April 21, 2025

The Council of Higher Education (CoHE) and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) signed the “Cooperation Protocol for Vocational Schools Education”. CoHE President Erol Özvar and TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu signed the protocol. CoHE members, including CoHE Executive Board members, TOBB members, industry representatives and the rectors of 43 universities attended the ceremony held at TOBB Towers.

Özvar stated that they believe that Türkiye's development depends on the strong integration of the education system with the economic transformation and said, "The protocol will cover vocational programs in 388 vocational schools at 103 universities. Within the scope of the protocol, a strong bond will be established between vocational schools in different provinces and the chambers and stock exchanges affiliated to TOBB."

First of all, he stated that business world representatives who are members of TOBB will contribute more to vocational schools through chambers of industry and commerce. Özvar informed that the workplace training and internship programs for vocational school students will be carried out with TOBB member enterprises. Özvar said, “The curricula in vocational schools will be organized according to the current demands of the sector with the active participation of TOBB.”

He said that with the support of TOBB, scholarships will be given to successful vocational school students. “The contributions of TOBB will not be limited to academic support and scholarships. Workshop and laboratory support will be provided to vocational colleges,” he said.

Stating that the protocol will make an important contribution to making university-industry cooperation more systematic throughout Türkiye, Özvar said, “At least one vocational school in each province will be encouraged to cooperate with the chamber of commerce and industry of that province, thus strengthening the bond between education and economy in each region.”

He said that the Council of Higher Education will be able to closely monitor the data of students in all associate degree and undergraduate programs such as internship and workplace training with the software being prepared to follow up the practices at universities, including those covered by this protocol, and will also show the content of vocational school curricula.

He noted that while steering the transformation in higher education, they attach great importance to global trends such as digitalization and green transformation, and said that it has become a great necessity for Turkish vocational schools to adapt to digital transformation and green economy. He emphasized that they continue to work to train the human resources needed in the fields of sustainability and green transformation and said, “We aim to create vocational school programs that promote innovative, environmentally friendly and highly efficient business models by working in partnership with our stakeholders operating in the industry and technology sectors.”

TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, on the other hand, stated that vocational school graduates join employment in a very short time. “This cooperation is a major step towards meeting the need for technicians and intermediate level specialists,” he said. Hisarcıklıoğlu thanked Erol Özvar for his cooperation.