TOBB Turkey Higher Education Council Meeting Takes Place at CoHE
September 30, 2021 / Ankara
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) Turkey
Higher Education Council Meeting was held with the participation of CoHE
President Prof. Erol Özvar at CoHE.
TOBB President, Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu, CoHE Executive Board members, TOBB
Board members, President of TOBB Turkey Higher Education Council, Bekir
Okan, and the administrators of foundation universities attended the
meeting.
They discussed the various aspects of higher education and the current
situation of foundation universities with the administrators of foundation
higher education institutions that are the members of the Council.
In his opening speech, CoHE President Erol Özvar stated that the fact that
universities are the essential components of economic and social
development was better understood and talked about how universities would
contribute to economic and social developments.
He said that making the employment capacity of the human capital and young
population of the country more qualified and showing ways, methods and
capacities to outclass the global economic competition were the duties of
universities in economic growth and development.
Özvar said that universities should increase their scientific knowledge and
expand R&D and innovation activities to carry out these duties and
noted that universities needed to ensure quality assurance in education to
do their part. He also pointed out the importance of improving scientific
production at universities, employment and promotion of academic staff,
prioritizing the investments that will improve university-industry
cooperation and giving affirmative action to universities prioritizing such
investments.
- "We do not discriminate between state and foundation universities”
Özvar emphasized that they did not discriminate between state and
foundation universities when realizing these processes and said, “We do not
discriminate between state and foundation universities in terms of
education, university-industry cooperation, R&D and innovation. We do
not think that it is right to distribute workloads.”
He said that there were around 700 thousand students at foundation
universities as of the 2020-2021 academic year and that they believed this
figure could increase with the new admissions in the new academic year. “We
want to hear that foundation universities have important duties not only in
training students at undergraduate and associate degree level but also in
increasing the scientific capacity of Turkey.”
Özvar said that they would discuss the expectations, issues and current
conditions of foundation higher education institutions and added, “Around
90 percent of academic staff have been vaccinated. The vaccination rate of
students has reached 70 percent.”
They continued the meeting as a closed-door meeting. The representatives of
foundation universities conveyed their opinions and wishes on the higher
education system to CoHE President Özvar.