Strategic Partnerships

International Cooperation

YGA’s field-based learning experience equals to the world’s top universities.

Our academy establishes strategic partnerships
with the world’s leading universities to conduct social innovation projects Both undergraduate and graduate students take roles in YGA’s social innovation
projects according to the scope of their own academic curriculum.

The projects are specially designed in accordance with the format and requirements of the relevant course for which the students continue to work in their own campus for 2-3 months. And every week, they have regular online meetings with the YGA team. At the end of the term, they are invited to Istanbul and work at the YGA office for 1-3 weeks.

When they are in YGA office, they collaborate with students from diverse areas including elementary schools, university fellows, visually impaired peers, Syrian refugees and the pupils under legal protection. They meet YGA Dream Partners within the framework of the Leadership Development Program and learn from their experiences. Upon the completion of the program, they present their work to YGA Advisory Board.

Harvard Business School

In 2012, Harvard Business School worked with YGA as a Global Partner in its Field Immersion Program. Within the scope of this program, MBA students developed an e-learning platform for the primary education students. They put this program into use with a business model raising funds for YGA.

“What innovation needs is realization more than recognition of abilities. Thus, it requires defying the challenges, being open to feedbacks and creating a climate where who gets the credit doesn't matter. YGA makes a great job by teaching the young, the skill to turn ability into action. And what we need to build a better future is more students attending YGA programs."

Srikant Datar, Arthur Lowes Dickinson Professor of Business Administration,
Senior Associate Dean for University Affairs, Harvard Business School

University of California Berkeley Haas Business School

In 2016, YGA got into a strategic partnership with UC Berkeley Haas Business School within the scope of International Business Development (IBD) course of MBA students. In 2017, the 5 MBA students attending IBD course and the professor of the course Kristiana Raube worked on the Business Model of the Science Center that YGA plans to open in the near future. The efforts continue for the Science Center that will be a first in Turkey. In 2018, another team of 4 MBA students worked on the audio tour guide app Piri, another initiative of YGA Graduates. They developed an international marketing strategy for the first Visual Reality Tours of Piri. Berkeley MBA students come to Istanbul to work at the YGA office for three weeks in May of every year.

"We believe that this will be a perfect project. YGA team is a very sensitive team dedicated to social innovation. They cooperated with us about everything throughout the process. Above all, they are doing an extraordinary job and we know that our students are excited to be a part of this meaningful project."

Kristiana Raube, PhD, MPH, Executive Director of International Business Development

This program turned into a sustainable strategic partnership between YGA and Berkeley. In 2017, Professor Kristiana Raube wrote about YGA as a case study, so that all the MBA programs in the world can benefit from it. The case study that revealed the role of corporate culture in the innovation process with the YGA model was titled "Return of Culture and Investment", and published in Berkeley Case Market & Harvard Business Review and Sage in April 2018.

Brown University

In 2017, YGA and Brown University got into a strategic partnership within the scope of the course named "Computer Science for Social Innovation". A team of 5 Computer Science students worked on Twin Science Kits. Twin Science targets reaching 2 million children until 2020 through an online program accessible by students with vision impairment. Computer Science students of Brown University developed the iOS mobile app of this platform as the field work of the course that they attend for a term. At the end of this term, they came to Istanbul for the YGA Summer Camp. They met with the primary education students who are visually impaired, Syrian refugees or under legal protection; organized Twin Science sessions and inspired students about how computer science can be used for social benefit.

Click here to read the blog post of our student Ava Rosenbaum about her experience at YGA.

"It was a great opportunity for our students to work with you in these exciting projects. YGA and Brown strategic partnership is a true success story. We are grateful for your support."

Prasad Shankar, Deputy Provost for Global Engagement & Strategic Initiatives

Columbia Business School

In 2018, YGA got into a strategic partnership with Columbia Business School within the scope of the Pangea Advisors program. A team of 5 MBA students worked in the product development phase of WeWALK, the smart cane developed by YGA for people with vision impairment. At the end of the term, Columbia students came to Istanbul and worked for 1 week with students having vision impairments to gather information regarding the visually impaired, to develop innovative solutions to their needs and to conduct a feasibility analysis for the app.

"We learned 'selflessness' by watching the YGA team. And this is the most precious one among all those things that we learned at YGA."

Natalija Koreka, Columbia Business School

Technical University of Munich

YGA gets into a strategic partnership with the Technical University of Munich within the scope of the course of Digital Technology and Administration Center, Entrepreneurship Laboratories. A team of Graduate students will work on the international marketing strategy of WeWALK, the smart cane developed by YGA for people with vision impairment. The students will conduct a market research for Western Europe and develop a penetration strategy based on the results of this research. And at the end of the term, they will come to Istanbul to work at the YGA Office for presenting their work to YGA Advisory Board.

Click here to read the blog post of our student Fabian Pelzl about his experience at YGA.

"When we want to learn things about leadership, we generally look to the western world, and generally to USA, staying limited. However, it is worth looking at the East. We, me and my team, did not visit our project partner YGA in Istanbul just to present our project, but also to discover the high confidence climate and the selfless leadership approach at YGA."

Fabian Pelzl, Technical University of Munich