“It is only through education that our nation of Turkey will be able to reach the level of contemporary societies and advance as a secular and democratic Republic, as well as achieving economic development and fully implementing the basic tenets of human rights. I have always believed that supporting education is the best way to serve my country and I intend to spend the rest of my life in the service of education.”

Asım Kocabıyık,
Borusan Holding Founder and Honorary Chairman

Mr. Asım Kocabıyık has always emphasized the importance of education for Turkey as the key for our nation to develop and reach the sophisticated cultural level of other modern countries. For many years he has supported the growth of the cultural and educational life of our nation both through personal efforts as well as fi nancing from Borusan. Accordingly, a decision was made in 1992 to establish the Asım Kocabıyık Foundation for Culture and Education for the purpose of strengthening these efforts to promote and improve education and cultural development in Turkey. Prior to the establishment of the Foundation Borusan made numerous gifts towards fostering national education. For example, since the 1960s Mannesmann Boru Endüstrisi TAŞ, a part of Borusan Mannesmann Boru, constructed eight schools in Kocaeli in an effort to support learning in Turkey by helping to educate the young people of that region. Beyond this, the Borusan Primary School was built in Gemlik in 1987 and the Asım Kocabıyık Kindergarten was established in Afyon in 1996.

Since its inception in 1992, the Foundation has provided non-binding scholarships to students of disadvantaged families through donations originating from the Kocabıyık family and the Borusan Group of companies.

The most important projects of the Foundation to date have been:

The Borusan Asım Kocabıyık Anatolian Technical High School in the Beylikdüzü district of Istanbul
The Borusan Otomotiv Zehra Nurhan Kocabıyık Primary School in the Avcılar district of Istanbul
The Kocaeli University Hereke Campus Dormitory and Vocational College
The Asım and Nurhan Kocabıyık Teachers’ Residence in the Avcılar district of Istanbul
The restoration of the library belonging to the Faculty of Economy at Istanbul University
The Gemlik Sunğipek Asım Kocabıyık Vocational School Campus located at Uludağ University in Gemlik

The Borusan Foundation for Culture and Education believes that quality education is the key to becoming a modern society. Consequently, in 2007, the Foundation embarked on the construction of important buildings for the Faculty of Law at the Gemlik Sunğipek Asım Kocabıyık Campus in Gemlik. Our non-profi t organization has taken the initial steps of converting the Sunğipek factory, which was originally opened for operation by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on February 1, 1938, into a campus for higher education. The administrative building for the Offi ce of the Dean of Students was completed in 2007 and the education building was fi nished by the spring of 2008.

Another notable project implemented during 2007 involved the restoration of the Borusan Elementary School in Gemlik, which focused on strengthening the structure of the building to protect against earthquakes, the painting of the interior and exterior, as well as installing new window frames. Other important projects in 2007 involved the purchase of all the necessary laboratory equipment for the Kocaeli University Asım Kocabıyık Vocational College and refi nishing the coating of two fl oors in the conservatory of the Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul.

Another project aimed at improving the quality of education in Turkey targeted the parents of students. Started in the last months of 2007, the Borusan Foundation for Culture and Education launched a joint project with the National Education Board in Istanbul’s Avcılar district. It involved the publication of 30,000 copies of a book entitled “The Education of Parents on Aggressiveness, Violence and Feelings of Guilt among Youth.” Thus far, more than 8,000 parents have received training through these seminars, which will continue in 2008.

Another joint venture with the National Education Board taking place in the Avcılar district is aimed at the teachers of the area schools. The fi rst stage of the scheme, a seminar entitled “Developing Areas of Specialization in Service,” was completed in November of 2007 and involved the participation of 1,099 teachers. This program is expected to continue for six more terms.

Today, the Borusan Foundation provides scholarships for 150 students.

The Borusan Asım Kocabıyık Anatolian Technical High School

The school, built in 1998, was constructed in the Beylikdüzü neighborhood of Istanbul on land area of 24,000 m² at a total cost of $ 5.3 million. In the 2006-2007 academic year it was converted to a technical high school and was renamed the Borusan Asım Kocabıyık Anatolian Technical High School. Besides 21 classrooms, 17 workshops and four laboratories, the school has as a library and an art studio as well. It also features an indoor gymnasium covering an area of 1,100 m² and a 920 m² multi-purpose meeting and seminar hall with a seating capacity of 400 people, which caters to the needs of the community.

Focusing on the defi ciencies in vocational training, the school acts as a role model for other investments in this region. The school has three departments consisting of Computer Technology (English), Electrics and Electronics (English and German) and Motor Vehicles Technology (English and German).

Meticulous attention to detail has gone into the planning and implementation of a contemporary vocational educational program. The architectural planning took into account the needs of the physically handicapped, giving them total freedom of movement throughout the building.

With a total capacity of 600 students, between 2002 and 2006 the school facilities were offered for the evening training program to students who had studied at the Automotive Department of the Vocational College of Beykent University. Believing that it takes more than modern buildings and equipment to train qualifi ed graduates, the Ministry of Education, along with its regional representatives is preparing new projects aiming to help the educators improve themselves. The institution received the ISO 9002 Quality Certifi cate in 2002, becoming the fi rst school in Istanbul to be given this recognition.

The school has a successful extracurricular activities program, and is especially noted for its outstanding basketball team. Also important among its annual activities are the courses it offers in fi rst aid and search and rescue civil defense. The school also organizes fi eld trips and camping activities which enable the students appreciate nature.

For the last two years, Borusan Asım Kocabıyık Technical High School has been carrying out a joint project with Gelsenkirchen College in Germany called “Turkey on its way to the European Union.” The objective of this project is for the students to learn a foreign language together and improve their foreign language speaking ability. As a part of the program, students and teachers of both schools visit each other’s countries.

The Borusan Otomotiv Zehra Nurhan Kocabıyık Elementary School

Bearing in mind Turkey’s eight years of compulsory education, the Borusan Foundation for Culture and Education exercised its social responsibility by entering a joint venture with Borusan Otomotiv to construct the Borusan Otomotiv Zehra Nurhan Kocabıyık Elementary School in Avcılar. Located adjacent to the campus of Istanbul University, the school opened its doors for teaching in October of 1998. Since then, it has served as a role model not only for Turkey but also for developed western countries as well. The Foundation has expended great effort in building this into an institution that offers the best modern education can provide.

The architectural plans for the three-fl oor school were designed by the well-known Turkish architect Metin Hepgüler. The school, which has 30 classrooms, was completed in the short span of eight months at a cost of $ 3.5 million. All the classrooms have been equipped with the latest computer and projection systems, as well as all the other educational areas of the school. Since the beginning of the 2005-2006 academic year, the Intelligent Classroom Project has been in operation. This system allows for readyto- use software programs and information received through the Internet to be transferred from the computers to the projectors and presented to the students. All classrooms are connected to each other through a network and have access to the outside world through the Internet. In addition to its regular classrooms, the school has four pre-school classrooms, two workshops, a music room, an art workshop, a science laboratory, a computer room, a chess room and a library, as well as a clinic, a cafeteria and administrative offi ces. The multi-purpose hall which doubles as a gymnasium or two separate meeting rooms is one of the highlights of the school’s facilities.

In only its second academic year (1999-2000), the school was incorporated into the Curriculum Laboratory Schools system, which at that time amounted to just 40 in the whole country. Also, on July 14, 2004, the Borusan Otomotiv Zehra Nurhan Kocabıyık Elementary School was approved by the Elementary School General Administration ( a government organization as part of Ministry of Education of Republic of Turkey) as a Study-Nutrition School, one of only 12 such schools in Istanbul. With a maximum of 30 students per class, its elementary school caters to the children of working parents. In an effort to create nature-friendly pupils, the school is unique in that it has both a botanical garden and an animal shelter, thereby promoting love for animals while providing a protective environment for stray animals. With a capacity of 900 students, the Borusan Otomotiv Zehra Nurhan Kocabıyık Elementary School is distinctively different from other schools regarding its facilities and architectural design. Its small class sizes and healthy environment for the students are features that are different than those of traditional elementary schools. This, along with its ISO 9002 Quality Certifi cate, has made the school extremely popular.

Kocaeli University Hereke Borusan Campus

In the aftermath of the devastating 1999 Marmara earthquake, the Borusan Foundation for Culture and Education embraced the responsibility of constructing two dormitories and one college building for Kocaeli University to help it recover from the damaged incurred. The site where the project was carried out was aptly named Kocaeli University Hereke Borusan Campus.

The Kocaeli University Hereke Borusan Campus consists of three units built on an area of 3,552 m². The main building houses the Asım Kocabıyık Vocational College. Taking into consideration the need for accommodations, two dormitories were built, one male and one female, each with a capacity for 108 students. Named the Zehra Nurhan Kocabıyık Women’s Dormitory and Asım Kocabıyık Men’s Dormitory, these facilities provide lodging in three-student rooms, each featuring a private bathroom, wood furnishings and wall-towall carpeting. Each dorm also has its own cafeteria. The Vocational College consists of four classrooms, two vocational laboratories, a computer room, a library, a conference hall seating 170 people and a canteen. It launched a Building Installations Technology Program that was the fi rst of its kind in Turkey at the time of initiation. At the beginning of the 2003-2004 academic year, the school’s construction program and mechanical program were introduced to include both day and evening courses in all three curricula. The companies of the Borusan Group provided the total cost of $ 2 million, of which $ 310,000 came through individual donations by our employees, the Group’s local and international customers and other friends of Borusan. The Hereke Borusan Campus was handed over to Kocaeli University in November of 2001.

Asım and Nurhan Kocabıyık Teachers’ Residence

The Asım and Nurhan Kocabıyık Teachers’ Residence, opened on November 24, 2005, was built for the purpose of meeting the social needs of our teachers, each of whom have played a vital role in Turkey’s development. It is located close to the Avcılar Ferryboat. Port and across from the Ulusal Egemenlik Park and the Atatürk Residence Museum. Built on a 250 m² plot of land, the Teacher’s Residence has a built-up area of 1,340 m². It includes a multipurpose hall, a restaurant, seven rooms for lodging, a cafeteria and library, plus a hair salon for women and a barbershop for men. The total cost of the project amounted to nearly TL 1.5 million, plus furnishings, all of which were provided by the Foundation.

Since the Teachers’ Residence is located on top of a known earthquake fault line, all the necessary foundation studies were carried out before construction begun in order to ensure its safety. The back section of the construction site was strengthened with 43 stilts, each 30 cm. in diameter, while the substructure was reinforced with 209 jet grout stilts that measured 80 cm. in diameter. To ensure that the adjacent buildings were not affected by the construction 169 steel reinforced jet grout shoring stilts, each 6 meters long and 160 mm. in diameter, were used. After geotechnical precautions were completed the foundation was poured and shortly afterwards the building was ready for occupation.

Istanbul University Economics Department Library

On June 3, 2005 the Asım Kocabıyık Foundation for Culture and Education signed an agreement with Istanbul University to renovate the Economics Department Library. Comprised of two basements and a ground fl oor, the Library totally renovated, reinforced against earthquakes and furnished. The top fl oor includes a study hall which seats 250, a computer lab, a book checkout section and an offi ce for the supervisor. The middle level of the library, which has a closed shelf system, is the main book and thesis depository. Periodicals and photocopy services are also located on this fl oor and there is a table seating 15 for students to study reference books which cannot be checked out. Meanwhile, the lower fl oor has rooms that store statistics, offi cial publications and rare books, along with a seminar room which can seat 25. The library, which is primarily focused on economics, has a collection of 60,000 older and contemporary books on management, law, statistics, sociology of economics, history of economics, , political science, taxation, econometrics and, education as well a number of literature volumes.

The Library also has computer access to 15,000 periodicals on 552 different subjects in various languages including English, German, French and Turkish. It also stores copies of approximately 4,000 theses written by students from the Economics Department.

Since 2005 the Asım Kocabıyık Foundation for Culture and Education has been making an annual donation of $ 10,000 to the Library for the purchase of new books.

Uludağ University Gemlik Asım Kocabıyık Vocational School

Located in the Gulf of Gemlik, the historical Sunğipek Factory was donated to Uludağ University, who then requested the Asım Kocabıyık Foundation for Culture and Education to build a vocational college. In October of 2005 the site was cleared for the construction of the “Uludağ University Gemlik Asım Kocabıyık Vocational School”. The project was completed and classes started in 2006. On November 14, 2006 the Foundation offi cially transferred the facilities over to Uludağ University.

In the education building there are 11 classrooms and seven fully equipped laboratories, as well separate rooms for meetings, seminars, recreation, drawing and reading. It also contains a library, a cafeteria and suffi cient offi ces for the faculty.

The College has three departments, including the Technical Programs Department which offers training in “Food Technology,” “Map and Land Survey” and “Agricultural Production.” The other two divisions are the Economics and Business Administration Programs Department and the Maritime Programs Department. There are plans to increase the number of departments over the next 5 years.

Uludağ University Faculty of Law

In 2007 the Asım Kocabıyık Foundation for Culture and Education agreed to take on the construction project of the buildings needed for the Faculty of Law at the Uludağ University Gemlik Sunğipek Asım Kocabıyık Campus. The entire 2007 and 2008 budgets of the Foundation were completely devoted to the project of constructing the Education Building for the Faculty of Law and the Building of the Dean of Students.

The Asım Kocabıyık Foundation for Culture and Education, committed to its vision that quality education is the key to becoming modern society, warmly embraced the idea of building an institution of higher learning out of the legendary Sunğipek factory, which was originally opened for operation by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on February 1, 1938. The Dean of Students Building was completed in 2007 and the Education Building was fi nished by the spring of 2008. The entire complex for the Faculty of Law covered 4,694 m², including 3,942 m² for the Education Building and 752 m² for the Dean of Students Building.

An actual courtroom where live cases can be tried was built into the architectural plans of the Education Building. It also includes fi ve classrooms, a computer lab, three rooms for instructors, two libraries, a conference room, a meeting room and a recreation room for students. The building was equipped with lifts and other measures to cater to the needs of disabled students.

The Sunğipek Factory in Gemlik has a rich history. As a consequence of outdated technology, eventually stopped production and was purchased by Sümer Holding in 1997, only to be sold to Tekel in 1998. The 70-acre property and buildings were transferred over to Uludağ University in 2004 and the former factory was subsequently restored by the Foundation and transformed into the modern threestory Education Building for the Faculty of Law. The former administration building of the Sunğipek Factory, which itself was built in 1950, was restored according to its original plans to become the Dean of Students Building. This edifi ce includes the offi ce of the dean and the deputy dean, twelve administrative offi ces and two offi ces for the assistants, as well as a meeting room and an archives room.

“The fl ag of modernization was raised here by Atatürk nearly 70 years ago and now we are proud to wave it in the name of education and pass it on to future generations. I am especially pleased that the faculty will be providing education in the area of law because only through the power of law and justice Turkey will become modern and optimistic about the future. It is vitally important to educate lawyers who will practice their trade in the appropriate and just manner. It is not just the duty of government to improve the quality of this education but also all of us.”

Asım Kocabıyık,
Borusan Holding Founder and Honorary Chairman