Istanbul Aydın University

Founded in 2003 as Anadolu BIL Vocational School offering associate degrees at the higher education level and then as 2007 offering undergraduate and graduate degrees, Istanbul Aydın University (IAU) is now the largest foundation universities in Turkey and also pioneered vocational school of higher education accredited and regulated by the Council of Higher Education (YOK). IAU has contributed in a great deal towards achieving the goal of training qualified labour force sought after on the national and international level via the Education and Cultural Foundation of Anatolia (AKEV).

As a university aiming to be among the first five universities in Turkey and, within the next decade, among the 500 top international universities, IAU’s research objectives are focused on serving the industry both in local and global scale by giving great importance to professional training. IAU is targeting to be innovative and model in higher education by applying programs constantly improving and raising innovative, contemporary, adaptable to change and productive generations, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability who have the requisite knowledge and the ability to use technology in their fields and that can apply knowledge to production processes

Currently the university offers 46 graduate programs and 1 Competency in Art program organized under its 3 institutes, 52 undergraduate programs organized under 11 faculties, 117 associate degree programs under its 3 vocational schools and has almost 39,000 students, 28,000 alumni and 3,500 international students. By applying and gaining the award of European Commission’s ECTS Label and DS Label, Istanbul Aydin University has opened European doors for students graduating with an IAU diploma.

IAU’s unique combination of industry links, internationally recognized contemporary programs and outstanding technologies make it the leading and the largest foundation university in Turkey. IAU was established to produce an inquisitive, educated and innovative population that is focused and driven to succeed. With the biggest Technology Center in Turkey established in one complex comprising of 29 different laboratories, notable Social Sciences Research Centers and the curriculum-as experience approach, IAU is open for research in different study areas, exchanges of innovative practices and students and staff mobilities.

To achieve both objectives of research and graduates with internationally acknowledged professional competence, IAU took measures to enhance the quality and the standards of both education and the research facilities within the institution. By hiring internationally recognized academicians, IAU aims to strengthen academic staff, reach higher quality in education and promote a competition based research.

As of 2004 until nowadays, our University through its Career Development Applied Research Center aims at becoming a role model in the higher education sector in Turkey and not only, by establishing connections with the industry and by directing our students to companies/corporations/foundations relevant with their programs in order to improve their theoretical knowledge by means of practice insuring their adaptation to business life. All the corporations and foundations which support this target and collaborate with us in the Work Placement Project are our “Solution Partners” in the context of social responsibility and support to education.

Currently our university has 30000 solution partners among which Accor, Çelebi Holding, Turkish Do & Co, Inditex, Adecco, Hilton, Hugo Boss, DB Schenker, Mercedes-Benz Türk A.Ş, DHL, Renault that receive our students for their work placement courses.

At Istanbul Aydın University, as of the 2012-2013 Academic Year and once with the implementation of the Bologna Process, the work placement is an integrated part of the curriculum- students taking it on a semester base, as of their first year of study-second to fourth semester (for the students enrolled in an associate degree program), respectively, as of their fifth to seventh semester (for students enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program).

This course is based on the placement of the students one day per week, each week of the semester (summarizing a total of 14 visits/semester) next to a company and in a department related to their area of study with the purpose of gaining practical knowledge to be used for their future career related to the institution that they are visiting, to the organigram and the working system of that institution and to its organizational culture.

During the 2015-2016 Academic Year, spring semester alone out of 10.112 students enrolled in the Work placement course, our Career Development Applied Research Center directed and found appropriate companies for work placement for 3.800 students (1 out 3 students is placed accordingly by our Center).

Moreover, in terms of our alumni, the Center holds information on their status by applying a survey on them three times a year; thus more than 75% of them have found already a job or are willing to work. For those who have difficulties, our Center collects their Cvs-forwarded to different solution partners and publishes/distributes announcements of vacancies to our alumni in the quest of filling the gaps of the labor market.

Données de contact des acteurs impliqués

Nom et Prénom : Lecturer Süleymen Sözer KIRCA
Qualité : Manager of the Career Development Applied Research Center
Organisation : Istanbul Aydın University
Adresse : Florya Campus Beşyol Mah. Inonu Cad. No 40, Kucukcekmece Istanbul
Téléphone : 0090 444 14 28 / 12701
Email : sozerkirca@aydin.edu.tr
Site web : http://www.aydin.edu.tr

Nom et Prénom : Pinar ELBASAN
Qualité : Erasmus+ Institutional Coordinator
Organisation : Istanbul Aydın University
Adresse : Florya Campus Beşyol Mah. Inonu Cad. No 40, Kucukcekmece Istanbul
Téléphone : 0090 444 14 28 / 12820
Email : pinarelbasan@aydin.edu.tr
Site web : http://erasmus.aydin.edu.tr/

Ancrage dans son contexte

The society of the 21st century needs qualified workforce, skilled in the use of information technologies; competent in the use of at least one foreign language in business life; who are inquisitive, productive, innovative, participatory and proactive on a global scale. Since its foundation days, IAU has supported proactively the curriculum-as experience approach and the embedded to curriculum work placement activities- proposing and obtaining the approval for it from the Council of Higher Education (YOK); the central body responsible for the administration of higher education in Turkey.

IAU’s vision is to respond closely to the Turkish labor market needs and to contribute to its innovation in different economic sectors by providing qualified graduates with innovation and leadership skills. In particular, these skills should include, according to IAU, information technology and foreign language skills as well as a sense of social responsibility. Hence, IAU has invested considerable means in building up technologically modern student learning facilities. Offering up-to-date infrastructure is one of the assets with which IAU positions itself in the rapidly expanding and increasingly competitive Turkish HE market.

IAU seeks to be responsive to the innovation needs of the business sector with which it cooperates closely, both in its teaching program development and offer of internships as well as in many cooperative research projects which help businesses find innovation solutions.

All the corporations and foundations which support this target and collaborate with us in the Work Placement Project are our “Solution Partners” in the context of social responsibility and support to education.

Currently our university has 30.000 solution partners from different industries like medical centers, clinics, hotels, agencies, restaurants, radio- television, magazines, studios, day care centers, rehabilitation centers, manufacturing enterprises, municipalities, software companies, logistics companies, holdings , consulting firms, academic institutions, associations, companies, organizations, franchises, , law offices, customs and airline companies including Accor, Çelebi Holding, Turkish Do & Co, Inditex, Adecco, Hilton, Hugo Boss, DB Schenker, Mercedes-Benz Türk A.Ş, DHL, Renault that receive our students for their work placement courses.

The Center was founded by the university, which also finances its existence.

As a key component of IAU’s teaching profile, students have practical on-site training one day a week. IAU cooperates closely with thousands of businesses, so-called “solution partners” to provide these opportunities and to facilitate entry into the labor market upon graduation. The practical on-site training is related to their study programs, fully integrated into the curricula and weekly student course schedule and is compulsory for short-cycle programs and vocational schools as well as for Bachelor students. In most of our programs, with a few exceptions, labor market entry amounts to well over 80% of a graduate cohort.

Visibilité de l’action

On an annual basis the aim of the Career Development Applied Research Center is to place all students that have asked for assistance next to a company for their traineeship. Up till now the communication and monitoring made internally as well as the close cooperation relations with our solution partners made possible for all our students to find a company for their work placement.

The main actors of this project involve the student, the university through its center and the “solution partners” which need to cooperate closely towards the successful running of the project. Communication Center-company is running through a series of face to face interviews and then phone calls/emails to forward students’ Cvs and motivation letters.

As per the communication means between the student and the Center, at the beginning of each semester, the Center runs an online survey (compulsory to all students) on the general electronic portal of the University (UBIS) through which all students are asked about their work placement- if they do need or do not need assistance in terms of finding the most appropriate company for their work placement. Social media, the university’s website and mailing groups are also preferred.

Additionally, the Career Development Applied Research Center is open to the IAU students on a full time basis (from Monday to Saturday; all around the year- except for national holidays) facilitating the access of our students to companies.

Moreover, IAU Career Development Applied Research Center is in charge of the graduate placement coordinationship by placing the alumni accordingly and by offering career consulting services and by organizing on an annual basis the IAU “Career Fairs” consisting on one-to-one meetings between IAU students and companies’ representatives. During these “Career Fairs”, companies share application forms and internship positions with our students. In the 2015-2016 Academic Year, IAU was the host of the 9^th Career Fair which hosted an impressive number of 102 companies from different sectors of the Turkish economy.

Transférabilité

Such Career Development Applied Research Center may function successfully abroad having into consideration a number of institutional and legal factors that govern the higher education and the implementation of the work placement into the curricula.

Secondly, as the main actors of this project involve the student, the university through its center and the “solution partners” which need to cooperate towards the successful running of the project. Thirdly, as integrated part of the curricula, the work placement project works successfully at IAU due to the involvement of the academicians in the project. Through their job description they are due to check on the status of the student, if he/she has found an appropriate company for the placement or if there is an intervention needed through the Career Development Applied Research Center.

Finally the companies accepting our students need to keep close contact with our Center in terms of notifying us of their needs for interns, the selection criteria for them as well as the evaluation of the trainees, respectively, keeping us updated on eventual changes in the structure or in the working system they use.

Durabilité

According to the 2015 rankings issued by the Measuring, Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM), respectively by the Turkish Higher Education Council, Istanbul Aydın University is the most preferred foundation university in Turkey for the last eight years among the national and full- time international students.

With 7 campuses located on both sides of Istanbul, Istanbul Aydin University offers a wide range of programs to provide modern and diverse education opportunities within its 11 faculties, 3 vocational schools, 3 institutes and 26 research centers, IAU has a total of 28.000 Alumni, 39.000 enrolled students during the 2015-2016 Academic Year and 3500 International full-time students from 102 countries.

The project of the work placement managed by IAU Career Development Applied Research Center is an ongoing project, expanding each academic year, in accordance to the growing number of enrolled full time students and alumni. In addition to focusing on local students, the Center took initiative to address the needs of the growing number of international full time students of Istanbul Aydın University.

In 2015-2016 Academic year, Istanbul Aydın University in cooperation with Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality organized the first International Career Summit dedicated to international students. This summit posed a key point for international students who had the possibility of meeting up close and personal and learn from the experiences of renowned business men from Turkish Airlines, LC Waikiki, Yıldız Holding, Elvan Group.

In the same time, the summit constituted the perfect opportunity for business networking, for advertisement of the companies involved and for further recruitment of international students.

Such summits and career fairs will continue to be organized in the future, together with the regular activity of the Career Development Applied Research Center of recruiting and placing students and alumni accordingly for their work placements, respectively, future job positions among IAU’s solution partners.

Caractère Innovant

In Turkey, there is a number of higher education institutions that have embedded in the curriculum the work placement course and have taken our center as example. In terms of its quantity and quality however, Istanbul Aydın University is by far a leader in this aspect, in comparison with other Turkish higher education institutions.

The factors that lead to the success of our project include but are not limited to:

A supportive legal framework issued by the Higher Council of Education;
IAU’s mission, vision and resources that made possible the inauguration of such Center
The growing number of IAU students and alumni that contribute to the continuous development of the Center
In the context of globalization, the growing needs of the Turkish and international labor market, demanding well qualified graduates with specific skills
A wide network of solution partners covering different sectors of the Turkish economy IAU’s academicians with strong connections to the industry

Impact

In accordance with the strategy for internationalization of IAU and overall in line with the Europe 2020 strategy and specifically with the education and training 2020 (ET 2020) framework for cooperation in education and training developed to making lifelong learning and mobility a reality; to improve the quality and efficiency of education and training to promote equity, social cohesion, and active citizenship and to enhance creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training, Istanbul Aydin University (IAU) inaugurated its Career Development Applied Research Center with the aim of becoming a role model in the higher education sector in Turkey and not only, by establishing connections with the industry and by directing our students to companies/corporations/foundations relevant with their programs in order to improve their theoretical knowledge by means of practice insuring their adaptation to business life.

IAU’s vision is to respond closely to the Turkish labour market needs and to contribute to its innovation in different economic sectors by providing qualified graduates with innovation and leadership skills. In particular, these skills should include, according to IAU, information technology and foreign language skills as well as a sense of social responsibility.

The impact of such project is reflected at the level of our students’ and alumni population; more than 80% of our alumni found a job related to their area of study thanks to our Career Development Applied Research Center.

Moreover, its impact is not resumed just to the local population of students but further extends to covering the labor market demands; knowing for a fact that companies do prefer students who have undergone at least one work placement during their university studies.

Overall, the impact of such project can be extended to the level of Turkish economy, such project reducing the general rate of unemployment of the country, by forming graduates equipped with the current needs of the market.