TRADITIONAL HANDICRAFTS PROGRAM

Program Aims

The Traditional Handicrafts Program is designed to identify, research, document, and transmit our endangered traditional handicrafts to future generations; reinforce awareness of cultural heritage; contribute to local, national, and international cultural and economic development by training educated artisans; and support the creative cultural industries through sustainable production, entrepreneurship, digitalization, and tourism-integrated projects.

Programme  Objectives:

The primary objective of the program is to equip students with creative, entrepreneurial, and innovative skills by ensuring the survival of endangered handicrafts through applied education, their enhancement via contemporary design approaches, their integration with diverse disciplines, and their promotion at local and international levels; furthermore, it aims to enable graduates to contribute to the creative cultural industry, rural development, and employment by raising social awareness through tourism and cultural heritage literacy.

Titles to be Awarded to Graduates:

• Handicrafts Technician
• Handicrafts Practitioner
• Artisan / Master Instructor

Career Opportunities :

Graduates of the Traditional Handicrafts Associate Degree Program can be employed in the public and private sectors in the following fields, institutions, and roles:

• Traditional handicraft centers, museums, and practice units affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism,
• Public Education Centers and Advanced Technical Institutes for Girls (Olgunlaşma Enstitüleri) as Master Instructors,
• Municipal art, vocational, and cultural centers as Master Instructors or Traditional Arts Practitioners,
• Private handicraft, ceramic, textile/weaving, and restoration workshops as Handicrafts Technicians,
• Establishing their own private workshops and design studios as Entrepreneurial / Independent Artisans,
• Corporate companies producing and retailing traditional products as Design and Application Specialists,
• The tourism sector, culture-oriented projects, and exhibition activities as Traditional Arts Practitioners,
• Rural development projects and local or international initiatives focused on cultural heritage and handicrafts as technical specialists.

Graduates of the program have the opportunity to pursue an academic career by transferring to bachelor’s degree programs via the Vertical Transfer Examination (DGS) administered by ÖSYM.

Bachelor’s Degree Programs Eligible for Vertical Transfer:

• Carpet-Kilim and Traditional Fabric Design
• Textile Design / Textile and Fashion Design
• Illumination (Tezhip) / Art of Illumination
• Traditional Turkish Arts
• Handicrafts

Additionally, graduates can directly apply to or enroll in corresponding Open Education Bachelor's Degree Programs within the framework established by YÖK.

Academic staff:

Assoc. Prof. Birnaz ER CENGİZ

Lecturer Ayşen ARAT

Lecturer Ömer EROĞLU