Sakarya University’s Gender Equality Plan 2022–2025 sets out a commitment to fair treatment and equal rights without gender discrimination for students and academic, administrative and auxiliary staff. It applies the principle of fairness to institutional activities and decisions and recognises positive measures for disadvantaged groups. The plan’s stated period includes 2025. [1, PDF pp. 3–4]
Figure 1. Gender Equality Plan 2022–2025, PDF page 3: non-discrimination and equal treatment of students and staff. Source [1]
The plan assigns annual implementation, monitoring and reporting to the University Senate and the Women’s Studies Application and Research Centre (SAUKAM), with review and updating based on evaluation. These provisions define responsibilities and the intended review process. [1, PDF p. 4]
Figure 2. Same plan, PDF page 4, text extract: plan period, responsibilities and intended review process. Source [1]
Objective 5 of the plan addresses a gender-sensitive, safe campus. It calls for ethical rules preventing gender-based bias and discrimination, collaboration to combat violence and discrimination, and establishment of a counselling unit for prevention and follow-up of violence, abuse, mobbing and harassment. These are the plan’s stated objectives and actions. [1, PDF pp. 14–15]
Figure 3. Same plan, PDF page 14: Objective 5 and measures addressing gender-based bias and discrimination. Source [1]
Figure 4. Same plan, PDF page 15, continuation: collaboration, planned counselling provision and campus safety measures. Source [1]
In 2025, Sakarya University staff served on the provincial commission responsible for coordinating, monitoring and evaluating efforts to combat violence against women. The University also contributed to the provincial action plan for women’s empowerment. [8, pp. 63–64]
Sakarya University’s public Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy covers education, employment and campus life. It expressly prohibits discrimination and harassment on grounds including gender and pregnancy and provides for confidential reporting, protection from retaliation, impartial investigation and disciplinary action. [2]
Figure 5. University policy statement on discrimination and harassment. Extract from the published web text (print layout). Source [2]
The Senate adopted the Ethics Committee Establishment and Operating Principles on 2 November 2006 (decision 276/16). Article 2 covers employees, students and contributors to or beneficiaries of University services. Articles 9–11 govern review, confidentiality and protection of applicants’ identity. Article 9(k) addresses complaints found to have been fabricated with intent to harm another person. [3a, 3b]
Sakarya University’s Sustainable University Policy, reproduced in its 2025 Sustainability Report, identifies equality between women and men and inclusion as principles of institutional governance. [8, pp. 11 and 15]
Figure 6. Institutional gender equality goals in the plan covering 2025. PDF p. 5. Source [1]
Education and awareness activities in 2025
In 2025, Sakarya University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences received a €35,000 grant for ShakesEU, the Faculty’s first Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module. Coordinated by Dr Kenan Yerli, the 36-month project (2025–2028) uses Shakespeare’s plays to explore human rights, human dignity, women’s rights and the rule of law, and to examine discrimination and racism [4]. The University began offering ShakesEU as a university-wide elective in the autumn semester of the 2025–2026 academic year. The opening class addressed equality, gender discrimination and non-discrimination in the context of European Union values. The University announced that students who successfully complete the module would receive an internationally valid certificate of participation [5].
Figure 7. Faculty’s ShakesEU teaching initiative on rights and equality. Source [5]
At the March 2025 International Women’s Day programme, the University hosted a discussion of contemporary women’s rights and women’s participation in employment and academia. This event illustrates how the University communicated the issues addressed by its Gender Equality Plan. [1, 6]
In November 2025, Sakarya University’s Social Contribution and Sustainability Coordination Office (TOKAS) organised the panel “Kadınlar İçin Birlikte Güçlüyüz” at the University’s Turgut Özal Culture and Congress Centre to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In the first session, a representative of the Sakarya Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centre (ŞÖNİM) explained the support available to women experiencing violence. In the second session, speakers from academia and industry discussed women’s employment and equal opportunities in the workplace. The panel brought these discussions to students, academic staff and representatives from public institutions and the private sector [7].
Figure 8. November 2025 event on preventing violence against women. Activity context. Source [7]
Akcoat, the industry partner, also published its account of the November panel. The partner’s report corroborates the public awareness activity. The institutional basis for equal treatment is the University’s published plan and policies. [1, 2, 7, 8, 9]
