Policy For A Healthy And Quality Life

Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University is committed to fostering a healthy youth, society, and future by protecting and promoting health and addressing factors that negatively impact health and quality of life. The University engages in activities and events aimed at ensuring the sustainability of a healthy and quality life. The Healthy and Quality Life Policy of Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University encompasses the following points:

• Aims to protect and enhance the health of everyone living, studying, and working on campus.
• Through its associate, undergraduate, and graduate programs, trains professionals to work in the health sector and meet sectoral demands with a qualified workforce.
• Establishes social and physical environments within its departments offering associate, undergraduate, and graduate education that support healthy working and learning settings.
• To deliver quality health and social services for academic and administrative staff and students, establishes departments like the Health, Culture, and Sports Directorate; the Women, Family, and Social Policy Application and Research Center; the Youth Counseling Center; the Community Service Coordination Unit; the Disability Support Unit; and Student Organizations, thereby supporting related academic work.
• Prioritizes and supports academic research projects focused on renewable energy sources aimed at achieving low carbon emissions.
• Monitors institutional carbon footprint and undertakes measures to implement applications focused on carbon management and reducing CO₂ emissions.
• Raises awareness of energy conservation and clean energy through visibility efforts (workshops, panels, symposiums, congresses, seminars, social media, etc.).
• Conducts information campaigns about Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University’s policy on clean and efficient energy technology from local, regional, national, and global perspectives.
• Since its establishment, Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University has been environmentally conscious, with efforts ranging from protecting green areas on campus to creating new ones, now evolving with green campus and sustainable university initiatives.
• Designs and plans transportation systems aiming to improve existing formal transportation infrastructure and ensure sustainable infrastructure planning, targeting minimal negative environmental impact while effectively transporting people and goods.
• Conducts synchronized (simultaneous) exams, such as thesis defenses and proficiency exams, and records them for archiving.
• Instructs faculty to upload course materials to the University's designated Learning Management System and/or preferred file storage systems (Google Drive, Dropbox, YouTube, etc.), or the University's file-sharing system.
• Ensures synchronous (live) classes can be conducted with breaks and records live sessions in the Learning Management System for students’ asynchronous (non-simultaneous) access.
• The Distance Education Coordination Unit provides faculty and students with a webpage for healthy implementation of remote education, offering guiding materials, workflows, forms, and manuals.
• Collaborates with health organizations at the local and national levels to protect, promote, and combat health-damaging factors (addiction, violence, sexual health, endemic diseases, etc.).

By contributing to national development and playing an active role in solving global problems, Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University values its duty in the fight against poverty to create a better world for future generations. The University strives to eradicate poverty in all its forms by 2030 by fostering universal-thinking individuals who uphold ethical and cultural values and implementing innovative practices. Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University’s policy in Poverty impact mitigation includes the following:

• Coordinates and facilitates scholarships/loans provided by various institutions, foundations, associations, and companies for students in need of basic services to continue their studies.
• Offers essential services (health, housing, nutrition, psychological counseling) and on-campus transportation for students with low incomes.
• Provides part-time work opportunities and meal assistance to support impoverished students financially during their studies.
• Develops and coordinates projects in partnership with individuals, institutions, organizations, enterprises, and non-governmental organizations at local, regional, national, and global scales to end poverty.
• Organizes technical training to support women’s economic participation and prevent poverty.
• Contributes to economic growth by advancing human skills and knowledge through formal education and practices such as research, R&D, and consulting.
• Aims to work with regional stakeholders to create joint policies in the fight against poverty.
• Organizes health-themed scientific and social events for the people of Niğde to transfer health-related knowledge generated at the university to the community.
• Supports academic and administrative staff and students in benefiting from services provided by units that improve work performance, academic productivity, and motivation (Women, Family, and Social Policy Application and Research Center; Youth Counseling Center; Community Engagement Coordination; Disability Support Unit; and Student Organizations).

As part of its smoke-free campus policy, Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University aims to prevent passive smoking, limit access to tobacco and tobacco products, and reduce incentives for their use. The policy's enforcement details include:

• Applicable to all academic and administrative staff, students, and visitors at Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University.
• Enforced across all campus areas and facilities open to visitors.
• Designates restricted smoking areas, establishing “Smoke-Free Zones” at building entrances and ensuring that areas where smoking is permitted are at least 10 meters away from building entrances and exits.
• Authorizes designated personnel in each building, with the approval of authorities, to impose administrative fines under Laws 4207 and 4733 on individuals consuming tobacco in smoke-free zones. The list of authorized personnel is documented and updated annually.
• The Protection and Security Directorate can be alerted in case of violations, with security staff contacting authorized personnel to impose administrative fines.
• No-smoking signs are posted on University vehicles, and smoking is prohibited, including by drivers.
• No tobacco sales are conducted anywhere on campus.
• Visible warning signs are placed in prominent campus locations.
• Works to ensure students' access to reproductive and sexual health services.
• Provides healthy, accessible, and sustainable nutrition options on campus.

Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University's policy for sustainable production and consumption, embracing a holistic approach that includes education, research, production, and services for students and employees, covers the following main points:

• Ensures reliable products, environmentally sustainable planning, and a management system based on green supply chain principles throughout the procurement process of food and materials to meet the needs of students and staff.
• As an eco-friendly university, plans to reduce the procurement and use of plastic and disposable materials from the start of the supply process, adhering to Sustainable Green University principles and a zero-waste approach; focuses on reduction, recovery, and reuse to minimize waste generation.
• Extends and implements the Zero Discharge, Zero Waste, Recycling, and Reuse principles across University units' development plans, design, research and development, service activities, and external supply chains.
• Provides affordable, nutritious, and sustainable food options on campus for students and staff, including various food choices.
• Prioritizes local and sustainable sources in the food supply process, aiming to use the integrated waste system of the university in the strategic Green University plan to monitor, dispose of, and evaluate food waste.
• Implements measures to combat obesity and metabolic diseases by promoting a healthy and active lifestyle, ensuring access to sports, social, and cultural facilities.
• Allocates a 260-decare application area within the Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Campus. Plans to dedicate 60 decares for dense and traditional fruit cultivation, 30 decares for vineyards with table and wine grape varieties, 60 decares for certified organic production, 90 decares for crop production, and 20 decares for research.
• Encourages the sustainable use of rich genetic resources in plant breeding, with biotechnology studies and classical breeding programs to promote production and provide a qualified workforce for the sector.
• Works to provide students with psychosocial adaptation to university life and access to mental health services.