COVID-19 FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions regarding the Instructional and Academic Activities during COVID-19 Outbreak

Question 1: What are the conditions to be able to request a leave of absence due to COVID-19 Outbreak? 
Answer 1: All graduate students , regardless of whether they are at the course stage or thesis stage, can request a leave of absence until April 24th, 2020. The petitions for the leave of absence requests will be evaluated compared against the regulations and decisions by the Turkish Council of Higher Education (YÖK) and the final decision will be made by the Executive Board of the Graduate School and the Administration of the University. The students must continue to attend the online courses over the Learning Management System (onlinekampus.yildiz.edu.tr) until the final decisions on the leave of absence requests have been made.
Question 2: Who cannot request a leave of absence due to COVID-19 Outbreak? 
Answer 2: The MSc. students whose maximum period of study ended as of the end of 2019-2020 Academic Year Fall Semester and whose graduation procedures have been going into 2019-2020 Academic Year Spring Semester will not be able to request a leave of absence. Those students will be given time for how long the academic and instructional activities have been postponed due to COVID-19 Outbreak. The leave of absence requests submitted by our students who had to make tuition fee payment and did not make it for the 2019-2020 Academic Year Spring Semester within the deadlines in the academic calendar. 
Question 3: I want to request a leave absence, does it affect my maximum period of study? 
Answer 3: On the condition that your request for a leave of absence, an extra semester will be added to your maximum period of study.
Question 4: 2019-2020 Academic Year Spring Semester was going to be the last semester of my maximum period of study. I was thinking about graduating this semester? What should I do?
Answer 4: You can request a leave of absence until April 24th, 2020. In addition to the fact that the final decision will be given by the Graduate School and University Executive Boards, you may apply for graduation on May, 18th, 2020 if you do not prefer to request for a leave of absence. The procedures on how to graduate will be announced after the online applications for graduation have started.
Question 5: 2019-2020 Academic Year Fall Semester was the semester my maximum period of study ended. My graduation procedures extended into spring semester due to the periods of time in the regulation. Can I request a leave of absence?
Answer 5: If your maximum period of study ended as of the end of 2019-2020 Academic Year Fall Semester and if you have graduation procedures under way, you cannot request a leave of absence. You will be given time for how long the academic and instructional activities have been postponed due to COVID-19 Outbreak.
Question 6: I was going to take Yildiz SEM (Continuing Education Center) English Proficiency Exam. I figured that it was going to be carried out before the graduate program applications. Will the dates be amended?
Answer 6: The amendments regarding the graduate program registrations and related procedures will be announced on our website as soon as possible. We advise you to check our website at relevant intervals. 
Question 7: How should I prepare the petition to request a leave of absence before I upload it? Can I copy an image of my signature to Microsoft Word? 
Answer 7: You can get a printout of the Word file you have downloaded, can sign it, and scan it with a scanner or mobile applications that serve as a scanner. Afterwards, you can upload the digital file you have made onto the system. If you do not have any means of printing the file, you can handwrite it to a plain A4 paper and sign it. Then, you can scan and upload. 
Question 8: I am a graduate student at one of the programs with a tuition fee. If I request a leave of absence, will I have to make the tuition fee payment the next semester again?
Answer 8: The Turkish Council of Higher Education (YÖK), in their official document with the subject "leave of absence due to COVID-19 Outbreak" do not mention anything regarding the transfer of the tuition fees to the next semester or a refund for the students registered at programs with tuition fees. Therefore, there may not be refunds or transfer to the next semester may not be possible in programs with tuition fees (Evening Education Programs with Theses and Non-Thesis MSc. Programs). Please refer to the Directorate of Health, Sport and Culture at harcbirimi@yildiz.edu.tr. 
Question 9: Will requesting a leave of absence have an effect on my postponement of military service? What should I do? 
Answer 9: If you request a leave of absence, you need to submit a petition regarding the postponement of your military service before one month of the current postponement date to the Graduate School and the Graduate School will file a request to the relevant postponement request to the relevant branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. 
Question 10: How can I track the status of my petition for the leave of absence request on whether it has been accepted or rejected?
Answer 10: After you have uploaded your petition onto the system, you will receive a confirmation letter in a few days. If your request has been accepted at the Graduate School Executive Board of Directors meeting, the decision will be entered into GSIS system and you can check your GSIS account at relevant intervals. 
Question 11: I need to graduate this semester. It is the end of my maximum period of study and the conference/scientific activity has been postponed. What should I do?
Answer 11: If your scientific activity were going to be held befor June 30th, 2020 and you have a letter of acceptence for it, the letter of acceptance for oral presentation will be accepted within the framework of publication requirement. If you sent a paper to the scientific activity but it was postponed before you had got a letter of acceptancea; you can make an online application for graduation with a document proving that you had sent the paper before it was postponed. However, the Graduate School Executive Board will make the final decision on whether the document you submit will be accepted as the fullfilment of publication requirement or not. 
Question 12: I am a research assistant. If I request a leave of absence, how will it affect my employment period?
Answer 12: Our Graduate School only deals with our students' graduate education procedures. The Turkish Council of Higher Education (YÖK), in their official document with the subject "leave of absence due to COVID-19 Outbreak" do not mention anything regarding the personal rights of our research assistants. Our research assistants should contact the Directorate of Personnel Affairs.
Question 13: I was going to have my thesis supervisor designated this semester. But, the COVID-19 Outbreak prevents me from entering the campus and thus I cannot submit any documents to the Department. What should I do?
Answer 13: You can request a leave of absence until April 24th, 2020. If you do not make that request, you need to fill in the relevant parts and get a printout of the thesis supervisor designation form and sign it. Afterwards, scan the form you signed and send it to the relevant faculty member to whom you will have designated as your supervisor. You prospective supervisor will also sign his/her name and submit the form the relevant personnel at the Department and the Department will send the form through the online electronic document system (EBYS) to our Graduate School.
Question 14: I was going to transfer to another university. If I request a leave of absence, will it prevent me from doing it?
Answer 14: Each university may have its own regulation regarding transfers. The rules regarding leave of absence are included in the YTU Senate Code of Practice on Graduate Education. You can read the relevant rules at our website. 
Question 15: I did not register any courses during the Spring Semester. Can I request a leave of absence? 
Answer 15: If you had to make tuition fee payment and you did not make it, you will not be able to request a leave of absence as you cannot exercise your rights as a student according to regulations. If you did not have to make tuition fee payment or you made the payment, please request a leave of absence mentioning your status in your petition. The final decision will be made by the Graduate School Executive Board of Directors. 
Question 16: My name was not on the Graduate School Executive Board decisions which were sent to the Department or on the.confirmation lists which were sent to my supervisor but my friend's name is on the lists. What is the reason for that?
Answer 16: The leave of absence requests due to COVID-19 Outbreak (approximately 1000 students) are being evaluated individually by the Graduate School. The students who could not find their names on previous lists should check the upcoming lists. For our students who are at the thesis stage, the Graduate School sends a document to the Departments for those students' supervisor approvals. The requests by our students with supervisor approvals will be evaluated by University Executive Board of Directors. The decisions for our students who are at the course stage will be made by the Graduate School Executive Board of Directors. Due to a great numner of requests, the documents for supervisor approvals and the Graduate School Executive Board decisions are being handled in chunks. The completed documents and decisions are being sent to the Departments promptly.