Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz attended the opening ceremony of the 2026–2027 academic year at Necmettin Erbakan University in Konya. Yılmaz said that in the information age, scientific discoveries quickly affect technology, while technological advances influence production processes and economic balances among countries.
Speaking at the ceremony in the Nezahat Keleşoğlu Conference Hall on the Ahmet Keleşoğlu Campus, Yılmaz said the world was going through a period of rising geopolitical tensions, risks and uncertainties. He said that in this environment, scientific and human capacity, along with the ability to turn knowledge into economic and social value, had become increasingly important.
“Universities are also institutions of development”
Yılmaz stressed that universities are not merely institutions of education and research, saying they should transform the societies in which they operate. He said universities may have physical walls around them but should not have intellectual barriers.
Yılmaz said universities should work with industrialists, farmers, local governments and civil society organizations to identify problems together and develop solutions. He said this approach would make universities more valuable to society.
Assessment of Gaza
Yılmaz said progress in science and technology alone was not enough, adding that these fields needed to be combined with virtue, morality, compassion and the rule of law. Referring to events in Gaza, Yılmaz used the term “genocide” in his speech and saluted the universities, academics and students who oppose the practices in Gaza.
Emphasis on higher-value production for Konya
Yılmaz said Konya, once known primarily for its agriculture, had also made progress in industry in recent years. Noting that the city exports more than $4 billion, Yılmaz highlighted the importance of shifting toward higher-value production in areas such as the defense industry, health industries, energy and transportation equipment.
Yılmaz said green and digital transformation needed to be achieved, adding that real development begins when knowledge does not remain in books but contributes to production, young people's dreams and the prosperity of society.
Education investments and the PISA assessment
Yılmaz said universities should be expanded across Türkiye and that investments in these institutions should contribute to social welfare. He said Necmettin Erbakan University had become a university competing with the world despite having a relatively short institutional history.
Yılmaz said Türkiye was the only OECD country to increase its scores in all three areas—science, mathematics and reading—on the OECD's PISA tests. He said this result had emerged from the cumulative impact of education investments made over many years.
Yılmaz said the impact of education investments becomes visible over the long term, noting that Türkiye has more than 1 million teachers, that new classrooms are being built and that the use of technology in schools is becoming more widespread. He said educating qualified people was a critical issue whose impact continues across generations.
At the end of his speech, Yılmaz said they embraced a human-centered approach to development. He thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who leads progress in education, and everyone who contributed.
