar
H. Bülend Tuna
Dilşad Aktaş Canatay
Prof. Dr. Neriman Şahin Güçhan (Chairman until 18.05.2020)
Assoc. Prof. Candan Çıtak (Vice Chairman until November 2021)
Assoc. Prof. Saitali Köknar (Member until November 2021)
Prof. Dr. Gülçin Pulat Gökmen (Chairman as of 18.05.2020, Member as of 24.11.2018)
Pınar Gökbayrak (April 2022)
In 2021, 2 Visiting Team Workshops were held online, the first on April 22, 2021, and the second on December 11, 2021. Information on how to carry out the accreditation process online due to the fact that on-site evaluations cannot be carried out due to the conditions brought by the pandemic is explained by the "MiAK-MAK Remote Program Evaluation Guide" developed by MiAK-MAK and the presentations made by MiAK-MAK. More than 100 people from 2019, 2020, and 2021 applications participated in the workshops.
MiAK-MAK Program Information Workshop was held for 5 different programs from 3 different institutions that applied to MiAK in 2021, and for 9 programs that applied in 2022. The participation of the program auditors, the members of the Architectural Accreditation Board, and the members of the Board of Directors of the MiAK Association provided information on how the accreditation process will be carried out and the accreditation documents.
Published Guides and Documents:
On 09.10.2020, MiAK-MAK decided to review the accreditation conditions and processes documents with wide participation during the year and to update them in parallel with the updates in national and international accreditation bodies in order to carry out the accreditation activities suspended due to the pandemic in accordance with the current conditions. Work on new documents is ongoing. In order to help with program evaluations during the remote education period, "MiAK-MAK Remote Program Evaluation Guide – 2021" was published by MiAK-MAK and communicated to all institutions in the accreditation process. In addition to the MiAK-MAK Accreditation Conditions and Accreditation Processes Documents, the MiAK-MAK Self-Assessment Supplementary Report has been prepared and submitted to the relevant programs so that the programs that have applied in 2019 and 2020 can be properly evaluated in the accreditation process of their remote or hybrid education studies. All documents can be accessed from the documents section on the website.
At the end of the accreditation processes, it is planned to update the programs in accordance with the changing needs, expectations, and satisfaction of academicians, architects, society, and students with feedback from the visiting teams and programs. It is considered very important for the health and improvement of the evaluation process that the performances, impartiality of the visiting team members who took part in the program evaluation process, and their attitudes in their personal relations with the other team members and the officials of the institution in the evaluation process can be evaluated by all parties they are in contact with during the evaluation process by MiAK. MiAK uses questionnaires to ensure that Visiting Team Members can be evaluated by the programs. The issues, complaints, and suggestions mentioned in these questionnaires are handled and evaluated by the relevant boards of MiAK.
In addition, a meeting of the MiAK-MAK Advisory Board was held on July 17, 2021, and the MiAK Auditory Board meeting was held on July 18, 2021, and the relevant reports were submitted to the board of directors. The MiAK Quality Assessment Unit (KDB) works on quality sustainability and continuous improvement issues and makes recommendations to the MiAK Board of Directors. In addition, MiAK-MAK Commissions (MiAK-MAK Document Update Commission, Continuous Improvement Commission, and Education Commission) continue their work.
MiAK-MAK Calendars:
MiAK-MAK 2022 Calendar:
In 2019, 2020, and 2021, the visiting teams of 17 programs that applied were formed and the institutional visits of 12 programs that could not be carried out on-site due to the pandemic were completed. The evaluation process for 5 different programs is ongoing. In the 2022 accreditation calendar application period, applications were received from 9 different institutions and 8 institutions submitted their self-assessment reports.
5. FINANCIAL SITUATION OF MIAK ASSOCIATION AND MIAK ECONOMIC ADMINISTRATION
The financial transactions with the establishment of the association the beginning of the account transactions of the association and the establishment of the MiAK Economic Administration in 2021 are listed in the tables below. The income of the association is based on the entrance dues of the members, annual dues, and income transferred from the economic enterprise. 1. Expenses for the period are listed as website software, annual rental fees, consultancy, and accounting. The revenues of MiAK Economic Enterprise are realized through accreditation services. Economic operating expenses are listed as in-office expenses, corporate identity and data security expenses, Chamber of Commerce fees, accounting and consultancy expenses, annual rental expenses, and taxes (income tax, value-added tax, stamp duty... etc.).
6. RESULT
As a result of its application to the Higher Education Quality Board (YÖKAK), the Association for Accreditation of Architectural Education (MiAK) was entitled to receive a 2-year Quality Assessment Registration Certificate on November 17, 2021. As stated in the purpose of its establishment, the aim of MiAK and all its activities are to contribute to the improvement of the quality of education in the Departments of Architecture established in various universities in Turkey. For this purpose, MiAK will continue to work to contribute to the improvement of the quality of education in the coming years.
