01.12.2022 İstanbul
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, in his speech at the Vocational Education Summit organized jointly by the Ministry of National Education, OECD and ETF in Istanbul, stated that the private sector and vocational education are in a 'sine qua non' position for each other.
Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed
out that technology is developing at a great pace every day and said, “The
private sector is also adapting to these new technologies much faster every
day. On the other hand, vocational education and the private sector are two
concepts which are directly interconnected. There is no vocational education
without the private sector, and there is no private sector without vocational
training. In order to follow these new technologies and to gain qualified labor
force in the business world, we must establish very strong communication and
coordination between these two concepts.The way to achieve this is through the
cooperation of the Ministry of National Education, which is the regulatory body
of national education, and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of
Türkiye, the umbrella organization of the Turkish Business World, and the close
work of the Province-District Directorates of National Education and our
Chambers-Commodity Exchanges affiliated to TOBB.” The TOBB President said, “It
should be said very clearly that with the support of our Minister and the
ownership of the private sector, vocational education has become the center of
attraction of the education world again.”
In his speech at the
Vocational Training Summit attended by the Minister of National Education
Mahmut Özer, Hisarcıklıoğlu underlined that as TOBB, the umbrella organization
of the Turkish business world, they believe that the priority issue of the
country is education. TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu, who stated that they have
received education as the most important investment area by acting with this
vision, said: “As TOBB, we have provided 153 training facilities to our country
so far. But we didn't stop here, we embarked on a new and bigger endeavor. With
the protocol we signed with Minister Çavuşoğlu in February, we took action for
154 new schools in 154 districts. And we didn't stop there.Every year, we supported our students in need.
Since 2002, we have provided educational assistance to 200,000 of our student
brothers and sisters in 81 provinces through our Chambers and Commodity
Exchanges, and we continue to do so. During the pandemic, we distributed 30,000
tablet computers with the support of our Chambers and Commodity Exchanges in
order to provide equal opportunities in remote education. In higher education,
we acted with the same sense of responsibility and did our part. In order to carry our country and business
world into the future, we established TOBB University of Economics and
Technology in 2003. Our university has demonstrated its difference with 3
semesters of education per year, 2 foreign language requirements and a common
education system.Thus,
despite its young age, it has taken its place among the leading universities of
our country today. It has become one of the most preferred universities by
university candidates.
- The role of the private sector in vocational education
has strengthened
As the private sector,
we were complaining about the lack of qualified employees and the fact that
vocational education did not meet the needs of the private sector. We wanted to
increase public-private sector cooperation in vocational education and
strengthen the role of the private sector. We wanted vocational training to be
the most important tool in meeting the human resources of the private sector.
This has been on our agenda for 20 years.Thanks to our Minister Mahmut Özer, we have
received both great support and important actions in this regard. In order to
make vocational education attractive, we have implemented a first that was
signed during his Deputy Minister and continued to accelerate during his
ministry. With the Cooperation Protocol in Vocational Education that we
prepared together with our Ministry of National Education, TOBB and TOBB ETU,
we started the reform movement in vocational education together with our
esteemed Minister. Thus, we have turned 121 Vocational and Technical Anatolian
High Schools in 81 provinces into a door of hope and expertise for our young people.”
M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu
stated that they are trying to ensure the development of our vocational high
schools in line with these needs by identifying the human capital needs of the
private sector and underlined that they train teachers on new technologies.
- The number of students in vocational training centers has
exceeded 1 million
TOBB President
Hisarcıklıoğlu, who stated that the private sector was enabled to recruit
interns from vocational high schools and employ graduates with the My
Profession My Life Business and Internship Program Protocol, said, “In recent
months, we have taken a new step to increase the cooperation of our
TOBB-affiliated Chamber-Commodity Exchanges and the Turkish business world with
vocational training centers, which are the rising value of vocational
education.With
the support of our Minister, the number of students in vocational training
centers has increased significantly and has risen to over 1 million. We see
vocational training centers as an opportunity for our young people who are
neither involved in employment nor in education, defined as NEET for short.
State support for students in vocational training centers has been increased
and the burdens on employers have been lifted. Our state provides support at
the rate of 1/3 of the minimum wage for each student in vocational training
centers, and in the last year this support increases to half of the minimum
wage. Now, as the private sector, we benefit more from vocational training
centers. As the Ministry of National Education and TOBB, we are working both to
improve the quality of vocational education and for students to prefer
vocational education. Because we believe that human capital is the anchor of
the competitiveness of the private sector.”