Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ) and Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association (İTHİB) signed an important cooperation for the transformation of Turkish textile industry especially in the field of technical textiles. Turkey’s first technical textiles graduate program with thesis was implemented through the cooperation of İTÜ and İTHİB. This program aims to contribute to the development of companies’ R&D potential through training of manpower to lead the technical textiles sector and university-industry cooperation.
Speaking at a press conference held for the promotion of the program Turkey Exporters Assembly (TİM) Chairman İsmail Gülle told that the quotas in textile engineering department are almost entirely full in 2019. Gülle; “I’m sure we’ll see the same interest in the postgraduate programs that we have seen in our graduate programs. In addition, our Textile and Raw Materials industry is one of the industries that produce the most added value with its unit value of 4.3 dollars. The sequel that will motivate us the most; projects and written theses are put into practice and provide added value to our country as a national technology product”.
A graduate program for technical textiles: university-industry cooperation provides positive results
Ahmet Öksüz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of İTHİB, expressed that textile is an indispensable industry for the Turkish economy in terms of production, export and employment. Öksüz stated that the quota of the department increased from 42 percent to 92 percent within the scope of Textile Engineering Scholarship and Employment Project which was started this year and the department’s points increased by 100 points. Öksüz who made important statements about the Master’s program in Technical Textiles continued as follows;
“With the sensitivity we show to university-industry cooperation; we are launching the technical textiles master’s degree with a thesis program for the first time this year. With this concrete step taken for our industry and our country; we hope that our youth will enter in the industry in a more qualified way with a wider perspective. Technological developments are rapidly transforming the world. We can achieve this vision only through projects such as this master program with İTÜ; which is one of the most concrete examples of university-industry cooperation”.
In his speech, İTÜ Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Ali Fuat Aydın underlined the launch of a program in the field of technical textiles for the first time. Stating that this program will contribute to the development of the industry; Aydın said that the students studying in the program will have detailed information about all processes from raw materials to final products in different fields of innovative technical textiles. Aydın; “Through this program, students will gain the ability to design, develop and evaluate product quality; and to develop innovative and unique technical textile products; as well as the potential of creating a competitive advantage in their professions; thanks to the interdisciplinary perspective offered by the program”.