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GERMANY – TURKEY WORKFORCE AGREEMENT REVIEW MEETING

GERMANY – TURKEY WORKFORCE AGREEMENT REVIEW MEETING

The cooperation agreement between the European Career and Workforce Unit of the Istanbul Kültür University and the 'Deutsche Management Akademie - German Management Academy of Lower Saxony' (DMAN) was signed with a ceremony in Germany on January 20, 2022 with the participation of high-level state representatives.

The President of the State of Lower Saxony Stephan Well, the Turkish Ambassador to Germany Ahmet Başar Şen, the Mayor of Hannover and the first Turkish citizen to be elected mayor in Germany, Belit Nejat Onay, were present at the agreement ceremony to emphasize the support of the German government for the skilled workforce program. The reflections of the İKÜ-DMAN agreement, which was also covered in the German press, especially Bild, on Turkey-Germany labor relations, internationalization in higher education, the contributions of the labor agreement to education and employment were evaluated at the meeting held at the Ataköy Campus of the university.Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University, Rector of the University, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Bahri Öztürk, Dean of the Faculty of Law, European Career and Workforce Unit Coordinator Lect. Prof. Dr. Nilüfer Köker, LL.M.  and Martin Manzel, co-founder of Dr. Yerlikaya-Manzel & Dr. Manzel Law Firm, one of the project partners, answered the questions of the press on February 3, 2022.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees Dr. Akıngüç Günver: Germany is no longer the bitter homeland

Bahar Akıngüç GünverSharing their impressions of their stay in Germany for the workforce agreement Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, said:’’ Our visit to Germany was a 3-day intensive program. I saw that our country was represented by very young and valuable names, especially Hannover Mayor Belit Nejat Onay, the first Turkish citizen to be elected as mayor in Germany; at this point Germany is no longer the bitter homeland, this was 60 years ago. The new generations have also made a great transformation in intercultural adaptation."

At the meeting, President Dr. Akıngüç Günver stated that internationalization has a very important place in Kültür's corporate codes. "My grandfather, our first generation Halil Akıngüç, who opened a school in Eskişehir in 1932 under the name Kültür, took the representation of Fernschule, which meant Far School in Germany at that time. The school offers technical education opportunities to students in Turkey by letter and delivers content to 600 students by letter. We can say that the DMAN agreement, which constitutes the European leg of the internationalization process of our university, is the most beautiful and up-to-date repetition of history in the name of education. This agreement is a motivation to maintain and raise our educational standards as well. We will invest more in our young people's foreign language, applied education and intellectual equipment in our academic content in order to bring their expertise to a level that will be accepted internationally in the new world order, where all recipes are changing.

Dean of Law Faculty Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Bahri Öztürk: with DMAN we make future plans for our students

Bahri Öztürk“Based on the DMAN project we make future plans for our students‘’ says Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Öztürk and explained the added value of the project to the youth as follows: DMAN project under the auspices of the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, our Ambassador in Berlin and our Consulate General in Hannover, offer our students very important opportunities. The Istanbul Kültür University is a university with very old and wide international relations, which has completed its internationalization and continues to increase. Our diploma is valid in many countries of the world, especially in Germany, without the requirement of equivalence. Our graduates can work in Germany as soon as they graduate. For example, we have many lawyers registered to the German bar associations. The DMAN project offers new contributions to these possibilities. A faculty graduate is not yet an expert. When you  go to Germany for 5 years on DMAN, you will do an internship there for 5 years and after specializing, you will return to our country and serve our nation."  

Martin Manzel: "Qualified employees will come back to Turkey with know-how"

Martin MetzelProviding details of the scope of the program, Dr. Martin Manzel said, that ’’ The Germany Career and Workforce Program is a career program that fosters friendship between Turkey and Germany. It was initiated to address the qualified personnel shortage in Germany  and aims to enable qualified personnel in Turkey to gain experience of working abroad and to return to Turkey with their  ‘know how’.’’
Coordinator of the University's Germany Career and Workforce Program Öğr.Gör Nilüfer Köker LL.M. summarized the purpose of the program in the following words: ’’This program is based on a ‘win-win’ basis. Its aim is on the one hand, to meet the needs of Germany, which has a qualified workforce due to demographic change, and on the other hand, to ensure that qualified university and vocational college graduates return to Turkey with their gains and experiences by gaining  experience and specializing in their branches.’’ Öğr .Gör. Köker stated that the candidates can visit the website ‘avkib.iku.edu.tr’ for detailed information about the program and the application.