Textile Engineering Departments Filled Thanks to Scholarship and Employment Opportunities
“Textile Engineering Scholarship and Employment Project” implemented by the Exporters Associations for Ready-wear, Apparels, Textile and Raw Materials, Leather and Leather Products and the Textile Industry Employers’ Union has started yielding fruits, and the minimum entry scores for the textile engineering departments increased by 92%.
The scholarship and employment project for students who prefer the textile and leather engineering departments under the scope of the protocol signed between the Exporters Associations for Ready-wear, Apparels, Textile and Raw Materials, Leather and Leather Products, the Textile Industry Employers’ Union and the Council of Higher Education, has reached a great success.
Textile engineering departments, which saw only a 42% occupancy in 2018, reached a record by 92% at the end of the 2019 college application season. While the minimum entrance scores to textile engineering increased by 100% on average, the textile engineering departments at many universities including Istanbul Technical University, Marmara University, Ege University, Dokuz Eylül University and Uludağ University reached 100% occupancy for the first time in their history.
Speaking at a joint press conference to evaluate the results of the project, Chairman of Istanbul Readywear and Apparel Exporters’ Association (IHKIB) Mustafa Gültepe said that the project, which resulted with great success, is an example for all sectors in the industry-university cooperation.
Mustafa Gültepe, emphasized that great achievements have been reached in the textiles and apparels in Turkey, adding the trained workforce must be further improved to continue this success. Gültepe stated that they have provided holistic support to sectoral education with ready-made vocational high schools, Istanbul Fashion Academy and Textile Engineering Scholarship and Employment Project, and added:
We increased the occupancy rate from 42% to 92%
“Competition in the digitalizing world is getting harder and harder. We have to keep up with the innovations and bring technological developments to our sector instantly. We are well aware that more value added exports will be possible by bringing the educated manpower into the industry. Therefore, together with all of our stakeholders, we attached great importance to the Textile Engineering Scholarship and Employment Project. We have announced that we will provide a scholarship worth the minimum wage for young people who prefer the textile engineering department and rank in the top 20 thousand, a scholarship worth 70% percent of the minimum wage for those ranking between the top 20 and 50 thousand, and a scholarship worth 50% of the minimum wage for those ranking between the top 50 and 80 thousand. The first stage was completed with great success. In 2018, the occupancy was only 42%, but this year it reached 92% according to to the first choices. In 2018, only two departments had been able to reach full occupancy, and in 2019, nine departments have achieved the same. In the second phase of the project, we will plan the future with the participation of the Council of Higher Education, department heads and the sector regarding the updating of the applied education and training curriculum specified in the 10-point action plan.”
Pointing out the trade wars and global uncertainties in his speech, Mustafa Gültepe also stated that these negativities will increase in the future. Gültepe underlined that they have to prepare stronger for the competitive world for both the present and the future, and said “We need to strengthen human resources for this. The newly announced unemployment figures show that one-fourth of the young people is neither in school nor at work. We need to reverse this situation in our country, which can have a significant advantage with its young population in the world. With this project we have realized, we have made an important contribution to reverse the situation.”
Qualified staff deficit to be finally closed
Ahmet Öksüz, Chairman of Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association (İTHİB), who is one of the architects of the project, said: ““We are very happy for our sector and the future of our country because of the intense interest in textile engineering. Textile and clothing, one of the leading sectors of our country, is the eighth largest supplier in the world and the third in the European Union. As the foreign trade sectors that bring in the largest foreign currency inflow in Turkey, we will increase our added value with our well-qualified young people to join us. We also enriched our scholarship and employment project with applied trainings for young people to play a role in the positive transformation of the sector. With the participation of Higher Education Council and the department heads of the textile engineering programs, we will carry out a program for students where they will have the chance to experience both theoretical and practical aspects of the profession while they continue their education. We hope that our young people will be able to graduate in the best way for our sectors and accelerate this reform movement that we have initiated in our factories and their own factories or enterprises. We are very proud that we have taken a good step for the future of our youth by making a positive perception towards textile engineering.”
Occupancy rate in leather engineering reaches 100%
Mustafa Şenocak, Chairman of Istanbul Leather and Leather Products Exporters’ Association (İDMİB), emphasized that the leather engineering departments have reach full occupancy, adding that “In order to raise the perception for textile and leather engineering departments, we unanimously took the first fruits from our efforts.
We are closely monitoring all the developments to increase our competitiveness and strive to bring these developments in our sector without losing time. We have always supported and will continue to support the efforts that will encourage the relationship between education, production and employment, and will improve our sector even further. We believe that qualified labor force will provide the most important added value to the sector. In this sense, we aimed to bring successful students together with our sector. We promised employment support at the end of the scholarship and trainings up to the minimum wage. The leather engineering department, which had been unable to fill its occupancy for many years, has now reached 100% occupancy. In addition to the increase in preferences, the base scores and top ceiling in the department also increased significantly. We’ve taken a big step towards achieving our goal, but we know we’re not done yet.
In order to achieve our goals, all stakeholders must be in cooperation. We will contribute to the development of a curriculum in which practical education is at the forefront of our universities. At this point, we strongly believe that Higher Education Council, one of the biggest supporters of this project, will stand behind us.”
The press conference was attended by IHKIB Chairman Mustafa Gültepe, İTHİB Chairman Ahmet Öksüz, İDMİB Chairman Mustafa Şenocak, GATHİB Chairman A. Fikret Kileci, ATHİB Chairman Hüseyin Memişoğlu, ETHİB Chairman Jak Eskinazi, UHKİB Chairman Müvit Gündemir, UTİB Chairman Pınar Taşdelen Engin and EHKİB Chairman Recep Burak Sertbaş.
An unprecedented scholarship and employment project!
As promised before the exam, students who have chosen the Textile and Leather Engineering Department in their first five preferences and ranked in the top twenty thousand will be given a scholarship worth the minimum wage. Students who rank between the top 20 thousand and 50 thousand will receive a scholarship worth 70% percent of the minimum wage and 50% of the minimum wage for those ranking between the top 50 and 80 thousand. The project is not limited to the scholarship program but also includes employment guarantee for students who graduate from the Textile and Leather Engineering Department. The “Textile Engineering Scholarship and Employment Project”, which is the most comprehensive program on industry and university collaborations to date, sets an example for other sectors.