Chitsaz states: the national elites foundation will hold the new round of Shahid Ahmadi Roshan Project to fill the gap in the industry-university association and use elites to solve problems and economic issues.

According to the information center of national elites foundation, the national elites foundation will hold the fourth round of Shahid Ahmadi Roshan Project as the custodian to recognize, maintain and use elites.

In an interview with Plus Irna, Ehsan Chitsaz, the deputy for development and resource management, talks about this issue.

Where did the idea for such a project come from, and what happened that the foundation decided to implement the project?

My main concern during my master’s course was: “what is the impact of my courses on the role I am supposed to play in the industry?” I always witnesses lack of motivation among my classmates, who failed to find a suitable answer for this question, and were not able to continue their education with serious determination. Therefore, serious academic failure is observed during the first years of education in universities.

I behavior was very common since I studied in Amirkabir and Tehran universities in addition to Isfahan University of Technology and witnessed this issue in most students. After changing my field of study from engineering to humanities, I realized that there are different hypotheses on deepening of learning, generally known as problem-centered learning in the field of education. Recently, a term has emerged as competency-based learning, which mainly focuses on the graduate being able to solve relevant issues in society.

 

 

Most issues are not within the same scientific domain, and one must be capable of learning interpersonal skills. This type of space can nurture people with the ability to solve problems. The philosophy of formation of Shahid Ahmadi Roshan Project was formed discussed in the national elites foundation and is based on the framework of problem-centered learning. In university, we first attempt to familiarize students with the problem in the first semester and talk about the goals of the course and skills they will acquire to use in solving problems. Therefore, it is crucially important to learn all curriculum since different parts of the course can contribute to solving the problem.

Knowledge-based economy has attained a central shape in Shahid Ahmadi Roshan Project. What mechanisms have been considered for the market-elite relationship?

Elite graduates must be familiarized with the real issues of society in order for an to be able to participate effectively in society. It is aimed to familiarize elites with issues related to organizational businesses in the form of problem and research-centered groups. By working together with the team members and guiding a coach who has a wide range of competencies, we can expect the individual to get to know the real issues before leaving the university.

Those interested in being specialized in a field can be recruited by organizations owing to proving their problem-solving ability. On the other hand, if a person has entrepreneurial skills and can present an issue as B2C (customer-to-business) or B2G (business-to-business), they can guide their issue toward the business space and solve a problem in the community.

Are these issues proposed by the industry section or are they identified by the national elites foundation itself?

During the first courses, the foundation has extracted these issues from an elite framework encompassing different professors. In the current round in 2019-2020, we will extract real issues from numerous correspondence and negotiations made with organizations. For instance, we can extract the actual problems of important ministries and provide them to problem-solving teams. By arranging a combination and predicting an interdisciplinary framework, they can properly solve the problems in a short duration.

What are the criteria for selecting these elites?

Elites are identified and guided by the future-making deputy, which considers several standards in this regard. From scientific achievements to research and cultural achievements, it can build a whole system of competence. The ranking of students is competitively made each year in each field of study, and top students can be prioritized for receiving the foundation’s support and join problem-solving teams.

How are the projects funded? Is it the responsibility of the employer or the national elites foundation?

We are conducting this issue jointly with other organizations. In total, 50% of the fund comes from the national elites foundation and another 50% are provided from sources an organization, the problem of which are being solved. By doing so, we can use the problem-solving ability of elites in a proper way and at a low cost. Students will have many achievements. One of the challenges of elites is their narcissism due to the “elite” label. The learning ability of these people will decrease as long as they are unfamiliar with real problems and challenges since their problem-solving motivation decreases after a while. By using this mechanism, we will attempt to improve problem-solving ability in these individuals and simultaneously use their learning capacity so that they are able to both learn new things and gain social skills by working in teams. This type of working improves the ability of these individuals to connect to other fields. This is a great advantage since this kind of environment is rarely provided to elites.

 

You presume that the projects will be successful. What happens to the resources spent in a failed project and expectations of the employer of the project?

 

Before this, the resources would be spent in the national elites foundation, when there was no projects and no problem solving. The financial sources would be spent as educational awards and there was no specific output. Now, these sources are spent to solve actual problems in the society. However, the fact that organizations want to solve their problems as soon as possible is a threat. Nevertheless, the advantage of this act is that a high number of real problems are solved by elites without spending new resources. In addition, these problem-solving processes have a high quality. Moreover, have had taught many life skills and professional activities required by a top talent through hidden curricula.

Does the foundation provide specific facilities to elites or does it just introduce elites to others?

The organization and credit fund will supply the required facilities of projects. We can provide workspaces to problem-solving teams as well. This helps them to have a stronger structure. This can also be a milestone for the company. That is, if the output reaches a suitable prototype, it becomes presentable and the structure can become a company. Therefore, the core of knowledge-based companies can also take shape in this context.

What is the ownership situation for the final product?

A set will be formed from the organization with a solved problem, the problem-solving team and the foundation. The foundation will monitor the proper distribution of spiritual ownership rights raised from working with the problem-solving team and the organization. The foundation seeks no profit from this act. In fact, we benefit from the impact of elites and their presence in the knowledge cycle of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Last Words?

An elite is someone who has a top talent in one area, but that top talent is not enough and the person should be able to use it to create a social impact. The elite can be the source of competitive advantage for the country. The elite is the source that is invaluable, irreplaceable and unproductive in the various theories emphasized. The elite can give countries a competitive edge and ultimately shape the structure of the economy and development. From this point of view, the presence of the elite in the cycle of thought to product and wealth is extremely decisive.