The "Footwear Technology Engineering Graduate Program Collaboration Protocol" was signed between the Council of Higher Education (CoHE) and the Turkish Footwear Industry Research Development and Education Foundation (TASEV) within the scope of the CoHE Industry Cooperation Project. Under the protocol, Footwear Technology Engineering Graduate Education Programs will be opened at Marmara University, Istanbul Technical University and Gazi University.
The signing ceremony was attended by CoHE President Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar, TASEV President Yılmaz Polat, Marmara University Rector Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kurt, Gazi University Rector Prof. Dr. Musa Yıldız, Rector of Istanbul Technical University Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu and sector representatives.
The President of CoHE Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar stated that they are making a great effort to contribute to any kind of cooperation that will benefit Turkey's international competitiveness and employment policies. Reminding that they have realized very valuable cooperation for Turkey in fields such as mining, petroleum, textile, map and energy before, Özvar said, "We continue to implement cooperation with leading sectors in the economic development of our country and to take steps that will increase our country's international competitiveness on a sectoral basis."
Pointing out that the export figures in the shoe industry have increased more than 5 times in the last 20 years and exceeded the level of 1.2 billion dollars, Prof. Dr. Özvar stated that it is important to develop policies to protect and support domestic production and manufacturers in Turkey, as well as to increase the competitiveness of Turkey in the shoe industry, which is among the top 20 countries in the world's shoe exports. Stating that the shoe industry has a current account surplus of around 800 million dollars and that hundreds of thousands of people are employed in this sector, Özvar stated that the need for trained human resources in shoe production has increased very rapidly and the demand for specialized engineers in this field has become widespread. Özvar said, "We think that the share of our country in the shoe industry, which has a size of more than 150 billion dollars in the world, should be much higher. We believe that such initiatives and collaborations will contribute to a much higher share of our country in the sector."
TASEV President Yılmaz Polat emphasized that the shoe industry is a labor-intensive work area and stated that the employment capacity in the shoe production sector is very high, "We have an employment capacity of around 350 thousand. Of course, we need trained personnel, as in every sector." Noting that shoe production is a very competitive sector, Polat said, " We have a dynamic population. We have experienced craftsmen and workers who know the job, and we anticipate that if we can train qualified personnel to guide them on this occasion, our future will be much clearer."
Within the protocol, it is aimed to train a workforce that has an engineering education who can innovate products in the footwear industry, to bring academic staff to universities that will train this workforce, and to strengthen the production processes with domestic and national design in the industry.
With the signed protocol, TASEV will pay one and one-half times the net minimum wage to graduate students who will study in the Shoe Technology Engineering Graduate Program while two times the scholarship for doctoral students. TASEV will provide guidance and assistance to the private sector regarding employment, upon their request, after their graduation.
Footwear Technology Engineering Graduate Program will be applied by the graduates of engineering undergraduate programs; mainly Textile Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Materials Science and Nanotechnology Engineering, Industrial Design Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Leather Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Artificial Intelligence Engineering. Students will be admitted to the programs from the next academic year.
