Opening Conference of BİLGEİŞ Project Held on 10th of March 

The Opening conference of the BİLGEİŞ Project; which was initiated by the Middle East Technical University (METU) in order to inform the stakeholders about the Project, as well as to identify the training needs of employers and employees in SMEs, which constitute an important part in Turkish economy, and to provide them with the free online open trainings; was held in Ankara Grand Rixos Hotel on March 10, 2016. The Heads of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Continuing Education Centres, Universities, Technoparks, relevant NGOs and SMEs from various provinces as well as the representatives from METU, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security Directorate of European Union and Financial Assistance (İKG PRO) and the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey (EUD) participated in the Opening conference of the Project conducted within the scope of the financial cooperation between the European Union and Turkey. 

In the morning the same day prior to the Opening Conference, a breakfast press conference was held with the participation of senior representatives from METU, İKG PRO and EUD. The project executives answered questions concerning the financial cooperation between the European Union and Turkey, E-learning in Turkey and details of the project to the members of press who showed great interest in the conference. 

SMEs WILL BE REACHED VIA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES 

The Vice Rector of METU Prof. Dr. Volkan Atalay, who delivered the opening speech, said that they have four missions, which are “training, research and innovation, cooperation with the industry and serving the community”, and that the project was prepared in order to carry out these missions. He also emphasised that “the baseline of this Project is to ensure that the training activities we implement reach a great number of people through information technologies”, Mr. Atalay added that he hoped the project would help create skilled labour in Turkey. 

THE PROJECT TARGETS FIVE PILOT PROVINCES 

Mr. Murat Aksoy, the Head of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security Directorate of European Union and Financial Assistance which is the contracting authority of BİLGEİŞ Project, stated that the project will help developing an e-learning infrastructure within the framework of the Lifelong Learning concept and creating a labour market that is more compatible with technology. Adding that the project will be implemented in five pilot provinces (Ankara, İstanbul, İzmir, Bursa and Gaziantep), Mr. Aksoy said that the protocols with stakeholders will be signed in order to improve the effect of the project. 

R&D AND INNOVATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMEs 

Counsellor François BEGEOT, the head of the Economic and Social Development Section of the EUD, who took the floor after Mr. Aksoy, stated that it is aimed to disseminate e-learning, which is a new type of learning, for employees and employers. Highlighting that the research and innovation based project is especially essential for the development of SMEs, he added that in this way the labour force could continuously be trained free of charge. 

Later on, Ms. Sonja Priscan, the Team Leader for BİLGEİŞ Project, gave a presentation on the technical details of the project. After having stated the importance of adaptability, Ms. Priscan emphasized the significance of communication and information technologies in the process of transformation into information based societies. Ms. Priscan gave information on the main objectives and expected results of the project and she introduced the project team to the participants. 

IT WILL BEGIN WITH 100 COURSES AND REACH 2023 COURSES IN 2023 

Prof. Dr. Kürşat Çağıltay, lecturer in METU Faculty of Education, stated that 100 courses would be developed for SMEs. Mr. Çağıltay, explained that courses will be prepared in accordance with the needs of the SMEs, said that METU will put their academic knowledge on e-learning into practice while developing the courses. Mr. Çağıltay added that they will implement the massive open-course approaches of the universities in the USA such as Harvard and MIT and they could open up to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the world in the future. Expressing that the first 100 courses should just be seen as a beginning, Mr. Çağıltay said: “We aim for 2023 courses in 2023, the 100th year of the Republic of Turkey.” Prof. Çağıltay also mentioned some specific topics to be developed in a form of online courses like internet security, usage of social media, digital photography and 3D printers, he stated that the first 10 courses are almost ready and vocational courses would be prepared in the future. 

Mr. Murat Fatsa, Director of Projects and the EU in Ankara Chamber of Commerce, gave a presentation on behalf of the stakeholders. 

In the afternoon, participants representing the Project’s stakeholders like Chambers, Public Institutions and Organizations, Continuing Education Centres, Universities, Technoparks, Organized Industrial Zones and SMEs were divided into four groups and gave their participation into SWOT analyses focused meetings in order to determine the training needs of the labour market. 

The SWOT analysis activity, as well as the Conference were concluded during the plenary session where the groups gathered again.