Lessons from the rector of the first fully flipped learning university

Abstract

Sahin: MEF Educational Institutions was founded in the 1970s by İbrahim Arıkan, an educator and businessman. In 1996, he founded MEF national and international K-12 schools in Istanbul and Izmir. In 2013, he founded MEF University. As both educator and entrepreneur, Arıkan was in a unique position to establish a university. He was aware the educational system was not well suited to the current needs of students and society and envisioned a totally new educational approach for MEF University. To find this approach, he brought me on board as founding rector. Having been rector of Istanbul Technical University from 2008 to 2012, I had a strong background in innovations in education. During our first meeting, Arıkan made it clear that if he was going to establish a university, it needed to be unique and take a different mentality to the educational needs of today’s students. I vividly remember Ibrahim emphatically declaring that if he could not make a change to higher education, he would call a halt to his aspirations for opening a university.