Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver, IKU Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, gave an interview to Hürriyet Eğitim as a guest writer about her views that will guide the young people and their families who are preparing to choose a university.
“I learned a lot from our university as an academician”. In all this learning process, I had the opportunity to make the most intense and direct observations about the youth, the university ideals of the youth, their dreams about their futures, and the approach of families in this process, especially during the enrolment periods of universities.
'What do you want to be when you grow up?' Young people who have put their answers to this question in their childhood baggage, families tired of running a long marathon with them, rankings, scores, quotas, standard deviations, the correct answers taken by four false answers, the questions left unanswered… The times of youth when the inner voice that should come out of the high pitch for the future turns into sighs. Dialogues of enrolments between families and children, made on the fine line between 'you know' and 'I know', and turn into a power struggle.
Young people who have never thought about themselves, their desires and goals, and those who realize their child's expectations for the first time when their child faces the exam paper… Those who choose a department on behalf of their child, think, speak and even receive education for them. Of course, there are other examples as well. I met families who see university education as a life experience rather than a diploma as well, and those who sit down with their children and discuss all the pros and cons of the desicion process.
COUNSELING SUPPORT IS ALWAYS A PRIORITY
Today, there are many resources to support our young people in their university choices, especially YÖK Atlas, which YÖK works meticulously to guide university candidates in the right direction. Time has shown that the need for mentoring and high-quality information for young people and families to make the right decisions has never changed.
However, when I observe today, the situation is a bit different. Yes, nowadays, there are more fields and universities for young people to make a choice. They have more options than the previous generation. They can learn about a university in a different province in almost every detail through technology and have one-to-one contact with the professors there. This time, however, they have a much tougher challenge. Not with the system, not with choices, but with themselves. 'Why do I want to study at university?' and 'Where do I want to be in the future?' There are so many young people who come to this question without really thinking about it...
As parents and educators, we have important roles to play in the search for answers to these questions. We need to help young ones understand that university is a path to adulthood, starting from the stage of choice.
It is important to create a space for young people to think for themselves. But more important is the next step: taking responsibility. We need to teach them to take responsibility for both the decisions they make and the conclusions they reach on their intellectual journey while they are still in high school.
It is true that the future is full of options. However, we should be able to show them that freedom of choice is the biggest topic in human life that requires responsibility without getting lost in this universe of options or getting caught up in inertia.
And the role of universities. We are asked a myriad of questions from the families of prospective students regarding the opportunities offered to the students at the university in their process of researching universities. We do in fact answer many different questions on many different topics, including if students are given post-education job opportunities.
Universities by their very constitution are a place of experience. However, no university can possibly promise to offer life neatly packed to its students . The university may lead the way, but the choice always lies with the students. The university may provide the necessary expertise to specialize in a profession or field, but the journey lies with the individual.
Universities are a hub of diverse voices and thoughts. Their very atmosphere defies norms and actively encourages to break out of patterns. The best example of this characteristic is the phenomenon of students enrolling in a department and choosing to move to a different subject and get diplomas in a completely different or even two fields then they started with . Universities teach the individual about asset management. In a university, the individual learns to use their mental, psychological and academic capital in the most efficient way.
Studying at a university is a big investment. Nowadays, on social media we may come across satirical content, supposedly explaining in long lists what can be done with the share allocated to education. Studying at a university is in itself an investment in the individual's self-worth and benefits the individual their entire life.
