CIU Academics Attend THEQC Conference

Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Taylan-Özkan, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Cyprus International University (CIU), and Prof. Dr. Salih Angın, Dean of Students, attended the 2nd THEQC International Conference on Quality Assurance and Accreditation, held in Istanbul. As part of the conference program, Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Taylan-Özkan and Prof. Dr. Salih Angın also served as session chairs in different sessions.

One of the prominent topics of the conference was artificial intelligence and quality assurance. An oral presentation titled “A Global Perspective on AI-Integrated Quality Assurance: A Multinational Survey among Medical Students at Cyprus International University”, prepared by faculty members of the CIU Faculty of Medicine, was presented. Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Taylan-Özkan and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hakan Çakır shared the findings of the study with conference participants.

The study, prepared with contributions from Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hakan Çakır, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Işın, Dr. Bashir Ahmad Ado, Assist. Prof. Dr. Zehra Edebal, Assist. Prof. Dr. Handan Doğan, Assist. Prof. Dr. Martha Attah, Assist. Prof. Dr. Maryam Akın, and Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Taylan-Özkan, examined the perceptions and expectations of medical students from diverse cultural backgrounds regarding AI-supported quality assurance systems. The findings showed that students generally had a positive attitude toward these applications, while also emphasizing the importance of transparency, institutional guidance, and human oversight.

The study also found that students’ familiarity with artificial intelligence increased their acceptance of such systems but did not reduce their ethical concerns. One of the notable findings was that trust in artificial intelligence was more influential than exposure to or experience with the technology in determining acceptance. In light of these findings, the researchers emphasized that higher education institutions should address trust, ethical safeguards, transparency, human oversight, and AI literacy together when developing AI-supported quality assurance systems.
The conference also addressed a range of current issues, including the redesign of quality assurance systems in the digital transformation process, AI-supported quality policies, data-driven decision-making mechanisms, digital quality assurance platforms, performance monitoring systems, learning analytics, internationalization, and quality assurance in cross-border higher education.