Prof.Dr. Gül Turan, Head of the Faculty of Applied Sciences of Okan University, Istanbul, opened the
panel discussion of Saturday at EBM Izmir about “Non-Formal Education as a solution to (youth) unemployment”.
The professor talked about the reasons of youth unemployment, its connection with education and the current situation in Turkey. Particularly, she pointed out that Turkey performed poorly in terms of continuous education and trainings for adults. She proposed two solutions: focus on vocational schools matching the market needs and free e-learning systems.
Gül brought a lot of inspiration and fresh ideas and showed how maturity is not an obstacle to open-mindedness and innovation. The AEGEEan interviewed her, in order to give all of you who could not participate in the discussion a cue for reflection:
Dear Prof.Dr. Turan, during your presentation you showed all the steps that brought you from the idea of becoming a ballerina to actually being an economist. However, what made you focus exactly on the themes of youth unemployment and non-formal education?
Having lived and studied in Algeria and Egypt and travelled in remote areas of my home country Turkey, I felt it necessary to understand better the dual lifestyle of these societies, to know what economic development implied, to see how things could be changed and improved. I then thought that economics would be the answer. Becoming aware that it was politics that determined the type of economic policies applied in a country led me to work more and more on political economy issues. Politics determine economics and vice versa. Besides teaching I also have administrative responsibilities. This allows me to be in close contacts with students, young people graduating and wishing to find decent jobs. So when Gizem Karslı asked me to participate in your event I accepted readily, although my main specialty is banking and international finance.
You have been working in Turkey mostly. Do you think that the motives of unemployment here are the same as in the rest of Europe?
I have taken sabbatical leaves more than once to spend time abroad, namely in France and the US. Moreover, I have travelled all around the world to attend conferences and through these opportunities I could learn about and compare different economies. Unemployment is a general disease and one can find multiple reasons for it. Some are the same as in the developed countries and some are specific to developing ones. In developing countries creating new jobs at the same rate of population increase becomes problematic, especially because unskilled people living in rural areas decide to move to cities and they need a job.
When the level of GDP (gross domestic product) of the country is low, the income per capita is not high and the government is not able to allocate enough funds to education.
Non-formal education can, therefore, be a solution. What are the valuable skills that can be acquired through it?
Working within a youth organisation can be viewed as one form of non-formal education. It enables you and your friends to acquire skills such as the ability to communicate with others, to express yourself intelligently and use words effectively. Discussions held during these meeting make you realise the importance of knowledge and creativity. Travelling to different places, meeting people of different nationalities and culture enhances you imagination. Curiosity about what surrounds you makes you more knowledgeable. Training in the right place will also lead to the same results.
You talked about the necessity to understand the required positions from market and match with individual
competences. Does this mean that people have to stop following their dreams if they do not match the market?
The choice will always be personal. What I meant is that your dreams may not correspond with the reality, with what the market wants. Job creation is today concentrated in high skilled areas, and if you want to avoid unemployment or low income or job insecurity you will have to behave accordingly. If you insist on pursuing your dreams that will be your choice and you could still be happy doing what you like best.
You told us during the panel that the university you work at, Okan University, like other universities in Turkey tries to promote youth employment. Can you tell us how this is done? And what is Kobime?
High school graduates wishing to enter the university system must pass a two-stage university entrance exam. Those students who fail the second exam are allowed to enroll in either a 2 year vocational school or a 4 year vocational school. This is a second chance opportunity for them to obtain a diploma that will allow them to secure a good job. This year starting from March 2012 an e- learning center called Kobime will start to train around 1000 young people working in the IT sector of Istanbul free of charge. These students will be able to increase their skills in management, accounting and different programmes such as web application, Ajax application and server communication. This is a good example of cooperation among business associations, the government, a university and two large companies to put together a vocational programme.
Are there similar initiatives abroad?
Vocational schools exist almost everywhere: their names may differ (for example in the US they are called community colleges) but they all have the same goals. Moreover, foundations such as CARE try to promote specialised programmes. Fortunately we are not alone!
Did you know AEGEE before this conference? What is your impression?
I did! I have met your president in Brussels and I invited Gizem Karslı to Okan and learned about AEGEE. I am very impressed by your organisation. I find it dynamic, full of life. All the people I met made me feel proud and full of confidence for the future. If this generation can be so conscientious of what needs to be done to improve Life (with a capital L), think of what the next generation will be able to do… So please continue doing what you seem to do so well!
Higher education days and European School of Entrepreneurship are some of AEGEE’s initiatives concerning promotion of non-formal education. How do you think we can contribute more?
I think it would be a good idea if you could invite well-known CEOs to your meetings. Get them to give talks, see how you organise those meetings, even take them to the gym to see how you live and what you are ready to do for the goals you strive for.
She suggested, now it is time for us to talk (as we are doing by publishing this interview) and to act!
Written by Martina Zanero, AEGEE-Torino