The 3rd Sabancı University Search Conference took place at the Sabancı University campus on March 19 and 20, 2016.
Topics discussed in the Search Conference included prevalent trends in higher education, the design of the ideal university of the future, and the current situation of Sabancı University. Brainstorming and workshop sessions were held on the future of the university. The Search Conference was joined by 62 Sabancı University members and non-members from 10 countries. Participants included Sabancı University Board of Trustees members, faculty and alumni, academics, nongovernmental organization representatives and business executives.
In the introductory remarks, Sabancı University Founding Board of Trustees Chair Güler Sabancı said that the founders of Sabancı University decided to have the first Search Conference 20 years ago, when the university was at the concept stage, and start the journey to build the "ideal global university." Güler Sabancı continued: "The participants of that conference put in great efforts to create the collective reason that defined what a global university looked like. Our university's motto of 'creating and developing together', the philosophy of our university, and many attributes that make us unique also emerged from that conference." Güler Sabancı added that they discussed where Sabancı University was and where the university intended to be in the next ten years at the 2nd Search Conference held in April 2006.
Güler Sabancı said: “We decided to hold a Search Conference every 10 years. Today, we continue to work with the same enthusiasm to discuss trends in education over the next decade and assess the opportunities and challenges that may face Sabancı University."
How will education look like in the future? Trends in Higher Education
Two trends became manifest at the end of the two-day intensive conference moderated by Sabancı University School of Management faculty member Oğuz Babüroğlu.
These trends were defined as "personalized education" and "increasing civil involvement." The overarching theme of the outputs was to preserve Sabancı University's existing structure while personalizing university practices, while striving for further industry and society integration at the same time.
Components of search conference outputs
A summary of outputs regarding the functions expected of a university follows.
- Undergraduate education: Designing an education process that starts at high school level and continues beyond university education to introduce progressively higher value,
- Research and civic involvement: Adopting a research philosophy that generates more solutions for social issues, and operating diverse and cross-disciplinary centers to implement these solutions.
It was noted that Sabancı University was a trendsetter in Turkish higher education and that it was critical that this is maintained.
The importance of “cross-disciplinary” centers in the future growth of Sabancı University was emphasized. Participants agreed to evolve these centers in a way that they will generate knowledge useful to the public while maintaining enough resilience to be integrated into personalized education. Also emphasized in this regard was the importance of the transformation that the teaching and project execution methods of faculty members must go through in order to keep up with the new trends.
Based on the outputs of the conference, three working groups on Undergraduate Education, Centers and Graduate Studies, and Governance will be established to design the action plans that will later be implemented at Sabancı University. The members and scopes of work for these groups have been established, and the groups will begin work under the direction of Sabancı University School of Management faculty member Oğuz Babüroğlu. The working groups are expected to complete preparatory work until the commencement of the new 5-Year Strategic Plan in the 2017-2018 academic year.
