IZMIR UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS WILL ‘IMPROVE THE CITY’

Izmir University of Economics (IUE) is the one and only member to have joined the “Learning Cities Networks (LCN)” from Turkey. The network, with 27 institutions from England, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Scotland, the Republic of South Africa, Botswana, China, and Turkey as members, aims to assist cities in finding creative and rapid solutions at an international platform. The members will develop, discuss, and share the solution recommendations regarding their cities at 2016 PASCAL Conference that will take place at Glasgow, and provide global data flow.
IUE Rector Prof. Dr. Oğuz Esen, who stated that Learning Cities Networks were based on sustainable learning city development, said that the networks included city administrators with the support of their CEOs and mayors, as well as academics and other stakeholders, who tried to establish links with regional, and national governments, business and labor organizations. The network featured collective learning endeavors of cities to change their futures, said Prof. Dr. Esen. “The institutions share their experiences and opinions about the issues regarding their cities and try to find quick solutions. Stake holders come together to come up with solutions at a global formation. The network includes thematic sub–groups which are: Implementing an EcCoWell Approach, Connecting Urban and Rural Learning Initiatives, Harnessing Cultural Policies in Building Sustainable Learning Cities, Addressing Disadvantage to Build Inclusive Learning Cities, and Entrepreneurial Learning Cities. As the one and only member from Turkey in this network, we aim to support entrepreneurship by identifying people and institutions with skills and potential to help support the development of cities,” pointed the Rector.
‘City-Region Development’
Prof. Dr. Esen reported that IUE would participate in the Entrepreneurial Learning Cities sub-group, and would work together with Swansea University, LiberEta Del FVG University, and cities Kaunas, and Helsinki to embed entrepreneurial skills and attitude development within all formal and non-formal education. He also said that they would develop guidelines for creating “Entrepreneurial Learning City Regions. Prof. Dr. Esen said, “Our main purpose is to work in partnership required for the development of the city and the region. We will work together to create and share best practice. We place emphasis on research and development in the name of successful interventions”.