Founded in 1999 by Akfen Holding, the Turkish Human Resources, Education and Health Foundation (TİKAV) has reached 350 students through its Individual Development Program (IDP), which aims to provide equal opportunities for university students who face difficulties accessing education, culture, and personal development opportunities due to social and economic reasons.
Through the program, scholarship students participate in a wide range of activities from their first year of university through the end of their fourth year, including personal development training, foreign language and computer courses, arts and culture activities, community service programs, national and international projects, talks, and professional development programs.
As part of the IDP summer program, Akfen Holding Chairman of the Board Hamdi Akın met with young participants and answered their questions, offering the following advice:
“Life is not as easy as you may think. When entering professional life, you should do so with the awareness that you are inexperienced individuals. What truly matters is questioning what the rules of professional life are and taking your steps accordingly.”
Founded in 1999 by Akfen Holding, the Turkish Human Resources, Education and Health Foundation (TİKAV) has reached 350 students through its Individual Development Program (IDP), which aims to provide equal opportunities for university students who struggle to access educational, cultural, and personal development resources due to social and economic challenges.
In programs held every two years, 30 students studying at universities in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia are selected through interviews. Regardless of their field of study, students graduate at the end of four years with nearly 30 internationally recognized personal development certificates.
Within the scope of TİKAV’s Individual Development Program, 22 TİKAV scholarship students, who are first-year students at Fırat University in Elazığ, met with Akfen Holding Chairman Hamdi Akın in Ankara.
Emphasizing that young people should move forward alongside individuals who are more experienced than themselves, and that benefiting from such experience will give them an advantage in professional life, Akın stated:
“Forming friendships with people who are more experienced and knowledgeable than you is extremely valuable and will move you several steps forward. There is not much you can learn from one another, because your experience and energy levels are more or less the same. You need people who are at a higher level than you. You need to talk with them, share your concerns, and benefit from their experience. By spending time with people who are older and more experienced than you, you essentially acquire their experience for free and gain the most valuable capital in life. My next recommendation is to enter professional life together with the friends you trust the most. You can compensate for one another’s shortcomings; if something you lack exists in your friend, entering professional life together by completing one another’s deficiencies will lead to a more accurate and successful career experience.”
“IF WE CAN HELP BROADEN YOUR HORIZONS THROUGH TİKAV, WE ARE TRULY HAPPY”
Highlighting the importance of social responsibility projects, Akın stated that opening paths for scholarship students brought together through TİKAV’s IDP since its establishment is highly valuable.
Akın said:
“If, since the day we founded TİKAV, we have been able to help our scholarship students take even one step forward in life, and if we have been able to broaden your horizons even slightly, then we are truly happy. Our graduates whom we supported through the Individual Development Program we created with TİKAV 25 years ago are still in contact with us today. We will continue our efforts to broaden the horizons of young people like you.”
Emphasizing the importance of foreign language skills, Akın stated that learning a foreign language always provides young people with an advantage over their surroundings. He added:
“Your ultimate goal should be to become a global citizen; therefore, you must learn English as if it were your native language. Even if you remain in the region where you live, learning a foreign language is essential in order to become a distinguished individual in your community.”
AIMING TO PROVIDE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Within the scope of the Individual Development Program, TİKAV aims to provide equal opportunities especially for university students who face challenges in accessing education, culture, and personal development due to social and economic reasons. Accordingly, from the first year of university through the end of the fourth year, scholarship students enhance their knowledge and skills by participating in personal development programs, foreign language and computer training, arts and culture activities, volunteer service programs, national and international projects, talks, and professional programs.
Through the IDP, which lasts three and a half years throughout students’ university education, participants attend 40 different programs, and 95% of IDP students enter professional life shortly after graduation.
A PROGRAM IMPLEMENTED SINCE 1999
The Individual Development Program was first launched in 1999 for students of Fırat University in Elazığ. In 2003, it expanded to Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, followed by implementation in Middle East Technical University, Hacettepe University, Ankara University, and Eskişehir Osmangazi University in 2006.
In 2009, embracing the goal of creating equal access to educational resources, TİKAV focused on universities in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia that had completed at least ten years of establishment. The program was implemented at Fırat University, Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Harran University in Şanlıurfa, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, and Atatürk University in Erzurum. The Individual Development Program has been continuously implemented at Fırat University since 1999.
INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM BY THE NUMBERS
About the Turkish Human Resources, Education and Health Foundation (TİKAV)
Believing that sustainable prosperity is only possible through investment in people and society alongside economic development, Akfen Holding carries out its corporate social responsibility projects under the Turkish Human Resources, Education and Health Foundation (TİKAV), founded by the Akın Family in 1999.
With an innovative approach in today’s rapidly evolving knowledge-driven world, TİKAV aims to develop solutions that help society adapt to change, cultivate individuals who will lead development, and promote the spread of social responsibility awareness through its national and international initiatives.
In this direction, through its long-term social responsibility projects, TİKAV aims to enhance the knowledge, awareness, and experience of younger generations; promote healthy living awareness; and contribute to addressing today’s environmental challenges.
To date, through its projects, TİKAV has engaged with diverse segments of society—including high school and university students, professionals from the business world, young people, children living in mountain villages, women, village heads, relatives of people with disabilities, children receiving treatment in hospitals, and the mothers accompanying them—and has also undertaken the renovation of numerous schools.
