The Council of Deans of Communication Faculties (ILDEK) has been convening annually since 2000, hosted by the communication faculty of a university either in Turkey or abroad. The council is a platform dedicated to discussing the current state of communication faculties, updating curricula in line with evolving technologies, addressing employment issues faced by communication graduates, assessing the impact of social media on society, and ensuring that graduates of communication faculties under the Turkish Council of Higher Education (YÖK) can compete with their peers in other countries.
Following the establishment of the Higher Education Quality Board (YÖKAK) in 2016, ILDEK entered into a collaboration with the Association of Communication Research (ILAD) to facilitate the accreditation of communication faculty programs. ILDEK has increased the motivation of deans for accreditation by inviting YÖKAK presidents to its meetings. In recent years, ILDEK Council meetings have included accreditation workshops to encourage deans to enter this process swiftly.
In 2017, during the 25th meeting of communication faculty deans, hosted by Aydın Adnan Menderes University’s Faculty of Communication, it was decided to organize a symposium under ILDEK. The idea was thoroughly discussed at the 26th ILDEK Council meeting in 2018, hosted by Çukurova University in Adana. As a result, the council resolved in the fourth article of its final declaration to hold the first symposium on October 18-19, 2018, hosted by Mersin University. It was also decided that the symposium would be repeated every two years at different universities. The symposium was named the International Symposium on Communication in the Digital Age (CIDA) (https://cida.mersin.edu.tr/).
The second symposium was held from October 26-28, 2020, hosted by Izmir University of Economics (https://cida2020.ieu.edu.tr/).
The third CIDA symposium took place in Ankara under the coordination of the Faculty of Communication at Ankara University. This time, several communication faculties in Ankara formed a consortium to broaden the event’s impact. The consortium, which included Ankara University, Başkent University, Hacettepe University, and Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, as well as the related departments and programs of Çankaya University, Atılım University, and the Social Sciences University of Ankara, held the symposium from October 12-15, 2022, in Ankara (https://cidainternational.org/cida-2022-tr/).
The CIDA 2024 symposium will be held from November 28-30, 2024, hosted by Eastern Mediterranean University’s Faculty of Communication in Gazimağusa, Cyprus (https://cidainternational.org/). Talks with international universities have been initiated to organize future CIDA symposiums in other countries.
ILDEK aims to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of its operations, as well as the CIDA symposium, by forming an Advisory Board.
Looking ahead, the ILDEK Council has also set its sights on launching a journal under the name ILDEK within DergiPark. We believe that the Advisory Board will play a crucial role in ensuring the sustainability of this platform created by the deans of communication faculties.
The fact that papers accepted by our referees for presentation at CIDA 2024 will be published by the journals of various communication faculties is a testament to the solidarity of our deans under the ILDEK Council.
We extend our gratitude to all public institutions, organizations, and the deans of communication faculties for their contributions to ILDEK’s work. We seek your continued support and solidarity for a sustainable future for the ILDEK Council.
ILDEK Council Executive Board