The QUAAS 2026 Conference (Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Standardization in Foreign Language Education), organized through the collaboration of Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University School of Foreign Languages and Oxford University Press, was held on 5-6 June 2026 at our University's Milli İrade Campus.
Having been hosted by various universities across Türkiye in recent years, the conference brought together representatives of institutions such as the Association for Language Education, Evaluation and Accreditation (DEDAK) and the British Council Türkiye, as well as academic leaders and quality assurance specialists. Held under the theme "From Promise to Performance," this year's conference focused on approaches to ensuring that quality practices in foreign language education lead to tangible outcomes and remain sustainable over time.
The conference commenced with opening remarks by Conference Chair Mehtap ÇİÇEN; Acting Director of the School of Foreign Languages Dr. Daria ŞEN; Oxford University Press Türkiye Sales Manager Engin ŞAHİN representing OUP Türkiye; and AYBU Secretary General, Asst. Prof. Dr. Mümin ŞEN. The opening session was followed by keynote presentations on quality assurance and accreditation delivered by Dr. Didem MUTÇALIOĞLU, DEDAK Accreditation Chair; Ayşen GÜVEN, Director Education at the British Council Türkiye; and Prof. Dr. Evrim ÜSTÜNLÜOĞLU, Advisor to the Rector at İzmir University of Economics.
The first day of the conference concluded with a panel session moderated by Mehtap ÇİÇEN. During the panel, the keynote speakers came together once again to answer participants' questions and discuss current issues related to quality assurance in higher education.
On the second day of the conference, parallel sessions were delivered by ELT Consultant and Teacher Educator Beril Ayman YÜCEL, Language Assessment and Curriculum Design Specialist Zeynep ÜRKÜN, DEDAK Accreditation Coordinator İlkay BÜLBÜL, Founding President of TESOL and DEDAK Board Member Asst. Prof. Dr. Bahar GÜN, and ELT Specialist, Advanced Neurolanguage Coach, Co-Founder of InspirED Minds Sinem ATAMSOY KOŞAR. At the end of the day, an interactive roundtable session brought all participants together for discussion and reflection. The conference concluded with the official closing ceremony.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the members of the Organizing Committee, composed of lecturers from the School of Foreign Languages; to our students who served on the Student Committee; to the administration and secretariat of the School of Foreign Languages; to Oxford University Press; and to the senior administration of Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University, as well as all administrative units whose support contributed to the successful planning and implementation of the conference.
