'Digital' mobilization

Izmir University of Economics (IUE) started a 'digital transformation' movement in order for students to improve themselves in this field by not being indifferent to e-commerce, which grew 52% with the pandemic and digitalization that developed at a record level. IUE, which aims for its students to take their place in the growth of digitalization and allow them to come together with the leading names of the industry, updated course contents and increased its cooperation with Turkey's leading companies. IUE Rector Prof. Murat Aşkar said, “We have to bring entrepreneurial youth, who are capable of producing digital solutions, who have good command of new technologies, to our country. Izmir, with its high potential, can become one of the leading cities at the center of digitalization, raising qualified young people in this field.”

As gaining importance by being the center of education regarding digitalization, IUE Vocational School, where a total of 1,200 students study at, created a special program for its students. Initially, 300 students who apply will be given online training on e-commerce. The e-commerce infrastructure provided by T-Soft, one of the leading companies in creating e-commerce systems in our country, will be used in the distance education to be carried out over the Learning Management System of IUE. Within the scope of the program, which will last until January 23, IUE students who will receive training in many subjects such as basic concepts of e-commerce, multi-language options, campaign development, product customization, will be entitled to receive a certificate according to the exam results.

CODING AND INTERFACE TRAINING

Additionally, students of Computer Programming and Graphic Design Program will be given coding and user interface training starting from the second semester. In this way, young people, who will master all processes related to e-commerce designs, will stay one step ahead of their peers before they graduate. Sector representatives from the field of e-export and e-marketing will personally attend the E-commerce Applications course designed for Foreign Trade Program students.

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE BECAME A COURSE

Expert names, who will meet with students every week, will convey the key points of the industry to the young people. In addition to these, 'Electronic Commerce Systems and Applications' course was added to the curriculum in the spring semester. Students will receive a comprehensive and applied training on subjects such as the infrastructures of e-commerce sites, interface and module integrations, online payment systems, website security and internet advertising. IUE Rector Prof. Murat Aşkar said that the world was experiencing a rapid change with the pandemic. Stating that universities should also catch up with this change and direct young people accordingly, Prof. Aşkar said that the innovations implemented within the Vocational School were also an indicator of this.

WE WILL CONTINUE WITH THE PROJECTS

Prof. Aşkar stated the following: “Digitalization is a concept that has been on the agenda for a long time. However, the pandemic suddenly brought this concept to the center of our lives. Digitalization has achieved record speed not only in education, trade and business, but in almost every sector. E-commerce figures in Turkey is a small example to this. The e-commerce volume, which was 136 billion TL in 2019, is expected to reach 213 billion TL by the end of this year. The number of companies operating in the field of digitalization is increasing. The need for competent young people in this field is also increasing. We have made the necessary preparations to prepare our students for this change in the world, and we will continue to do so. The transformation process we started within the Vocational School will spread rapidly in our university over time. Izmir is a perfect city of education; it has great potential in every field. Izmir can be one of the leading cities that put digitalization at its center, where digital young people are raised. There are also very important steps and projects planned by the Izmir Chamber of Commerce in this area. As a university, we were not indifferent to digital development. We will continue the projects and collaborations that we believe will contribute to our city in the upcoming period.”

WE HAVE TO THINK DIGITALLY

Stating that they have to raise young people who think digitally and direct themselves in this field, Burçin Önder, Director of IUE Vocational School,  said, “Every young person studying at university desks is also the future of us and our country. We cannot consider it enough to provide only qualified theoretical education and make students have a diploma, we cannot consider this as success.. Our aim is to raise young people, who really make a difference, are demanded by companies with labor shortages, develop themselves in different fields and know the practices in the field. This is the purpose of the education program that we, as the Vocational School, started that will take our youth a few steps forward in the field of digitalization. The feedback of our students, their interest in the certificate program, the evaluations from the companies are very good. In this sense, we are proud to be an example and pioneer.”