XV. International Congress of Educational Research , Prizren, Kosovo, 1 - 03 September 2022, pp.46
The present study evaluates the value of vocational education on sectoral development that in turns may
improve economic profits from production. As an emphasis, impacts of educated and well-trained
personnel on production increase and economic benefits of a food sector, namely aquaculture enterprises
have been analyzed. Turkish universities offering Bachelor degree in fisheries and aquaculture engineering
addresses some important regulations in the education. In recent years, students are encouraged to practice
in the field, participate in project activities carried out in their departments. The improvement of student
internships is aimed to train qualified personnel focused on solving problem encountered in the industry.
Impacts of these new regulations with updated education system and course curriculum in higher education
institutions, according to the needs of the sector has been evaluated for the aquaculture enterprises. Despite
the negative influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on the aquaculture sector in the European Union,
economic profits of Turkish aquaculture facilities have been increased. Undoubtedly, aquaculture engineers
who graduated from the university education system, which is in the process of renewal, have a great
impact on this success. The fact that the need for qualified personnel in the growing aquaculture sector is
constantly increasing and that the students graduated from universities are in demand, reveal the
importance of this renewal process in the education system. As a reflection of well-trained personnel to the
country’s economy, export value of Turkish trout and salmon products continued its increase to several
countries in the EU, eventhough most EU countries lowered their production during the pandemic in 2020.
As the largest importer of trout and Turkish salmon among EU member states, export value from Türkiye
to Germany increased from 52695.3 to 53085.7 $ US, with a share of 65.0 and 70.5% of the total from
2019 to 2020, respectively. Also, export to Romania increased in both quantity and value from 5015.9 to
5580.7 $ US, with increased share of 6.19 to 7.42 in 2019 and 2020, respectively. This was also the case for
other countries such as Hungary and Spain (FAO, 2022). Findings of this study reveals that Turkish trout
and salmon aquaculture showed a remarkable effort in the supply of seafood demand for the European
Unition member states during the pandemic outbreak in 2020, that is closely linked to the success of welltrained and qualified aquaculture engineering graduates from the Turkish University System, with updated
education curriculum, and improved internship training. In addition, the new transition to the “3+1” system
(3 years lecture + 1 year field training) in 4-year undergraduate education, that will be commissioned soon,
is expected to further interact opportunities in the recruitment of necessary personnel for the growing
aquaculture sector in future.