TBS BOARD OF TRUSTEES

After graduating from Galatasaray High School in 1978 and from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1982, he started working as a research assistant at Istanbul University Faculty of Law, Department of Administrative Law at the same year.

In 1984, after completing his LL.M. dissertation entitled “General Overview of Administrative Jurisdiction with Respect to New Regulations” he has started his doctorate studies at Istanbul University Institute of Social Sciences. He has completed his doctorate in1986 and started working on his doctorate thesis. He has continued his doctorate studies at Lausanne University Faculty of Law on 1987-1988 under the advisory of Prof. Dr. Pierre Moor the head of Public Law Department.

After completing his doctorate thesis titled “Identity of Administrative Procedure” in February 1989, he qualified for the title “doctor”. His doctorate thesis is the only one to be published by the Council of State.

In 1989 he was appointed as Assistant Professor to Istanbul University Law Faculty, Department of Administrative Law. Following the specialty exam held on October 01,1993 he became an Associate Professor and continued at assigned to Istanbul University Law Faculty from that November.

Prof. Dr. Celal Erkut transferred to “partial status” in December 1998 and was assigned to Galatasaray University Faculty of Law–Department of Administrative Law as Associate Professor. He became the head of department in this university in August 2000. Prof. Dr. Celal Erkut qualified for to the title “Professor” on July 2004.

He has been working as a board member of Vehbi Koç Foundation since 2014.

Steve Phillips is a managing director of the British Study Centres Group looking after Transnational Education and University Pathways. Steve has worked in the ELT industry for over 25 years as a school owner, in private higher education, and in the not-for-profit sector. He is TEFLQ (Cambridge Delta) and is a Fellow at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

Prof. Soner Yıldırım completed his bachelor’s degree at Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, Division of Curriculum and Instruction in 1990. He completed his master program at Michigan State University in 1993 and then his doctorate program at University of Southern California in 1997 in the field of Instructional Technology. He has been working at the Middle East Technical University (METU), Faculty of Education as a faculty member since 1998.

Prof. Yildirim has been serving as international ICT consultant in various international organizations. He worked for the World Bank as an Internernatiol Expert in several Educational Technology projects. Between 2002-2006, he was the leading expert at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg for the project “Teaching & Learning in the Communication Society”.

He has also been working as the National Expert for the European Training Foundation (ETF) for Vocational Education and Training (VET) projects. Prof. Yildirim’s research interest includes technology use in education, social media, electronic performance support systems (EPSS), learning analytics and nomophobia.

Kireçci received his PhD degree from the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, with his thesis titled "Decline, Discourse and Self-Orientalization." He has taught at the same University and has worked as a lecturer at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Kireçci, who joined Social Sciences University of Ankara Department of International Relations as a faculty member in 2019, after working at Bilkent University for a while, is the editor of Istanbul: Metamorphosis in an Imperial City (with Ed Foster, 2011), Arap Baharı ve Türkiye Modeli Tartışmaları (2013) and Türk Cumhuriyetlerinde Bağımsızlık ve Devlet İnşa Süreci (2018), and the author of Arap Milliyetçiliği (2012) and 2023'e Doğru Kültür Politikaları (2015).

Mr. Tuncar Hunca graduated from Louisiana State University, USA, Chemistry Faculty and later completed his Masters at İstanbul University in Business Administration.

Mr. Hunca is a member of Turkish Olympic Games Committee, Galatasaray Sports Club and a council board member of Galatasaray. He also served as Darüşşafaka Sports Club Deputy Chair between 2013 and 2017.

Mr. Hunca transformed the Hunca Cosmetics from a local company to an internationally known brand. Hunca Cosmetics has now one of the biggest market share in the industry.

Mehmet Gültekin is the founder of Horizon Group and a board member of the European Business Council and the British Chamber of Commerce in Turkey (BCCT)

Mr. Gültekin graduated from Marmara University, Economics Department and completed his Masters at Wolverhampton University, UK.

In 1997, he founded the Horizon Education Group (Tarabya British Schools, Academic Union, Horizon Study Abroad Group, Horizon Language Academy, TBS Media, Istanbul Workshop and International Students Foundation) and shortly transformed it into a worldwide-recognised brand through working on solutions for education and projects with world pioneer universities, government agencies and non-governmental organisations.

The projects he created earned a great respect among the business world, education committees and media. In a survey conducted by a national magazine, Mr. Gültekin won an award for the best “Social Entrepreneurism”. He is also the founder and chairman of the ‘International Students Foundation’.

Due to Tarabya British Schools’ internationally recognized success, the European Business Committee and the European Society for Quality Research - ESQR recognized Mr. Gültekin by awarding him the ‘European Quality Award’ for excellence in ‘International Educational Standards’ and ‘Educational Management and Educational Methods’.