The university's evolution process continues

I wrote an article recently.

Titled “The evolution in universities continues”.

Many people asked if I would write a follow-up.

Well, since we have curious readers, it falls upon us to write.

The first university is the University of al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 857 AD in the city of Fez, Morocco.

Its founder is known to be Fâtıma el-Fihrî, a Muslim woman scholar and philanthropist of Tunisian origin.

The oldest university in Europe is the University of Bologna, founded in 1088.

In Anatolia, the Karatay Madrasa was established during the reign of Izz ad-Din Kaykaus II, between 1250 and 1251.

Subsequently, in the 13th century, universities were established in various cities across Europe for the education of the elite.

After the 18th century, with the introduction of the German Humboldtian model of education, the mission of the university came to encompass research and development in addition to education.

In our country, Istanbul Technical University was founded in 1773 by Sultan Mustafa III under the name 'Mühendishane-i Bahr-i Hümayun' and is the third oldest technical university in the world and the first in Turkey.

The evolution process of universities has been continuing since the day they were founded.

Despite all the resistance—and even though the number of universities that remain Neanderthal at the end of this resistance is by no means small—the added value created by those that continue to evolve is evident.

First-generation universities were classical structures where existing knowledge was transferred and preserved as of the time they were founded.

Second-generation universities are institutions where R&D activities are also centered alongside education.

Third-generation universities are entrepreneurial structures where knowledge is transformed into products and technology in cooperation with industry and the private sector.

Fourth-generation universities are institutions that blend public, industrial, and non-governmental organizations and are at the center of artificial intelligence, big data, and global innovation ecosystems.

The fourth-generation university goes beyond traditional structures that merely produce knowledge (research) and integrate it into the market (entrepreneurial); it refers to higher education institutions that prioritize regional development and bring to life ideas that will break new ground in the world through innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and digitalization. It aims to create social and economic added value by bringing science, industry, government, and non-governmental organizations together in an active network.

As you can see, the new generation of academics who will keep pace with this evolution will be in a structure that takes at least fifteen thousand steps a day, attends meetings with the city's chambers of industry or non-governmental organizations at least once a week, travels abroad at least once a month, establishes organic ties with continental European universities, has a research budget supported by national and international funds they manage, supports final production by generating added value from their research, and communicates with at least one of the largest in their sector via social media and digital communication applications.

Otherwise, no matter how deep their roots may be, they will suffer the fate of the dinosaurs.

Today, just as there are many primitive universities that still continue their existence as first-generation universities, there are also those who want to remain in the second generation.

There are even those who insist that the fourth generation has nothing to do with the concept of a university and that these institutions should be given a separate name.

When I examine how the conformist resistance to industrial revolutions crushed institutions and countries that could not understand the change alongside the church, I see that we are heading toward a similar outcome and I feel that we need to open our eyes as soon as possible.