A Message from Our Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Talip Emiroğlu, to Dear Young People During the University Preference Period

Dr. Talip Emiroğlu, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Kocaeli Health and Technology University and University of City Island, offered advice to young people during the university preference period. Dr. Emiroğlu said, “Choose your dream before you choose your profession.”

With more than forty years of experience in education, Dr. Talip Emiroğlu stated that young people should replace the question “What will I become in the future?” with “What will I do in the future?” He said, “To become something, or to do something? As the university preference period begins, I look at the millions of young people. Almost all of them have the same question in mind: ‘What will I become in the future?’ Will I become a doctor? An engineer? A pharmacist? A lawyer? But I want to ask our young people a different question: ‘What will I do in the future?’ This is where the biggest shortcoming of our education system begins. We teach our children to have a profession, but we fail to adequately explain how they can create value through that profession.”

“Simply having an ordinary profession is no longer enough.”

Dr. Talip Emiroğlu continued:

“Today, a young person wants to become a computer engineer. They study for years, prepare for exams, get into university, and graduate. Then what? They get a job at a company. Maybe they move to a better company. Then what? Was this really the ultimate goal of their life? The real goal should be this: to develop software that the world will talk about, to create technology that makes people’s lives easier, to solve a new problem. An engineering degree is a tool that makes it easier to achieve this goal; it is not the goal itself. The same applies to pharmacy. ‘I will graduate from the Faculty of Pharmacy and open a pharmacy.’ That goal was valid a hundred years ago as well. But in the world of the 2030s, the goal of a young pharmacist should be to develop a new medicine, discover new treatments from nature, bring together cosmetics and biotechnology, and make discoveries that improve humanity’s quality of life. You may even achieve these things without going to university. But a good university can help you reach these goals more quickly and with stronger foundations. Today, more than one million young people are trying to decide which university and which department to choose. As someone with more than forty years of experience in education, and as the founder and chairman of the board of trustees of two higher education institutions, I could certainly say, ‘Choose our university.’ But before that, I want to say this: First decide what you want to do. Then choose the university that will help you achieve that goal in the best possible way. Because simply having an ordinary profession is no longer enough.”

“Choose your dream before you choose your profession.”

Drawing attention to the fact that the world needs people who produce solutions, create value, and contribute to humanity rather than people who merely hold titles, Dr. Emiroğlu said, “Of course, you may become a civil servant, a bureaucrat, an academic, or an entrepreneur. But whatever profession you choose, ask yourself this question: ‘What will I contribute to this profession?’ A career begins with the answer you give to that question. Dear young people, my advice to you is this: Choose your dream before you choose your profession. Because what truly matters is leaving a lasting mark on this world. And remember: The greatest success in life is not becoming something, but doing something that benefits humanity.”