The volume of e-commerce, which reached $4.2 trillion globally and $11 billion in our country in 2020, necessitates the need for trained personnel in this field. The department to be established within our university will follow sectoral developments, analyse the needs in this area, and undertake the mission of providing trained personnel accordingly. The mission of the Department of Electronic Commerce and Management is to produce graduates equipped with the necessary skills to meet the specific needs of the e-commerce sector. The elimination of physical distances by the internet and the globalisation of markets have intensified competition, making it imperative for businesses to use all their tools in the most efficient manner. In this context, e-commerce, an important tool for competitive advantage, is rapidly spreading worldwide and is being adopted as a new business model by many companies. E-commerce, which enables all kinds of real buying and selling transactions to be carried out in virtual environments, allows transactions to take place at high speeds while also eliminating all kinds of intermediary costs and providing extremely important cost advantages for businesses.

The service sector is important for our country's economy. The four-year undergraduate programme in electronic commerce, which has become an important branch of the services sector in recent years, to be launched at our university will contribute to national employment, reduce company costs, and positively enhance our university's image. The Department of Electronic Commerce and Technology Management planned to be established at our university will be the first and only one of its kind in the province and region.

There is no department offering undergraduate education in E-commerce and Technology Management in Kütahya province or even in the Aegean Region. Therefore, the Department of E-Commerce and Technology Management planned to be opened at Kütahya Dumlupınar University will be the first and only one in this field in the province and region, and the second in our country. In this context, Kütahya Dumlupınar University, which is an important higher education institution in Turkey in terms of both academic staff and student numbers, aims to fill this gap and optimally reflect the fundamentals of e-commerce and technology management brought about by our era to its students. The most important reflection of Kütahya Dumlupınar University's distinctiveness in the region is the university's institutional identity/history, its high student potential, and the character of its academic/educational/teaching activities.

The Department of E-commerce and Technology Management, planned to be opened within the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Kütahya Dumlupınar University, provides entrepreneurial opportunities by enabling students to discover new business models developing on web-based platforms and understand new trends in applications. The planned Department of E-commerce and Management, which aims to train qualified personnel with the necessary skills in the field of e-commerce to meet the needs, will primarily address the significant labour shortage in the e-commerce sector for Kütahya, one of the key provinces in the region, and more broadly for companies operating in this field across the country. It will also monitor sectoral developments and analyse the needs in this area.

Kütahya Dumlupınar University possesses a highly developed capacity compared to neighbouring regions, both in terms of international student exchange programmes and its student satisfaction-focused approach. The university will also offer a significant opportunity for students to gain international experience by making the most of educational opportunities.