Introduction of İstanbul University - Cerrahpaşa Vocational Schools

I am Professor Erdoğan Köse. I am the Director of Technical Sciences Vocational School and also the Corporate Communications Director of our university. Within our university, we continue to provide education with five schools, including Social Sciences, Health Services, Technical Sciences Vocational School, Forestry Vocational School and Veterinary Vocational School. Our colleges train qualified personnel that become sought after in the sector. More than 60% of our graduates are able to find jobs immediately after graduation. In our Social Sciences Vocational School, which provides services in the social field, we have many programs that address banking, finance, insurance, social life and service sector. We provide service and education activities in our seven departments. In the Health Services Vocational School, we have health services technician and dental technician programs. In our Forestry Vocational School, we have programs which include ornamental plants to floriculture, from irrigation to hunting. In our Veterinary Vocational School, we have programs that provide employees for the food and service sectors, from horse riding to equestrianism. Our biggest vocational school is the Vocational School of Technical Sciences, which has 22 programs and 12 departments within it, providing for a wide range of fields. We serve a wide range of areas from electricity to electronics, from computers to technology, from virtual and augmented reality to graphic design, from press broadcast technology to radio television technology. However, the most important assets we have are the 5 undergraduate programs in the Vocational School of Technical Sciences. One of them is the Department of Aircraft Technology. The General Directorate of Civil Aviation approves the diplomas of our graduates. We also cooperate with the General Directorate of Coastal Safety in Underwater Technology. In Biomedical Technology, the Ministry of Health approves the diplomas of our graduate students. We also have an agreement with Türk Telekom in the Electronic Communication Technology Program. As a part of this protocol, our young graduates from the department of electronic communication technology can immediately take part in providing technical services in Türk Telekom's fiber optic infrastructure. Let me talk about our laboratories, which provides a space for us to study applications. As the Technical Sciences Vocational School, we have a “fire zone”, which provides a space for us to practice. We have hydraulic pneumatics laboratory, and aircraft technology has its own laboratories. I don’t need to even mention the computer labs anymore, all our classrooms are equipped with computers, as they have become indispensable. In addition, our Veterinary Vocational School has a 100 decare forest and meadow area where 55 horses can roam. This is the place our students are given horse riding training, students can practice in this area. In our Forestry Vocational School, education is provided in our Sarıyer Bahçeköy Campus with an application area of about ​​140 decares. In our Health Services Vocational School, the installation work continues, with the aim of bettering the infrastructure of our dental technician laboratories. Similarly, in the Biomedical Device Technology Program, Underwater Technology Program, Graphic Design Program, Press Release Technology Program, Electrical Program, Electronics program, we have the necessary equipment such as Mac’s, electrical motors, digital print machines and everything that is needed .Within the scope of these technologies, we are renewing our system with programs that are constantly developing and keeping up with the changing technology.
Internships have been made compulsory in all of our vocational schools within our university. You cannot graduate from our departments and programs without completing an internship. As a graduation project, excluding the undergraduate departments, every student who has completed the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) offered by the curriculum can graduate. In this context, the difference between us and other vocational schools is our old structure. For example, our Technical Sciences Vocational School will graduate its 35th class. Our school provides these educational services with its well-established academic staff with 35 years of experience. As a result, those who complete the internship and complete the program can graduate. Each of our high school graduates dream of studying at a university. However, students who cannot achieve this goal have to apply to a vocational school, to at least be close to the university environment. In this systematic structure, those who cannot achieve what they want in the first place can do so by taking their first steps in vocational schools. Of course, we also have young people whose original goal is to get into a vocational school. These students of ours immediately find a place in the workforce and come to these schools achieve just this. We send 30% of our students who choose our vocational schools to undergraduate programs with the Vertical Transfer Exam (DGS). Our programs are chosen with an occupancy rate of 110%. The fact that we are so in demand motivates our academicians who carry out educational duties. Having that in mind, our academics need to provide new materials for our students, so that they develop their foresight. As we provide education for an application-based field, we try to provide that for every field. Students who have complete the program here can find a job immediately in their field. In addition, our students do not need to look for a job in different undergraduate programs, since they have received undergraduate education, they are provided with many employment possibilities. Students who come to our vocational schools and choose us can also benefit from the Erasmus Program.
Among our 5 vocational school affiliated to the Istanbul University - Cerrahpaşa Rectorate, 30-35% of our students have applied for the vertical transfer exam and transferred to undergraduate programs, thanks to our academic staff and managerial staff and available infrastructure. Therefore, we do not only train our incoming students for the minimum level of competence demanded by the sector, we also prepare them for the undergraduate programs. In other words, we are a well-established university. With 35-years of experience, we try to transfer that knowledge we have gained to our students to make them better equipped, self-confident and technically knowledeable. I cannot exactly say what goals the graduates have, however, if a student came here having a profession in mind and aiming for that, they definitely graduate after mastering that profession. For example, when a person who is a horse trainer comes to the Veterinary Vocational School, he graduates as a good horse trainer. If a person wants to be a banker, insurer or financier, they come to the Vocational School of Social Sciences, and graduate as a good financier and banker. If someone says that I will be a diver, I will dive 45 meters underwater, you can come to the Underwater Technology Program and become a licensed diver. The diploma in this field is approved by the General Directorate of Coastal Safety. If a student candidate wants to choose us and wants to be a stewardess on a plane, they can easily achieve this goal in the Civil Aviation Cabin Services Program. This is the same for graphic designers, cameramen, photographers, printers, electric technicians, computer scientists. If a person wants to be a dental technician, they can become a dental technician in 2 years by coming to the Health Vocational School. Of course, if they become successful enough, students can complete their undergraduate education by taking the Vertical Transfer Exam (DGS). We offer all these facilities and services to our friends who come to our school. We are always trying to do the best for them. Our campus services continue to provide the best conditions in the library, dining hall, cafeterias. We welcome our friends who want to benefit from these services and experience this environment to our campus. If you’d like to be a part of the successful establishment that Istanbul University – Cerrahpaşa is, meet great professors and receive an education from them, have a fun time in our campus with many of its facilities like the library, dinning hall and large forests, we await for you here at the Istanbul University – Cerrahpaşa Vocational Schools.