26.11.2016 Ankara
TOBB ETÜ 2015-2016 Graduation and 2016-2017 Education Year Inaugural Ceremony was held with the participation of National Education Minister İsmet Yılmaz and Finance Minister Naci Ağbal and TOBB President and TOBB ETU Chairman of the Board of Trustees M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu.
TOBB President and
TOBB ETU Board of Trustees Chairman M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said in his address
that TOBB ETU provides the best quality in education and strives to educate its
students in the best possible way, saying, “We make it possible for you to
compete not only in our country but also in every part of the world. You are alumni
of a school which brings together theory and practice in the same curriculum.
Thanks to our joint training model, you have learned both the theory and
practice of business, and you know the field. That is what sets us apart. My young
brothers and sisters who are graduating from this school already have a year of
business experience. You are a step ahead of the graduates of other
universities.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
emphasized the fact that they are conducting education in Turkish, and went on,
“We could have made the whole curriculum in a foreign language but we chose not
to. Firstly, you must utilize your native language well and stand out in
society. While we taught in Turkish, we also helped you learn at least 2
foreign languages in the best possible way. We are the only university that
requires TOEFL certification. We also require that a second foreign language
other than English be learned. So that only you, our graduates, will properly
command your own language as well as being able to easily communicate with
everyone around the world.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed
out that they also provide lessons in leadership and social behavior and so that
they would take more initiative; so that they would impress others with their
words and stance to make them leaders of the future.
- “Real life starts now”
Giving advice to the
graduates, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “School life is over for you; now the school of
life begins. Real life is starts now. Too this end, I have some advice for you
and all your young friends. First, you have to constantly keep yourself up to date
as the validity of the information has never been so short.
Secondly, think different
and break the mold. In order to succeed in this age, you will need to destroy
the walls of mind that confine you. A hundred years ago, Henry Ford was
underestimated while trying to produce his first car. ‘Horses will always be used,
the car is only a temporary fad,’ they said. If he were to follow the mold of
the day, he would only produce a faster horse. But he broke the mold.
Do I not I always
tell you to bring new traditions to the old town? Yes, your work will be
difficult because there is more competition. But your advantage is that capital
of the greatest value in the 21st century is the idea. Look at Tesla, leading with
the idea of electric cars. They aren’t selling in comparable mass but their
value has already passed the Mercedes. Because the idea caught on.
TOBB ETU was also a
good idea. We've turned it into a success story with you. We have become one of
the most innovative and entrepreneurial universities in Turkey. We are the
“Youngest Turkish University” to be ranked among the best universities in the
world. Our students in the Department of Industrial Engineering won the first
prize in the TÜBİTAK Project Competition. Our Medical Faculty took 2nd place in
LYS in Turkey this year; we received 10 students from the first 100 in LYS.
Be proud of these
achievements. Do not break ties after graduation; take ownership of your
school. TOBB ETU was founded to attract entrepreneurs who produce good ideas.
TOBB ETU was founded to support entrepreneurs. Here, we have an incubation
center for entrepreneurs. We created the TOBB ETU technology center. In the
garage is an expert, an investor, an idea holder. Free office, consultancy,
meeting facilities for investors. That’s the golden rule of entrepreneurship: Use
whatever is free.
Here, you can find good
business opportunities - I'll give you 2 examples: Menuburada.com: You see the
menus of 100,000 restaurants. You compare the contents - prices, you read
customer recommendations. So you're becoming a gourmet free.
Another friend of
ours put a detector on the garbage containers in the cities, connected to the
computer network. When it looks to be full, the garbage truck is directed there.
This gives speed and efficiency to garbage collection. Increases municipal service
capacity, reduces costs.
And work hard. Please
do not forget: Perhaps talent will carry you to the summit. But only your
character keeps you there. Keep your ideas and opinions unchanged. Renew
yourself. Only the dead and the insane do not change. Whether you are
right-wing or left-wing, whatever your opinion is, become a person of quality first.
When you are a person of quality, you add value to the quality of your beliefs.
You will earn trust and respect; become more effective in your job. Do not confine
your mind to ideological slogans, do not poison them with conspiracy theories.
Stay away from facile memorization, showing everyone else, excuses and conspiracies
behind every problem, every negativity. These will bring lethargy to our minds
and blunt social reflexes. Being stuck on these things separates us from the
real world; it will provide no solutions and instead bog us down.
The main factor
keeping a society alive is the ‘social contract’. Unfortunately, our generation,
especially in recent years, have stopped trusting each other. We have been
stuck in discourses and politics that polarize, alienate and deepen the fault
lines of society. So, love each other. Even if you hold different ideas, do not
underestimate others.”
- July 15 coup attempt
Hisarcıklıoğlu also touched
on the events of the coup attempt on July 15th, “It was TOBB which
took first initiative against the coup that night. As soon as the coup declaration
was read at 00:22, we declared that ‘We recognize no will but that of the nation
and democracy. This day is a day for democracy.’ I saw that my student brothers
at TOBB ETU also reacted in the same way and once again I was immensely proud
of you. The young people here are also proud of their patriotism. I want to
introduce to you to our students who are a martyr and 4 veterans. Ömer Can
Açıkgöz, student from the Faculty of Law. He was martyred in Ankara during the national
resistance on the night of July 15th against the treacherous coup
attempt. In order to keep his memory alive, we gave his name to a lecture hall
at our university. Hanifi Can Türkoğlu, another student from the Faculty of
Law. On July 15th, he fell off a tank. Taha Bilgin, Engineering Faculty
student, was hit by a piece of shrapnel in the head. Yusuf Balıkçı, Business
Department student, was among those injured that night as well.”
- Finance Minister Ağbal
Finance Minister Naci
Ağbal congratulated the graduating students and provided information regarding
the government's work, especially in the field of education.
Minister Ağbal
pointed out that the prerequisite for sustainable growth is increasing the
productivity, while that is dependent on education and innovation.
Ağbal, saying that
the greatest power of a country is qualified human resources, emphasized that
qualified human resources can be increased with education.
- National Education Minister Yılmaz
National Education
Minister İsmet Yılmaz also stated that Turkey is faring better in all fields
and that the reason for this is the massive progress in education.
He pointed out that
TOBB ETU has reached a distinguished place among the other universities within
a very short period of time and has achieved this level of success in
education. He stressed that Turkey is heading towards a very good place in
education and thanked everyone who contributed to the establishment and
development of the university.
Stating that a brand
new life has opened in front of the graduates, Yılmaz also thanked the members
of the faculty who put forth their efforts in the training.
TOBB ETU Rector Prof.
Dr. Adem Şahin reported that TOBB ETÜ was founded in 2004 with 270 students and
stated that there are now 6 faculties and 22 departments in the university and
that the number of students has exceeded 6000.