The First Graduate Ceremony was held at Ibn Khaldun University.

Minister of National Education Ziya Selçuk, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ibn Khaldun University (IKU) Bilal Erdoğan, TÜRGEV Board Member Mevlüt Uysal, THY Board Member Dr. Murat Şeker, and IKU Rector Prof. Dr. Recep Şentürk attended the ceremony where graduation diplomas were presented to a total of 49 students from departments such as philosophy, economics, sociology, political science and international relations, air transportation management, and civilization studies.

"What is important for us is not to graduate, but to be a foundation."
Minister of National Education Ziya Selçuk stated in his speech at the ceremony that the graduation held was perceived as an ordinary university graduation, but in fact, a history was being lived here, saying, “This history stands before us as a serious initiative related to the reconstruction of a university understanding based on the concepts of intellectual independence and inquiry. Every ending is a beginning. What is important for us is not to graduate, but to be a foundation. Generally, things that are not forgotten until the end of the exam are called success. But we value the content of knowledge that we journey with throughout our lives much more and we look at the issue of being a foundation in this way.”
"If you have no passion in your life, you cannot contribute to making this world a more livable place."
Bilal Erdoğan, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ibn Khaldun University, emphasized that the university was established as a mission university to fill the gaps that both the world and Turkey feel today, stating, “We envisioned a university where students could come together to genuinely produce ideas and thoughts, where people who dedicate their lives to this cause could gather. If you have no passion in your life, if you live your life only for your own selfish passions and have no passions that transcend yourself, then you cannot contribute to making this world a more livable place. Your diplomas are very important documents for your life. I hope you live in a way that is worthy of the mission of this university and the efforts made for the realization of this mission for the rest of your life.”
"Our goal is to nourish from our cultural heritage and to make Istanbul a center of thought again."
IKU Rector Recep Şentürk also expressed their happiness to be here today, stating, “This is our first graduation ceremony. It has been an extremely important milestone for us. When we look at our students, you see that there are students from all over the world. Ibn Khaldun University currently has the highest rate of international students in Turkey. There are students from 74 countries in our university right now. This situation shows that our university is a global university and has a global vision. Our goal here is to make Istanbul a center of knowledge and thought again, as it was in history. Istanbul has many historical riches. But unfortunately, today these remain only as historical artifacts. Our goal is to nourish from this cultural heritage and to make Istanbul a center of thought again.”