Prof. Dr. Ömer Açıkgöz was born in Gaziantep in 1963. He graduated from the Department of Technology Education at the Faculty of Vocational Education, Gazi University, in 1987, and subsequently completed his master’s degree in the same department. During 1993–1994, he pursued further academic training in the United States with a World Bank scholarship. In 1998, he earned his PhD in Economics from the Institute of Social Sciences at Marmara University.

Prof. Dr. Açıkgöz served as a faculty member at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Kırıkkale University. In 2017, he joined Ankara Social Sciences University as a faculty member in the Department of Economics at the Faculty of Political Science.

Throughout his career, he has held several senior public and administrative positions, including Advisor to the President of the Council of Higher Education, Member of the Executive Board of the Council of Higher Education, Deputy Undersecretary at the Ministry of National Education, Director General of Vocational and Technical Education, Acting President of the Vocational Qualifications Authority, Member of the Board of the Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM), and Deputy Undersecretary at the Prime Ministry.