Eastern Mediterranean University - E-Haber Bülteni

During an interview with EMU Public Relations and Press Office, Assist. Prof. Dr. Gökhan İzbırak, Eastern Mediterranean University Industrial Engineering Department Chair, stated that they are proud of their graduates’ achievements and success. Through technical information and up-to-date software offered at the Department as well as high quality education at international standards, each graduate of the Department is promoted to a managerial position at the institution/company they are employed at. Having been established in 1994, Department of Industrial Engineering graduated over 800 students.

Assist. Prof. Dr. İzbırak put forth that the Department aims to bring up qualified engineers to be employed at factories where production takes place. Along with the Departmental engineering core courses, the curriculum of Industrial Engineering Department includes business and economics courses which would enable the graduates to pursue job opportunities at airline companies, banks, private hospitals, municipalities, consultancy firms, hotels, insurance companies and so forth.

Industrial engineers are effective designers of the combination of human, machine, materials, energy and costs as they ensure that more production takes place with minimal expenses. Assist. Prof. Dr. İzbırak stated that keeping this aim in mind, industrial engineers continuously increase the synergy levels of the companies they are employed at.

İzbırak expressed that through high-quality education offered at EMU, graduates of the Department are employed as managers at companies and academicians or department heads at universities. İzbırak also gave the following graduates’ names as examples: Emre Tok (the first Turkish manager in Microsoft U.K. in London), Buket Altınöz (financial expert at Ernst&Young, one of the best consultancy firms in Chicago, USA), Başar Şimşek (project manager at Bechtel in Maryland-USA), Aslıhan Bakırlı (UK and Ireland representative of Danone UK in London), Mehru Çelikdelen (quality control engineer in Ford factories), Sertan Özandaç (project manager in Toyota), Hakan Taşel (network responsible at Petrol Ofisi), Z. Ediz Gürsan (financial manager at SunExpress Airlines in İzmir), Şafak T. Özkan (product development manager at Arçelik), Nilüfer Cebeci (financial manager at İstanbul Eye Hospital), Orhan E. Çelebi (senior manager at CUNY company in New York-USA) and Furkan Özcan (Turkish Airlines İstanbul).

İzbırak stated that through the network set up over EMU server, the Department keeps contact with over 500 graduates and monitor their professional development.Alumnie, the network set up for graduates, has been in use since 2008. İzbırak also added that the Department benefits from the profession related experiences of the graduates and revises the departmental curriculum accordingly.

İzbırak concluded the interview by giving information about the Double Major Program which has been developed between Departments of Industrial Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Industrial Engineering Department students who possess a minimum CGPA of 3.00 can benefit from this program by studying one additional year. Upon their graduation from the Double Major Program, students are given the opportunity of receiving Mechanical Engineering Diploma as well as Industrial Engineering. İzbırak also stated that a similar double major program between Industrial Engineering and Business Departments will be established as of 2011-2012 academic year.