The UK-Turkey Knowledge Partnership Conference was held in Istanbul in July 2013 with cooperation from the British Council, the Council of Higher Education, and Istanbul Technical University (ITU).
The conference focused on improving partnerships between institutions of higher education and industry. The opening speeches were delivered by the Deputy Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, Prof. Davut Kavranoğlu; President of the Council of Higher Education, Prof. Gökhan Çetinsaya; President of TÜBİTAK (the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey), Prof. Yücel Altunbaşak; British Consul-General, Leigh Turner; and British Council Turkey Director, Margaret Jack. More than 180 participants including business leaders, university rectors, technopark managers and researchers attended the conference, while more than 250 visitors viewed the conference live on the British Council web site.
‘We’ve been pleased to be able to show the results of our own UK–Turkey Higher Education and Industry Partnership Program, where we created more than 20 new partnerships between Turkish Universities and industry last year’ said Helen Silvester, British Council Regional Director of Education. ‘Higher education and industry relations are critically important for both the UK and Turkey. And bringing people together to debate and discuss issues, to share experience and expertise is what the British Council is about.’ Please click to watch the full interview.
During the two-day conference, participants discussed ways of enhancing collaboration between Turkey and the UK, and bolstering innovation to support economic growth in both countries. The participants also addressed the challenges and problems regarding relations between higher education and industry, and discussed possible solutions.
Watch videos from the conference:
Interviews: