The ceremony was attended by Prof. Dr. İrfan Kırıştıoğlu, Vice Rector of our University; Prof. Dr. Halil Sağlam, Chief Physician of Bursa Uludağ University Hospital and our Founding Dean; Arzu Göncü, DDS, Chief Physician of the Bursa Oral and Dental Health Training and Research Hospital; the President and members of the Bursa Chamber of Dentists; academic staff of the University and of our Faculty; our administrative staff; families; and members of the press.
The ceremony opened with a moment of silence and the National Anthem. In his address, the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Dr. A. Alper Pampu, recalled that the Faculty — established together with Prof. Dr. Halil Sağlam, who was appointed Founding Dean in 2019 — welcomed its first students and began teaching in the 2020–2021 academic year. He noted that patient treatment services also began in that same period, thanks to the protocol signed with the Bursa Oral and Dental Health Training and Research Hospital. Prof. Pampu thanked businessman İbrahim Gülmez for the donations that provided the Faculty with a modern, contemporary building, and stated that educational and healthcare services will soon be carried out there. He added that it had been a great pleasure and a well-deserved source of pride for the Faculty that, among our first graduates who were sent off in 2025, one student ranked 15th in Türkiye in the Specialty Examination in Dentistry (DUS) and two students placed in the top 100. He congratulated the academic staff who had a share in this success and expressed his hope that it would serve as an inspiration to our other students.
Vice Rector Prof. Dr. İrfan Kırıştıoğlu noted that the Faculty has made remarkable progress in a short time. Addressing the graduates, he emphasised that great things are expected of them, that the University hopes successful academics will emerge from among them, and that he wishes them to be dentists who look to the future with hope. Stating his belief that the students will make valuable contributions to their country and to humanity throughout their professional lives, Prof. Kırıştıoğlu also congratulated the families for the sacrifices they had made.
Thanks were extended to Sensodyne – Haleon Consumer Healthcare, Dusem Eğitim, Koçak Dental, Ade Dental, Metin Diş Deposu, C&V Dental Diş Deposu, Drogsan and GC Dental for their contributions to the ceremony.
As part of the programme, a piano recital by fifth-year student Giray Savaş and a performance by a music group made up of our Faculty’s academic and administrative staff and students added colour to the ceremony. Çağla İsmailoğlu, Betül Aladağ and Songül Uysal received their awards as the first-, second- and third-ranked graduates of the Faculty. Çağla İsmailoğlu, who ranked first, hammered the plaque bearing her name into the graduation log and left her signature, and shared her thoughts and feelings on behalf of all the graduates.
Following the presentation of commemorative graduation certificates and the reading of the graduation oath, the students joyfully tossed their caps into the air, crowning this historic day with great pride and enthusiasm.
On behalf of the Dean’s Office, we sincerely congratulate all of our graduates and wish them a professional life full of success and good health.