The Story of 20 Years by Oğuz Babüroğlu

To celebrate the 20th year of our university, we have prepared a set of four questions to ask faculty and administrative personnel who have been with us since the beginning, and to our first students. They all tell "the story of 20 years" from their own perspectives.

Going in alphabetical order, this week's interviewee for "The Story of 20 Years" is Oğuz Babüroğlu. 

Oğuz Babüroğlu has been a member of the Sabancı University family since 5 January 1998. Oğuz Babüroğlu, who has been a faculty member at the Faculty of Management Sciences (FMS) for 22 years, is also the Founding Director of the Executive Development Unit (EDU). He served as the Director of EDU for 17 years and has been the Head of the Search Chair at the FMS since 2018.   

Oğuz Babüroğlu’s answers to our four questions are below.

What was your initial memory / impression of when you met Sabancı University for the first time?

O.B: My meeting with Sabancı University was a process rather than a momentary occurrence. 

The idea of establishing Sabancı University emerged in 1994 at a Search Conference that I held in Mersin for Sabancı Holding. After finishing the Search Conference at Hilton Mersin, we all took the bus to get on a plane to Adana. Mr. Sakıp Sabancı was sitting in the front and we were sitting in the back. After a while, Mr. Sabancı called me and Mrs. Güler Sabancı to the front of the bus. He said that we should hold a Global Search Conference to design Sabancı University. We started to work with Ertuğrul Ergöz (Secretary General of Sabancı Holding) as consultants to Mrs. Güler Sabancı in her floor at the Sabancı Tower of Kordsa to organize such a Search Conference in August 1995: The Search Conference of Sabancı University was held with the participation of a group of 60 individuals including very carefully selected academics from the most reputable and innovative universities from 25 countries including Chile, Hong Kong, Egypt, Norway, the US, and the EU, business representatives, and students. For 3 days, we looked for answers to the question “How should a 21st century university be?" We came up with the still applicable principles of interdisciplinarity, non-departmental university, prioritizing social responsibility and impact, global positioning and the motto of “Creating and Developing Together”, which has somewhat become the identity of the University. Then I coordinated the design committees for at least 2.5 years. Once the Secretary General and the Rector were appointed, I became the 38th employee of the university in its design process. 

What are the differences between yourself 20 years ago and yourself today, and how did Sabancı University contribute to that change?

O.B: Being able to take such an active role in the development of a common mind in the design process of such an institution was one of the most important events that could happen in life for me. Together we have created a world University that we all dreamed of in 20 years. We were one of Turkey's three most Entrepreneurial and most Innovative universities 8 years in a row. I have been working at a university which I have actively helped design for 20 years. It is like I am still in a dream world.  Personally, I have been proud and continue to be proud of implementing and maintaining some innovations such as the Company Action Projects, which are indispensable parts of our institutionalized and very well-known Professional MBA Program, the Executive Development Unit, and the Action Research Doctoral Program as part of the Search Chair’s activities after I was given the chair. I would like to thank Mr. Güler Sabancı, the Founding Rector Tosun Terzioğlu and others who gave me the confidence to make such innovations in the sector. 

What comes into your mind when you think of Sabancı University in 20 years? What are your dreams for Sabancı University for the next 20 years? What about yourself?

O.B: 20 years from now, what comes to my mind when I think of Sabancı University is innovation, authenticity, and freedom.

My dream for Sabancı University 20 years from now is  that it becomes a global university that is best known for implementing science and technology and manages to stay in the top three of the most innovative and entrepreneurial rankings in the world.  

My personal dream is that my students, who I know I have made a difference in raising, are proven to be significant innovators on a global scale. My own dream is to continue my work without borders and in this context, to continue to contribute to the identity of the University.  

Where and how would you be now if your paths hadn't crossed with Sabancı University?

O.B: I would not even like to think about that.