05.11.2019 Ankara
Speaking at the “Future of Professions, Professions of the Future Congress” organized by the Higher Education Council (YÖK), TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu stressed that every investment in life is a risk, adding, “You can incur losses from every investment, however there is one type of investment that will always pay off in the long run: Investment in education.”
Noting
that the world is changing rapidly, Hisarciklıoğlu said that as the descendants
of the first scientist Archimedes, they managed to change the world
tremendously; driverless cars, drones, assistant robots, artificial
intelligence and virtual reality are the facts of the new world.
Hisarcıklıoğlu
stated that the world is mobile; customer, market, supplier, all the elements
are connected to a single computer. Stating that the official name of this era
is technology, science, internet age, the TOBB President, stated that a good team
with a single computer and a good idea is enough to be rich.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
said that they live in an era where no job is guaranteed and it is increasingly
difficult to find a job, “Those who are behind the age are unable to compete,
survive; they fall behind and lose. Information is growing rapidly. The way we
do business is overturning convention.”
Touching
on what the American thinker Warren Bennis said in 1991, Hisarcıklıoğlu said,
“‘There will only be two living things in the factory of the future: a dog and
a human.' The duty of man is to feed the dog in the factory; the dog's duty is
to keep the human from getting close to the machines. In short, in the factory
of the future, there will be little need for living things; machines will do
everything. But at the point where we are today, what we think about the
factory of the future has begun to change dramatically. Now we need more; the
factory of the future requires more results-oriented employees who know how to
evaluate and solve problems. The employees who will run it need to be extremely
resourceful, as the process will be disrupted in some way and stopped
functioning when the machines are working in the factory of the future. They
need to be flexible and capable of responding immediately to problems that will
arise and to produce solutions. So they need to be able to understand as a
whole what's being done in that factory.
They should be able to think in an interdisciplinary manner. They must have
access to the right information quickly.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
pointed out that the new era of industrial revolution should change
universities and all schools, and that it is necessary to bring the education
model into line with the requirements of the new era and that they established Turkey's
first artificial intelligence engineering department at TOBB ETU with this goal
in mind.
Hisarcıklıoğlu,
referring to what needs to be done to educate the human resources demanded by
the business world, said, “We should not limit our young people. We raised them
for years not to be dreamers. Of course we have to encourage targets. Of course
we have to get in the habit of working. Today, the fastest growing companies
all have one thing in common: using technology! In the future, we have to talk
to the machines as much as we talk to each other. It is no longer enough to
master Turkish and a foreign language. We must also teach a programming
language to all professional groups.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu,
emphasizing that young people are afraid to fail, to make mistakes, said, “I
say to my colleagues: where there is work, there will be mistakes! There is
surely failure and perseverance behind great achievements. Google is the 21st
search engine in the world. So Google is an idea that failed 20 times before it
became Google. We should have an approach that does not scare them, encourages
them to try.”
Stating
the need for an all-out change of mindset, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the era is
now the era of inventing and bringing new conventions to the old village.
Noting
that the partnership culture is weak, the TOBB President said, “The ability to
work as a team is one of the most important skills 21st century. We
don't like doing business together. Fighting, ego comes up. The way to win is
to join forces. We have to change this culture. We need to develop a
practice-based training model based on real problems. I'm sorry to see that
when young people start work, they're full of theoretical knowledge. They
graduate from college successfully, but don't know what that knowledge he's
learned is going to do in the field! Of course, that information will become
outdated in maybe a few years. That's why we have to teach young people how to
learn. And we need to compare the real problems that the business world needs
when we're students. Look, I am not only the TOBB President, but also the
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of TOBB ETU, the university of the Turkish
business world. We started university industry cooperation in Turkey with a
real, joint education model. Our students are studying for three semesters.
They learn in the classroom as well as in the field. Our students graduate with
a year of work experience. Fortunately, this system is functioning
successfully. 48% of our graduates find work in the first month and 82% in the
first year. The common education model entered the election declarations of all
parties.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
stressed that they have to raise an entrepreneurial youth; entrepreneurship is
the way to prosper. Countries are importing entrepreneurs and the solution of
unemployment is entrepreneurship.
Stating
that he is hopeful for Turkey's future, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that Turkey's
potential is immense; that there is no oil or natural gas, but there is a great
dynamic, young population. With them correctly directed Turkey will achieve its
goals easily.
- Vice President Fuat Oktay
Vice
President Fuat Oktay said the country's most important wealth in regards to sustainable
development is human resources.
Stating
that, in the era of digital transformation, creating a social structure that
will ensure sustainable development and growth as well as shaping
infrastructure and educational opportunities is among the priorities of all
decision makers, Oktay said that developments in areas such as robotic systems,
automation, artificial intelligence and biotechnology have opened the door to a
completely different future.
Within
the scope of the Development Plan, determining the workforce profile needed for
the national technology move and updating secondary and higher education
programs for this need is among the action plans, Oktay said and continued:
“At
the same time, in order to increase practical knowledge and experience in
addition to theory, internship programs are continuing to integrate the
business world into education. In addition to the 11th Development
Plan, creating policies that closely follow the world and prioritize the
development of human capital are among the six main components of the National
Technology Move mobilization. Thanks to the Chairman of the Higher Education
Board, who started updating the higher education programs without wasting any
time in line with our strategic objectives, and our universities that quickly
incorporated new departments into their academic programs. We are pleased that
departments like Artificial Intelligence Engineering and Three-Dimensional
Modeling have already been opened at TOBB University. I believe that new
strategic programs will continue to open in 2020 in line with the outputs of
the congress today.”
Fuat
Oktay, taking into account the transformation of professions within the scope
of the PhD program provided by YÖK to 2,000 people in 100 thematic fields, the
prioritization of scholarships in areas such as cyber security, artificial
intelligence, machine learning and drug design is admirable.
Considering
the speed of the transformations experienced, the pace of adaptation of
institutions is not yet at the desired level, Oktay said, “Research and
strategy determination for the professions of the future should be further increased.
In addition to opening strategic higher education programs, the contents of the
program need to be updated continuously. It is also important that our
academicians who train our young people for the professions of the future are
constantly improving themselves and updating their course content. It is very
critical that our academicians stay abreast of technological developments in
the world and opening the horizon for us.”