How can I describe the Sabanci School of Management at Sabanci University (Sabanci SOM) in just a few sentences? Before joining this wonderful school as the Dean in 2003, I had spent my entire professional career in California, as a Professor of International Management. My area of expertise is cross-cultural management; I believe you can tell a lot about an organization from its culture.  What can I tell you about the culture you will find at Sabanci SOM?

• We pursue excellence with a passion.  Our faculty members, almost all with Ph.D.s from elite North American and European universities, are dedicated to pursuing excellence in their research and teaching. Our students continue to achieve great success in the marketplace. In particular our graduate student placement statistics average 95%; an amazing high success rate. Our MBA Club was recently recognized as one of the top student clubs in Turkey.
• We have highly dedicated staff and faculty and a collegial environment. When I ask students why they chose our MBA program, very often I will get the response, “Because I was treated with respect, care, and warmth during the application process.”  This level of commitment is not something that can be dictated; it comes from within, and is one of our most important strengths. At Sabanci SOM there is a sense of teamwork, of belonging to a community. And, we have fun together!
• We are a global school with strategic international collaborations. At the undergraduate level we have the most active number of exchanges (per capita) amongst all private universities within Turkey. This year over 50% of our MBA students will go on exchanges.  Our faculty members publish in the most prestigious international journals and are active in international professional organizations.  We regularly host international conferences for our colleagues from around the world.
  • We signed a collaboration agreement with MIT Sloan, one of the top business schools in the world. Student exchange, dual diploma, teaching and research collaborations are among the topics of the agreement.
  • Another international collaboration agreement is signed with MIT-Zaragoza Logistics Center in Zaragoza, Spain. We will be offering a second Dual Degree alternative involving Sabancı MBA and Executive MBA programs. The ZLOG program will also allow our students to attend the MLOG program offered at MIT-Boston for a duration of 4 weeks.
• We are innovative.  Be it the flexible structure of our undergraduate program, our distinctive CAP projects in the MBA program, or our unique Leaders for Industry and IT in Management programs, we are constantly looking to develop innovative, high value programs for our students. We are inaugurating a Center for Applied Finance Education (CAFE) to support our new Masters in Finance Program.  This center will be the first of its kind to be located at a university in Turkey and our greater geographic region. Our agreeements with MIT and Zaragoza Logistics Center brings new opportunities to both our students and our faculty.
• We value and contribute to the local context.  We were the first management school in Turkey to offer a class on the “Turkish Business Context.” We view business, government and NGOs as important stakeholders and through our research, teaching and consulting seek to understand and improve the effectiveness of these organizations.
• We have a deep commitment to be socially responsible.  For example, we were the first university in Turkey to sign the UN Global Compact (UNGC) and have a professor who is a Member of the Taskforce for Responsible Business Education formed by the UNGC. We are active members of the Business Council for Sustainable Development Turkey and we were one of the first schools to require a course on Business Ethics for all MBA and EMBA students.
• We endeavor to foster values of respect, integrity, professionalism, responsibility and freedom in all that we do.   SU has formal codes of Academic Integrity and Academic Freedom and we work to live by those codes. We treat our faculty, staff and students as professionals        

Sabanci SOM is an exciting, innovative, highly professional place that maintains a warm, friendly environment. We have very close ties to one another, the business community, and a wide network of international partnerships. Istanbul and Turkey have a great need for a business school with an international vision, poised to be the top school in the region.  This is our vision, and whichever of our many highly regarded programs you decide to attend, know that you will be joining a world- class management school where you will be appreciated. If you share the values I have described above, please join us. We look forward to welcoming you!

Nakiye Avdan Boyacigiller
Dean
Sabanci School of Management