Academics from the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning Held Collaboration Meetings in Madagascar as Part of the KA171 Erasmus Program
Our department faculty member and Department Head Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aliihsan ŞEKERTEKİN, and our department faculty member Dr. Emirhan ÖZDEMİR visited the University of Antananarivo – School of Agronomy (École Supérieure des Sciences Agronomiques, ESSA) in Madagascar as part of the 2024-2025 ERASMUS (KA171) Staff Mobility Program. During the visit, productive discussions were held on developing academic relations between universities, strengthening student and staff mobility, and identifying common research areas.
Our academics were hosted at ESSA by Prof. Dr. Bruno Salomon Ramamonjisoa. Prof. Ramamonjisoa works in the university's Department of Eaux et Forêts (Water and Forests) and is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of environmental economics, natural resource management, forestry policies, and development strategies. He also serves as Co-Principal Investigator and Work Package 3 Leader for the prestigious international research project "Managing Telecoupled Landscapes."
During the meetings, cooperation opportunities between the two institutions were discussed under the following headings:
- Strengthening mutual mobility programs for faculty exchange,
- Conducting joint research projects on sustainability, natural resource management, ecosystem services and social-ecological systems,
- Creating joint consultancy, short-term academic programs, seminars and training modules at the master's and doctoral levels,
- Establishing joint working groups on remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems, environmental modeling and land management.
During the meetings, it was also stated that the different ecosystem structures of Madagascar and Turkey offer significant opportunities for comparative studies; in this context, the two institutions could collaborate on joint data production, field studies, and academic publication processes.
This visit is considered a significant step toward Iğdır University's internationalization goals. Thanks to ongoing work under the KA171 program, the university's academic networks with the African continent are expanding and global partnerships in education and research are being strengthened.
Iğdır Üniversitesi, University of Antananarivo – ESSA ile kurulan bu akademik iş birliğinin uzun vadeli ve sürdürülebilir projelere dönüşmesi; iki ülke arasında bilimsel etkileşimin artması ve öğrencilere yeni uluslararası deneyim alanları sunması açısından büyük önem taşıdığını vurgulamaktadır.
