Industry-university partnership seeks common solution for software developer gap
ONE of Türkiye’s leading information and communication technologies companies, Türk Telekom has announced it signed an agreement with Atatürk University aimed at addressing the ever-growing software developer shortage in Türkiye and in the world.
As part of the five-year cooperation, Türk Telekom will be offering education, scholarship, internship and job opportunities to students to support their career developments. What’s more, Türk Telekom employees who meet the program conditions will be able to participate in graduate programs offered by the university.
This example of university-industry cooperation, which will support students to gain experience in creating products and services, will also help young people gain early experience in testing and software development.
In the context of cooperation, works and studies are aimed to be conducted covering multiple areas that seek to support students’ academic and career development.
These include joint research and development (R&D) activities with the faculties of engineering, symposiums, congresses, seminars, webinars and the publication of articles and scientific papers.
The work will not only be limited to Atatürk University but will also continue in different cities in different universities, faculties and departments around Türkiye within the scope of cooperation between academia and the business world.
Within the scope of the cooperation, Türk Telekom employees who meet the program conditions determined by the university will be able to participate in graduate programs. In addition, employees will also be able to give technical elective courses in accordance with the request and approval of the university.
Speaking about the cooperation, Mehmet Emre Vural, chief human resource officer (CHRO) at Türk Telekom, said they “see every investment we make in our young people as an investment in the future of our country.”
“We bring our experience and deeprooted knowledge in our sector together with the young people with the camp programs we organize under the roof of the Development Base in areas such as cloud computing, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence,” Vural said.
“With the cooperation we have with Atatürk University, we have created an opportunity to support the career development of our employees while contributing to the young talent of our country to reach their potential. As Türk Telekom, we plan to continue this work in various universities, faculties and departments in different cities of Türkiye within the scope of cooperation between academia and the business world,” he added.
COMMON PROJECTS
For his part, Yusuf Kıraç, chief technology officer (CTO) at Türk Telekom, said as the leading institution of digital transformation in Türkiye, they develop and experience new technologies and are engaged in important works not only for the country but also for the global telecommunications sector.
“We have brought this approach together with our goal of contributing to the employment of our country and strengthening our teams that carry the communication of the whole of Türkiye on their shoulders. With this cooperation we have with Atatürk University, the students who are included in the program will have the opportunity to work with Türk Telekom teams on innovative technology projects such as blockchains, non-fungible tokens (NFT), artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) in their tasks that they will work on while they are still studying,” Kıraç said.
“Within the scope of this work, which we have implemented with our mission to invest in the future and create value, we offer students internship, training and development opportunities as well as the opportunity to work at Türk Telekom. Thus, we aim to create value with R&D and innovation studies in the field of new-generation telecommunications technologies and to contribute to the solution of the increasing software developer shortage in our country and in the world.”