BAU to Send 20 Students to the UN Geneva Directorate of Education and Research

BAU President Prof. Dr. Şirin Karadeniz announced that, under an agreement with the United Nations Geneva Directorate of Education and Research, they will send 20 students to Geneva. "Internationalization and working together are very important," Karadeniz said.

The Bahçeşehir University (BAU) School of Government and Leadership Local Governments Academy kicked off for the 10th time this year. Bringing many students together with prominent figures from the world of politics every year, the academy enables students to hear the experiences of politicians and mayors firsthand and to ask them questions. The program was attended by İYİ Party Muğla Deputy Metin Ergün, Silivri Mayor Volkan Yılmaz, Kağıthane Mayor Mevlüt Öztekin, Avcılar Mayor Turan Hancerli, BAU President Prof. Dr. Şirin Karadeniz, Director of the BAU Graduate School of Social Sciences Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Küntay, and students from 40 universities.

"ALL PROFESSIONS MUST BE INTERTWINED WITH TECHNOLOGY"

Speaking at the program, BAU President Prof. Dr. Şirin Karadeniz said that the Local Governments Academy will continue for many more years beyond its 10-year history. Beginning her speech by addressing the importance of the concept of Industry 4.0, Karadeniz said:

"We can describe the concept of Industry 4.0 as a development that emerged in Germany and has affected the whole world, involving innovative technologies and new fields such as sensors, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. It is a concept that has started to make us think that there will no longer be humans in factory production and no more routine jobs. In the 'future of jobs' section of the World Economic Forum reports, it is stated that 65 percent of the professions that exist today are expected to disappear by the time children now attending primary school enter working life. Now let us go a little further east. China has its own 2020-2030 strategy. This strategy is about making its production smart and achieving R&D and innovation leadership in the world. About 1.5-2 years ago, Japan published a strategy document called 'Society 5.0'. If you look at Society 5.0, what Japan is doing is this: in contrast to the change brought about by Germany and Western countries by placing technology at the center, it is trying, with Eastern philosophy, to place humans at the center and develop technology for people. As future leaders, you may need to know what blockchain is. Because one day, when you sit in these seats, you may need to deliver a service with blockchain. You may need to understand artificial intelligence or new and different technologies and think about how they can serve people. So, when we look at such fields, let us not think of them only as new engineering fields. Let us think of them as fields that will affect our lives and our professions. As future leaders, there are many things you will need to decide. For example, should there be electronic voting systems? If so, what should they be like? And if they are to exist, how should this be ensured in terms of cybersecurity? What our generation can contribute at this point is limited. However, the decision-making and putting these into practice are entirely up to you."

"WE WILL SEND 20 STUDENTS TO THE GENEVA DIRECTORATE OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH"

Stating that they established the CIFAL Istanbul Center, affiliated with the education arm of the United Nations, this year, Şirin Karadeniz announced the good news that 20 students will be able to go to Geneva under the cooperation with the Geneva Directorate of Education and Research. Finally, Prof. Dr. Karadeniz said:

"We have established here a branch of the center that is an extension of the UN's Education and Research Center, the 19th in the world. The UN has 17 very important goals for all nations. These goals, such as ending poverty, healthy lives, smart cities, sustainable living, ending water scarcity, and peace and justice, are goals signed by all countries. Why do all countries sign these goals? Because a goal such as tackling climate change cannot be achieved by a single country alone. It is also no longer really possible for any local government to withdraw into its shell and carry out a project on its own. That is why internationalization and working together are very important. One of the important tasks of this center will be to raise awareness of these goals. A few weeks ago, there was a very important United Nations meeting in New York. The Presidency of Türkiye published a report on where Türkiye stands on these goals. Please read it. This report may be important for seeing where our country and the United Nations are heading and for thinking globally. Through this center, we have an agreement with the United Nations Directorate of Education and Research in Geneva. According to this agreement, we can send them up to 20 intern students. I would be very happy to see our friends from outside our university here as well."