In May 2024, at The Coordination Council for the Improvement of the Investment Environment (YOIKK) meeting held by Vice President Cevdet YILMAZ, it was decided to establish a working group on vocational education and employment under the chairmanship of the Presidential Human Resources Office with the participation of relevant institutions and representatives of all NGOs that are members of YOIKK.
Accordingly, the first meeting of the Vocational Education and Employment (VEE) working group, established under the chairmanship of the Presidential Human Resources Office and consisting of 17 institutions, including public institutions and non-governmental organizations, was held at the Presidential Complex under the chairmanship of Salim Atay, President of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Human Resources Office.
In addition to the Vice Presidency of the Türkiye Republic, the meeting was attended by the Presidency of Strategy and Budget and Higher Education Council; the Ministry of Family and Social Services, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Industry and Technology from the Ministries; İŞKUR, KOSGEB, TÜİK from the institutions affiliated to the Ministries; DEİK, MÜSİAD, TİM, TİSK, TÜSİAD, TOBB and YASED from NGOs.
Strengthening vocational education to meet the needs of the labor market, increasing the employability of young students by equipping them with twin transformation and 21st century skills and conducting strategic human resources planning studies were among the main agenda items of the meeting. In this context, increasing the quality of career guidance services and education enhancement and development activities were emphasized. It is aimed to create an inclusive, equal opportunities, innovative, accountable, data-based road map that will strengthen Türkiye's strategies in this field by determining the policy and measure recommendations of the VEE working group.
"Vocational education and employment are of critical importance for Türkiye's economic growth and sustainable development."
Atay made the following statements regarding the benefits of the project: “Strengthening vocational education and employment policies is one of the milestones of Türkiye’s economic development and social welfare. In this framework, we need to take decisive steps to train a competitive workforce and increase the level of employability by increasing our cooperation with the private sector.
The VEE project plays an important role in developing and implementing sustainable solutions in the field of education and employment at the national level. The results of the meeting will serve as a guide in determining Türkiye's future vocational education and employment policies."
Emphasizing that a comprehensive statement was made to determine Türkiye's current needs in this field and that the work of relevant institutions will be coordinated for improvement, Atay continued his words as follows: “The road map created by this working group to determine Türkiye's current vocational education and employment needs will form the basis of the developments to be made in Türkiye's vocational education and employment policies. In this framework, it is important that education programs focus more on the needs of the private sector and become compatible with new technologies and twin transformation processes.”
Atay concluded the meeting in which representatives from public institutions and non-governmental organizations each expressed their opinions and suggestions : “We have established the working group, which includes these policy and measure offerings and all other issues related to vocational education, in a continuous structure. Therefore, we aim to receive feedback from this working group on a permanent basis and improve our system. We aim to achieve measurable and solid gains by creating an exemplary vocational education structure in cooperation with the private sector.”
Respectfully announced to the public.