The strategic goals and objectives of the Department of Science Education are determined through department meetings. While deciding these goals and objectives, the expertise of the faculty members in the department, the strategic plan of Dokuz Eylül University, developments at regional, national, and international scales, the opinions of the upper and middle management and stakeholders are taken into consideration, and updateable action plans are created accordingly.
The following elements are considered when determining strategic goals and objectives:
To be compatible with the goals and objectives recorded by Dokuz Eylül University and Buca Faculty of Education, an academic unit of the university,
Consisting of integrative actions of the research and other activities (education-training, community service) of Dokuz Eylül University and Buca Faculty of Education,
Being relevant to local, regional, and national development goals,
To be oriented towards research and development activities that can produce value and be transformed into social benefit.
Based on this, our strategic goals and objectives are to support undergraduate and graduate research projects that are based on activities that can be transformed into social benefit, including the effective management of financial resources and infrastructure and superstructure for research in line with the strategies, encouraging the use of external financial resources, and taking into account increasing the quality and motivation of researchers. It is designed in a structure that focuses on and promotes research through interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary programs.
The strategic objectives determined by the Department of Science Education are as follows:
Increasing scientific production capacity,
Continuous improvement of the quality of education and training activities,
Improving the department’s physical, technological, social, and environmental infrastructure and increasing the level of institutionalization are necessary to manage education and administrative work processes effectively.
Various strategic objectives have been established within the framework of these determined objectives. Demands and needs were also taken into account when creating these targets. The determined strategic targets are followed and reviewed every year with the performance indicators obtained (such as the Internal Evaluation Report). The strategic goals established by our department are listed below:
To increase the number of scientific publications (ISI, other peer-reviewed journals, books, and book chapters) every year,
To direct the existing research and knowledge production opportunities within the scope of “innovation” aimed at transforming them into a solid economic structure with high competitiveness and functional mechanisms,
To increase the research infrastructure capacity (research center, laboratory, library) that will contribute to the field,
To increase the number of internationally and nationally supported projects produced,
To increase the number of papers presented at national and international academic conferences per faculty member,
To reduce the number of students per faculty member by eliminating the shortage of faculty members,
To enrich the content of our undergraduate and graduate programs,
To increase the number, collaboration, and mobility of international students and faculty members,
To increase the number of cooperated institutions and organizations every year to increase the effectiveness of applied training programs,
To increase the number and quality of events organized to increase students’ interest in the university and our department and their level of learning motivation,
To increase students’ satisfaction rates with the department every year,
To increase the number of social responsibility projects carried out by the department every year,
Increasing the effectiveness of the opportunities provided to employees and students.
Our understanding of science is primarily to provide our stakeholders, young scientists, with the ability to think and see the whole and the part together. To sustain our competence in the field of research, we aim to ensure that undergraduate and graduate students have a broad knowledge of Science Education, that students are widely involved in research projects, increase the competence of graduate researchers, and develop the research technical infrastructure to include support staff. In addition, it is desired to offer teaching environments with modern and technology-supported infrastructure, contribute to educational activities with innovative and contemporary approaches, produce publications with widespread impact, and be an education center that makes sharing, skillful, entrepreneurial, and intellectual graduates.
In this context, many courses are offered, and seminars are organized in both undergraduate and graduate programs. These address different areas of expertise and aim to inform students about methods and techniques that can be used effectively in the science education department, current research, and reporting.
To increase research performance and increase the impact of the outputs, measuring research performance, promoting research and making impact analysis, encouraging qualified and constantly cited publications, evaluating the research potential of postgraduate students more effectively, and increasing the research contributed by postdoctoral researchers are also emerging in the current strategic planning process. Our aim is that our graduates will make a difference in the fields in which they are employed. It is planned to organize social media platforms for alumni meetings for graduate students and to bring together people who have graduated from our university and achieved success with students under the name of career days. Our department plans to ensure stakeholders’ effective participation and continuity in research and development activities. It is aimed to bring academic staff and students together and thus exchange information by holding meetings attended by students based on the department and organizing various events.