Defence Industry Technologies Certification Program Continues to Meet the Sector’s Needs on Technical Training

The event at the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries’ Nuri Demirağ Hall for the introduction of the Defence Industry Technologies Certification Program was held by the METU Continuing Education Centre under the coordination of METU’s Faculty of Engineering and was instructed by the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM). 

The Defence Industry Program was constituted in order to answer the sector’s ever-growing demands on technical training in an international and sustainable level. Murad Bayar, Undersecretary for Defence Industries, Berrin Erkilet, Head of Personnel and Training Department, Prof Serkan Özgen, Defence Industry Technologies Certification Program Coordinator and Prof Ahmet Acar, METU President gave speeches at the event. 

Murad Bayar: “Our goal is to accomplish the Technical Trainings through Turkey’s own resources” 

In his speech at the event Murad Bayar, Undersecretary for Defence Industries, stressed the importance of the training issue and mentioned the misconception in the past that education in the field of technology should be taken in the foreign countries. Bayar emphasized that the recent investments in the sector aimed to overcome this misconception and said: “Our goal is to manufacture the technology and products in Turkey using the domestic resources. Unquestionably, in this quest, the information infrastructure of the sector must feed from Turkey and this is our responsibility. If Turkey’s most educated and qualified engineers are demanded by this sector, we should benefit from this situation as a country and perpetuate their improvement” and added “This Certification Program serves this goal. We are exerting efforts to make this progress sustainable. This is of vital importance, not only for the youth but for all of us. We started this procedure with METU. However, these studies and efforts shall not be limited to METU. METU may be the initiator but we shall conduct similar or complementary studies with other universities as well”.

Underlining the success of the trial period with both the SSM and the sector, Murad Bayar said: “This certification program is evolving into a significant academic program that is recognized by the university. Today I could say that all the leaders of the sector are here among us. All the general managers of the leading companies are here. I would like to call on the leaders of the sector, they supported this program till today but we must boost this support. We currently have about 10,000 skilled people in the sector and we must increase this number. Providing continuing education both in METU and other universities should be on our agenda as a priority and a share from the budget should be set aside for educational purposes. We should fulfil this task based on a lasting and planned attitude.”

Berrin Erkilet: “We will continue to support such efforts as the Undersecretariat” 

Berrin Erkilet, Head of the Personnel and Training Department of the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries stated that their goal was covering the technical demands of the staff and setting standards in the training in order to save time and cost when they first initiated the program and presented information on how the need for such a program emerged and informed the participants about the beginning of the program:  “Actually this program did not start recently, we began working on it in the first months of 2010. Since then the program was reformed and developed through the meetings with the academicians and needs analysis studies and with the feedbacks received from the pilot training programs that started in 2011. Eventually it turned into a certification program in METU at the end of last year. Until now, 42 people from our Undersecretariat participated in the program and received the certificate of participation. As an institution, we are ready to give all the support we can in order to provide a sustainable education program that is recognized and demanded internationally in our region.”

Prof Ahmet Acar: “We are creating an environment for improving the talents and capacities of our University to the international standards.” 

Prof Ahmet Acar, METU President, drew the attention of the participants that the cooperation between METU and the industry increased in the past 10 years and said that this created an environment for the development of the University’s talents at international level. Prof Ahmet Acar said: “The demand for METU’s knowledge both for training and research and development purposes and application of the scientific capabilities developed by METU is pleasing for both parties and for the country. We are extremely happy for being a part of this process. The point achieved in the Defence Industry Technologies Certification Program is a fruit of a trial and error process. Model implementations were made for two years. The parties are pleased and we are positive that it would get better. I know that Turkey could compete in international markets in this arena.”

Defence Industry Technologies Certification Program

The Program was initiated by METU under the auspices of Undersecretariat for Defence Industries in 2011 for providing technical education to all the people involved in defence and security sectors. The technical trainings of 2011-2012 were in four main topics constituted of Combat Aircraft Technologies, Introduction to Materials Science, Unmanned Air Vehicles, Rotating Wing Aircrafts and Radar Systems and lasted for 40-60 hours. At the end of the trainings “Certificates of Completion” were presented to 120 successful participants. The accomplishment of the following goals is aimed with the program: 

•Increasing the technological and scientific level of the Turkish defence industry and therefore enhancing its competence at international level, 

Forming the theoretic infrastructure of the sector employees and enhancing this infrastructure through the know-how transfer and executions of the experienced sector workers,

Creating opportunities for cooperation between the public authorities such as the Turkish Armed Forces and industry and universities and sharing of the experiences,

Examining and assessing the best practices, 

Improving the capabilities of the recently graduated and junior personnel employed in the defence sector,

Providing a transitional education for the experienced sector employees who went through a change in their field of work, 

Creating new cooperation opportunities (research-development) by developing the cooperation between the university and the industry.  

 

A bachelor’s degree is the precondition for applying to the program. There is no quota determined for the certification program but each module has a capacity of 20 people. The classes will be at the Continuing Education Centre in METU.