First Undersecretary of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Turkey, Head of the Department of Economy and Social Development Angel Gutierrez Hidalgo, visited Selçuk University Rector Prof. Dr. Metin Aksoy in his office.

Rector Prof. Dr. In his speech, Metin Aksoy said that Selçuk University is the oldest university in Konya and is among the leading universities in Türkiye. Stating that according to the data of Times Higher Education (THE), the university is among the top 400 universities under the age of 50 in the world and among Asian universities, Prof. Dr. Aksoy said that the number of foreign students is close to 5 thousand. Prof. Dr. Aksoy stated that, in addition to the vaccine for Covid-19, phase studies are ongoing, mRNA vaccine studies are ongoing so that it can be stored at room temperature and he said: "As a university, we established our online education system in 2011. Unlike other universities, we were one of the rare universities that created its infrastructure. Because we had to realize both the course distributions of nearly 3 thousand lecturers and the distance education of nearly 70 thousand students and the exam system at this level. We care about the digitalization of our university. The European Union also has studies on digitalization. It has been a year since we took over the task, but we allocated a significant budget to digitalization within the first month. It has made significant returns and contributions to us."

Rector Prof. Dr. Aksoy stated that they have implemented many projects on the "green campus" and added that they continue to work on the establishment of a wastewater treatment center and the development of a Solar Power Plant on the campus. Angel Gutierrez Hidalgo, First Undersecretary of the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey, Head of the Economic and Social Development Department, said that he was very impressed by Alaeddin Keykubat Campus. Noting that they are pleased to be in Konya and Selçuk University, Hidalgo expressed that they would like to visit Selçuk University with the Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey, Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut. Hidalgo wished that university life would return to normal as of September against the pandemic and said that all universities are going through a difficult process due to the pandemic.

Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Emrullah Eken, SU Erasmus+ Institution Coordinator Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zerrin Savaşan, EU Delegation to Turkey Education and Training Sector Manager Prof. Dr. Mustafa Balcı and Environment and Sustainable Development Sector Manager Özge Gökçe Aktaş also attended the visit.

Following the visit, First Undersecretary of the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey, Head of the Economic and Social Development Department Angel Gutierrez Hidalgo, Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Emrullah Eken, Erasmus+ Institution Coordinator Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zerrin Savaşan and the accompanying delegation held an online meeting at the Erasmus Coordinatorship, which included sessions and presentations within the scope of the "Zero Pollution" principle, which is among the goals of the EU Green Deal.