Professor Semra F. Ascigil is visiting academic to the Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship (ACE) from February to May 2014. Her visit it supported by her home institution, the Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey through their Academic Staff Mobility Program.
I had never imagined a university with a botanical garden as its backyard..what a unique opportunity to be in the middle of the city and yet being connected to the nature. QUT is now at ties with my former university with a view of Bosphorus. Here in Brisbane, I also learned that “drizzling” can be a long lasting weather condition! Beyond the beauty of the campus nature, studying at ACE was a very rich experience for me. I am particularly impressed by the commitment to research as a priority which makes ACE a global benchmark for entrepreneurship centers. ACE is definitely contributing to the improvement of the research done in the field. Meeting and lecturing to master students was also exciting. The spillover effect will be increasing the entrepreneurial value added in societies not to mention academic endeavors. The center created the opportunity to meet business school faculty at seminars. Meetings with Business School administrators were very promising towards enriching future cooperation between our universities. I will search for other opportunities to come back sometime in the future. / Semra