A documentary film Geçmişin Çizgisi (Bir Kuruluş Hikayesi) – Crtica prošlosti (Priča o osnivanju), directed and written by Assistant Professor Muhammed Yasir Göz, MA, was premiered at the International University of Sarajevo (IUS) on Friday, March 17, 2023. The movie deals with the establishment of IUS encompassing the period from the initial idea to the present time, 20 years later.
The idea about founding an international university in Bosnia and Herzegovina was born right after the aggression on BiH ended. Prof. Dr. Fahrudin Rizvanbegović, who, at the time, was the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Media, visited Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Mayor of the City of Istanbul at the time, and presented his idea: “The war is over and now we need help to create an international university in BiH.
The first step towards the implementation of this goal was the establishment of the Foundation for Education Development Sarajevo SEDEF, the legal entity that would support all the further stages in bringing the idea of IUS to life. The concept of IUS was built on the program of the Sabancı University in Turkiye, which was brought to BiH by Emeritus Prof. Dr. Asif Šabanović.
One of the major obstacles was funding of the university and despite the good intentions, it was very unlikely that the project will be realized. However, the initiators did not give up and against all the odds, the International University of Sarajevo enrolled 72 students in the academic 2004/2005 year.
In the face of different obstacles and problems, IUS continued its mission to strive for excellence: IUS Campus was designed and built step by step; the academic process was modelled according to the highest world standards in higher education with the ultimate goal to build the best university in BiH because its potential was clear as well as offer students a diploma that would be their best reference both locally and globally.
The premier was attended by Mr. Hasan Topaloğlu, President of the Foundation for Education Development Sarajevo SEDEF, Prof. Dr. Sevgi Kurtulmuş, President of the IUS Board of Trustees, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yıldırım, IUS Rector, Mr. Mehmet Akif Yaman, Director of Yunus Emre Institute in BiH, Dr. Faruk Berat Akçeşme, Counsellor for Education at the Turkish Embassy in Sarajevo, Mr. Mustafa Sıtkı Tatar, Military Attaché at the Turkish Embassy in Sarajevo and many other esteemed guests.
