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Turkish Higher Education Quality Assurance and PLacement for University System
Start date: Sep 1, 2015, End date: Aug 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

In this project, we plan to implement AlmaLaurea (AL) system (http://www.almalaurea.it/en) in Turkey. AL is a nonprofit interuniversity system designed and developed in Italy used by 65 member universities and the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research. AL keeps track of students and plays a major role in matching university graduates and employers. Unlike commercial solutions through which employers and employees can match, AL system offers a more comprehensive solution both for the job matching process and for the enhancement of the education quality. AL system provides annual reports containing a detailed data analysis of graduates’ information (academic background certified by the university, satisfaction with the education received and with the university overall, geographical, social and economic background, work and internship experiences, future plans, and the sectors in which graduates work) to universities and participating organizations. With extensive experiences of the AL team and the University of Huelva in Spain, we will adapt the system according to the needs of the labor market and the higher education in Turkey. There are three participating universities from Turkey: Izmir University, the coordinator, Ege University, one of the largest universities in Turkey with 60,000 students and more than 70 EU funded projects, and Sinop University, a new smaller scale university representing many other universities in Turkey.There are persistent youth unemployment both in Turkey and in Europe (http://www.tuik.gov.tr and http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu) and unfilled jobs throughout Turkey because of deficiencies in the quality of training of university graduates (http://setav.org/tr/turkiyenin-insan-kaynaginin-belirlenmesi/rapor/2379). Moreover, students have difficulty distinguishing the quality of programs across universities. It may not be the in the best interest of universities to disclose detailed job-placement information of their graduates even if they have that data. A few years after the implementation of the project, job placement successes of universities will become transparent. Hence, students will make more informed choices about the universities. Those universities with lower job placement numbers may see a decline in enrolment. Therefore, universities will have to make necessary reforms to attract more students by increasing the quality and the relevance to the labor market of the education they provide. As a result, the satisfaction of employers from the quality of graduates will increase, and the unemployment will decline. The system will also help Turkish Universities develop quality career guidance, counseling and support services as it has been done in AL participating universities. These job market goals are in line with the official objectives of associate partners in the project Agean Region Chamber of Industry (EBSO), Young Businessmen Association of İzmir (İGİD), Turkish Labor Agency (İŞKUR) İzmir directory, and Ege University Alumni Association.During the development of the project, there will be 7 transnational meetings. After planning the design of the platform according to the local environment (higher education system, socio-economic environment, labor market structure, needs and capacities of institutions, etc.), AL will set up the demand supply matching platform. Two phases of training activities include “Competence provision and capacity transfer” and “Local Trainings” as job training. At least 12 university staff and researchers, and 6 administrative staff will be trained both in Bologna offices and in İzmir. During that time, the development of IT based monitoring tools for background analysis and graduates’ profile surveys will be carried out as well. Then, trials will be done both on the prototype of the system and on the assessment and evaluations of results with feedback from 10 business representatives. In the 3rd year of the project, various IT monitoring tools will be implemented for university-enterprise partnership to improve employability of graduates. At least 1500 graduands/graduates will enter their CVs in the system. The final stage will be the dissemination of the project and the results via various outlets like conferences, meetings, and social media.Ministries of higher education and labor will be provided reports to help enhance policy making. Graduates of universities will be provided free access to placement services by their universities. Universities will receive regular reports on the job market success of theirs graduates, and their curricula. Firms and local business organization will have easy access to certified information about candidates at the course grade level. In the long term, the project is expected not only to improve the job market process of university graduates but also to enhance the quality of higher education to match evolving needs of firms more accurately.

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