ISTANBUL: Pegasus Cargo is continuing its sponsorship of logistics education conferences with a two-day event to be held in March next year together with Istanbul University's Transportation and Logistics Faculty.

This will be the fifth conference organized by the 'Easy Way to Send' low-cost airline in a bid to bring together educationalists, students and international experts in support of Turkey's growing logistics industry.

Pegasus Cargo vice president Aydin Alpa commented: "The teaching of logistics in Turkey started at Istanbul University. This year there has been an exciting development. Having previously been offered under the Masters programme, this year the teaching of logistics was brought under one faculty. This is Turkey's first and only logistics faculty and I hope this new development will yield great results for the sector and its students.

"We decided to co-host the faculty's first international conference as we are always interested in pioneering new projects. As Pegasus Cargo, we will continue to support the partnership between the university and the sector," Alpa added.

Noting the conference will be open to all students, professor Abdullah Okumus, dean of Istanbul University's Transportation and Logistics Faculty, said the event would underscore the significance of partnerships between the university and the industry – and help spearhead logistics education both in Turkey and other parts of the world.

Professor Sedat Murat, vice-rector of Istanbul University, suggested the Pegasus event will help realize Turkey's goal of becoming a regional logistics hub by popularizing, diversifying and improving the quality of logistics education.

(Left to right: Prof. Abdullah Okumus, dean of the Transportation and Logistics Faculty at Istanbul University and professor Sedat Murat, the university's vice rector; Aydin Alpa, Pegasus Airlines vice president Cargo; and Gultekin Altuntas, vice dean of Transport and Logistics Faculty, Istanbul University.)

In a related move, Wolfgang Lehmacher, director of Supply Chain and Transport Industries for the World Economic Forum (WEF), has visited the University of Hull's Logistics Institute in Britain to meet with academics, researchers and students who are working on a WEF project aimed at leveraging digital connectivity to improve how the world trades.

Lehmacher noted the university's logistics center was a very good fit because of its focus on the synergies between geography and technology: "The university is supporting this project by developing a framework to analyze case studies provided by the leading players in the industry and helping us to drive recommendations for the public and private sectors in respect to how best to leverage the new technologies," he explained.

Initiated by the WEF's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Logistics and Supply Chain, the university's 'Moving a Connected World' project began earlier this year and expects to finish next summer.