Maritime Vocational School

Hello friends, I am Associate Professor Nuri Akkaş. I am the Director of Sakarya University of Applied Sciences, Maritime Vocational School. Our vocational school received its first students in the 2020-2021 academic year. We said "Vira bismillah!" when we began. Our school is located in the Kocaali district of Sakarya. Kocaali is a wonderful, unique town close by the sea which has 13 kilometer long beach, surrounded by pines and lilies. We are located very close to the sea. Karasu and Melenağzı ports, which are close to our location, are places that can help us in practical training. In this sense, our proximity to these places is an advantage for our school. The reason for us to establish a maritime school was to meet the need for qualified intermediate staff in the world and our country. For this purpose, as I said, we started providing education in the 2020-2021 academic year. We started providing education with 3 programs. One of them is the Maritime Transportation and Management Program, in which we train captains. Our second department is Shipbuilding. We started providing education with 40 students in the Shipbuilding Program. Our third program is the Civil Defense and Firefighting Program. Again in this program, we started providing education with 40 students. As of now, one computer lab is ready for these 3 programs. Our technical drawing classes and regular lessons are available for our 3 programs. However, there are some laboratories that we plan to open for the next academic year. For example, we plan to open a bridge simulator, machine circle simulator and navigation laboratory for next year.
I would also like to mention the places that students can find employment when they graduate from the Maritime Transportation Management Program. First of all, of course, graduates of this program can become seafarers. Therefore, they can work on ships. Alternatively, port facilities, shipping agencies, ship companies can also be counted among the places where they can be employed. The main places where those who will graduate from here will be employed are shipyards. Alongside shipyards, ship and yacht maintenance and repair facilities, as well as ship design offices, businesses working in the field of welding technology are the places that graduates can find work. Finally, graduates of our Civil Defense and Firefighting Program, can find work in the Fire Department and Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), which are public institutions. Therefore, the fire departments, which are located in every province and many districts throughout the country, can be the places in which our graduates can find a job. As Sakarya University of Applied Sciences, we apply the model we call +1 applied education. What is this? Our students participate in practical training both in faculties and in vocational schools like ours, in the workplaces that we have selected for a semester. As the Sakarya University of Applied Sciences and Maritime Vocational School, I think that this applied education model has benefited our students in many ways. I can say that the feedback about this application is very good. In addition, 85% of the world trade is carried out through sea routes. Of course, this is not just about transportation. In addition, it is an active field in many different sectors such as sea tourism and the shipbuilding industry. Therefore, I think that studying in such a field is very important in terms of planning your own career. We were established as a school that serves in such a field, located very close to the sea and where you can get the necessary training in this field with our practical training. Therefore, I think you can choose us. I wish success to students who will take the exam and choose our university and vocational school. I hope you will get into the departments that you like. I hope you choose us. We are waiting for you at Sakarya, Kocaali and our school.