Gaziantep University is a well-established university that has carried out many activities to ensure university-industry cooperation, due to its location in a province with a highly developed industry in Turkey. Machine carpet production has a very important place in Gaziantep's industry.
Machine carpet production is a sector that needs to be highlighted, as it is a capital-intensive sector and develops in parallel with technical textiles. According to June 2020 data, 28.8 percent of the world's exports of woven machine-made carpets come from Türkiye. Gaziantep stands out in Türkiye and 57% of all piece woven carpet exports in the world are carried out by carpet manufacturers here. There are 162 carpet factories in Gaziantep, and 90% of these companies export their products. In February 2021, Turkey's carpet exports increased by 14%, compared to February 2020, and reached USD 247.1 million. If the carpet export figures in Turkey are evaluated on a provincial basis, it can be seen that Gaziantep has an important share of 69%.
When the sectoral export values of Gaziantep are analyzed, it is seen that carpet exports have the largest share with 23.9% among other sectors. The current situation puts the members of this sector in significant competition with both domestic producers and foreign competitors.
In the current competitive environment, the primary solution for the producers to provide competitive conditions is to have qualified manpower. Graduates from different discipline areas work in this sector. Therefore, we aim to create a common language for carpet sector employees who have undergraduate education in different fields.