TUSIAD stresses need to change curriculum

By Elif Ferhan Yesilyurt and Sumeyye Dalkilinc

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD) agreed on Tuesday that there was a need to design curriculum based on the STEM approach, where students are taught four basic disciplines – science, technology, engineering and math.

Chairman Erol Bilecik, who made the opening speech at the TUSIAD STEM Project conference, said that the fourth industrial revolution was underway and its effects had changed how work is done in all sectors including finance, health and energy.

The fourth industrial revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, is a theory which says that the upcoming workplace will need less human input, and many jobs will be taken over by computers, who through a set of commands, will be able to control robots.

Bilecik said that this digitalization will affect the future workforce as some professions will disappear. "It is an undeniable fact that new professions need brand-new skills,” he said.

Quoting a study by World Economic Forum, he said, 41 percent of basic career skills in Turkey will change by 2020 when compared to 2015.

“This is why there is need to introduce the STEM approach to all levels of education, starting from pre-school,” he said.

Turkey’s Zorlu Holding CEO Omer Yungul said that in several universities in the U.S. law faculties were teaching students about the possible crimes robots may commit in the future.

“Everyone is getting ready for the future. Those who stay indifferent to this change will be destroyed,” he said.

A report prepared by the UK-based auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers in collaboration with TUSIAD says that by 2023 Turkey will employ 34 million people, of which 3.5 million will be STEM-based employees.