Employment Angel (İS-ME) Project

Dear Member,

With reference to the letter sent to our Chamber by the Rectorate of Düzce University, As is known, employment-related problems lie at the root of countries' economic difficulties. In particular, increasing the employability of young people and ensuring that the right people join working life in the right businesses at the right place and time contributes directly to economic prosperity and at the same time reduces social and psychological problems. In our country, especially in recent years, policies aimed at increasing employment have been developed, and strategies are being formulated, led by the Ministry of National Education and the Council of Higher Education, that will contribute to vocational education and to sectors' access to a workforce with the qualifications they need.

Düzce University, a "regional development university" that maintains close relations with regional industry through cooperation in education, consultancy, testing, analysis, projects, R&D and P&D, has become a production base with its own brands and products in its fields of specialisation, "health and environment", and, by also developing cooperation that contributes to employment, ranked 90th in the world in the "industry income" category of the 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In the cooperation carried out with the sectors, it has been understood that companies need young people who have been trained specifically for their goals, who have the knowledge and experience to be employed directly upon graduation, who can easily adopt the corporate culture, and who have been equipped during their education with the knowledge required by the company. In this context, it emerges as an important strategy that students, particularly those trained at vocational schools, are shaped according to the expectations of a target company while still students, become ready during their studies for the companies that may employ them, and are matched directly with target companies, focused not only on a sector but on a specific company.

Aware of the need to contribute to the workforce needs of various sectors in our country, to our young people's concerns about the future and to our state's employment policies, Düzce University is implementing the "guided employment project" that it has named "Employment Angel".

The Employment Angel (İs-Me) project has ten basic implementation principles, which are explained below.

*One-to-one matching: In the first semester at vocational schools and in the fifth semester at faculties, students are matched one-to-one with a company in their field. Company managers are directly involved in the student selection process for Student-Company matches and can identify, through interviews and surveys, the students to be included in the project for employment in their companies.

*Curriculum design: Following the matching of companies and students, company managers identify the courses they wish to add to the students' curricula or whose content they wish to enrich, and the curricula of the students concerned are arranged according to the companies' suggestions.

*Hybrid education: The education process consists entirely of simultaneous practical and academic education components; no distinction is made, as is customary, between first applying theoretical education and then practical education.

*Courses delivered by company professionals: Some courses in the curriculum are delivered by company professionals (HR Manager, Production Manager, Quality Manager, etc.). Which courses will be delivered by company professionals is again determined by the company.

*Courses delivered in the company environment: Some courses in the curriculum are delivered in the company environment using company resources. Which courses will be delivered in the company environment is again determined by the company.

*Orientation: In Student-Company matches, students are informed at the relevant companies about corporate culture, corporate values and working system, confidentiality policies, post-employment working conditions and similar matters.

*Mentor: In Student-Company matches, the company assigns to the students a mentor who works at the relevant company and can share their knowledge and experience with the students throughout their career journey.

*Competency report card: Companies create a competency report card containing the vocational, technical and social knowledge and skills that our students need to acquire in order to increase their employment opportunities.

*Workplace training and internship: In Student-Company matches, the internships that students are academically required to complete, as well as the workplace training in the 3+1 and 7+1 Programmes, are carried out at the matched company.

*İS-ME Certificate: Upon graduation, in addition to their Düzce University diplomas, students are also given a document regarding the achievements they have gained at the company within the scope of the Employment Angel project.

Thus, with the "Employment Angel" project, Düzce University is implementing a new and different model that approaches vocational education holistically, not only within the scope of workplace training and/or internships, but from the perspective of one-to-one Student-Company matching.

Within the scope of the "Employment Angel Project", whose promotional brochure is attached and whose promotional film can be watched at https://youtu.be/jXmJaoB5j8Y, protocols covering 200 students in 12 programmes were signed with 13 companies in the first stage on 9 February 2022. In this framework, should there be universities and companies wishing to join the project, information meetings will be held by our project team, protocol texts will be sent, and the existing experience will be shared by our University with interested institutions and organizations.

 

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Date Added :2022-03-17 02:16:00