TURLEV (Turkish Logistics Research and Education Foundation), in line with its goals, decided that Beykoz Vocational School of Logistics be established, and applied to Turkish Higher Education Council (THEC) on November 1, 2007. The application was accepted in the General Assembly of the Higher Education Council in March 23, 2008.
The effort to establish a vocational school by the Foundation was based on various social and economic preconditions. These preconditions were the need for the developing economies and sectors to produce goods and services based on high-quality information and technology in such a manner to create more added value; the fact that qualified labour will improve economic development and efficiency, and the high demand for qualified labour in the logistics sector.
Logistics Sector is active in the following areas:
- International and local transportation
- Imports/exports and customs clearance transactions
- Operation and shipping management
- Cost planning, insurance
- Warehousing, packaging
- Tax legislation and transactions
- Marketing, customer relationship management
- Banking transactions
- Integration of information technologies
- Coordination and communication
Turkey is at the crossroads of Eurasia and therefore, has the potential to become an intercontinental logistics base. The size of the sector has reached 7-8 billion US dollars a year and 500.000 people are currently employed in Turkish logistics sector. It can be stated that the sector is still developing and still has the potential to grow. All over the world, GNP is associated with the size of the logistics sector. Logistics costs constitute the 10% of the GNP in North America and 11% in the European Union, respectively. If it is considered that the GNP is above 500 billion dollars in Turkey, the sector can be expected to reach the size of 40-50 dollars at minimum. This means the number of employees working in this sector will increase substantially in the future.
The reason why the region of Beykoz was chosen for the establishment of Beykoz Vocational School of Logistics is that Beykoz has a history of glass and shoe-making industry, tobacco and beverage producing and the tourism potential; its location is suitable and also there was the need for a higher education institution in this district. In addition, Beykoz-Kavacık district is the home of the leading logistics companies. As Beykoz is close to the organized industrial compounds, the school provides its students with the opportunity of industry-based learning. The inhabitants of Beykoz, the local government, state and private institutions have greatly contributed to the project.