Computer Engineering

Hello, I'm Yunus Özen. I am a faculty member at Yalova University, Department of Computer Engineering. The Computer Engineering Department is one of the first established departments of our school. We were founded in 2008, and since then we have graduated many engineers for the sector. We have a preparatory class. Our language of instruction is 30% English. So, after passing the preparation, students start the 1st grade. When students graduate, they graduate with an adequate level of English. Our department currently has around 500 students. We provide education and training with a total of 17 lecturers, including 2 professors, 2 associate professors, 5 doctoral faculty members and 8 research assistants. When we look at the numbers, our teacher-student ratio is balanced, so we have enough teachers to help each student individually. Our instructors are young, and we have instructors with industry experience. In this respect, I think our department is advantageous compared to other computer engineering departments. We already have the standard courses given in all computer engineering departments, but apart from these, the courses that our students may need when they enter the sector are also offered. For example, we have courses in areas such as Animation, Game Design, Cyber Security, and Artificial Intelligence. We have courses such as computer networks and the internet of things. Every year we evaluate our curriculum to see if we need to make any revisions. We encourage the course content that is needed in the sector. We offer a wide range of elective courses which our students can choose from according to their interests. So, they have the option to specialize in subjects they are into. In addition, while our curriculum is being prepared, we invite guest lecturers from the sector. For example, as a result of the agreement we made with Huawei, we run the mobile programming course with them in a laboratory. We have projects that we conduct with the BMW company. We are cooperating with Kuveyt Türk for banking applications. We are cooperating in a similar fashion with many other companies. Therefore, when we look at our curriculum, we provide education with a curriculum that is more up-to-date and prepares you more for the sector compared to other universities around us. We currently have a large computer lab for software courses at our school. We have a lab for logic courses and electronics. We also have a laboratory to work on computer networks and the internet of things. There we have both network devices and small IoT devices, a drone on which experiments are carried out, and a laboratory full of small devices like this. We have 3 laboratories in total. Our internship regulations are as follows: As in all universities, we have mandatory internships for 60 days. Students can fulfill this either in 2 or in 3 parts. These are compulsory internships, but if our students want to do voluntary internships, we also help them with this. In graduation projects, of course, our students choose the projects they want. Besides the projects directed by our professors, there are also internships we do in cooperation with the companies in the sector, as a result of the agreements we have made. For example, a student may come to us and say, "I will work with Nokia. A mentor will be assigned to me there and can we choose a project from the list?". In such a case we choose and finish this project together with our student and the mentor appointed by the company. We have many projects that have been done in this way. Therefore, projects are both carried out on current issues guided by our professors, and on subjects that are more suitable for the sector, which prepare our students for their career, especially with the graduation project that is carried out in cooperation with the sector. At our university, students can go abroad with the Erasmus Exchange Program. Currently, we have agreements with 11 universities in 7 countries such as Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria, and every month we expand this list by finding new universities. When you enter our school's website, you can see the most updated list of countries and universities. In addition, our students benefit from Work and Travel programs. We have students who go abroad to work with AIESEC (Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales). We also encourage them and help such organizations when they come to our school to promote their programs. We strive for our students to graduate by having at least one abroad experience before graduation.
Last year, an artificial intelligence conference called ICIDAAI was held. This conference was a conference that covered various application areas of artificial intelligence. This was organized by our school and we will continue to organize it every year in cooperation with other universities in the Marmara Region. A conference was held in the field of cyber security. We also organized this in our school. We are trying to expand the academic network that our university participates in with conferences like these. In addition, there are communities that are established by our students. For example, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Club exists in almost every university. Our school's IEEE Club organizes talks with people from the industry every week, and invites people to come to our school all the time. Currently, our IEEE Club is one of the most active IEEE clubs in Turkey. In addition to this, our clubs are also actively working on issues such as artificial intelligence, cyber security and entrepreneurship, and we, as a department, support the work of these clubs. In the past months, we organized a Python programming event open to participation from all over Turkey under pandemic conditions. We had many participants from many cities in Turkey. We do these regularly. We have transformed the distance education courses held in our school into a format where all of our students or their friends can attend. In this way, we create an environment where everyone can come and attend our courses as much as possible. Our department has an advantageous place in terms of its geographical location. As a university being located in the Marmara Region, we are so close to Istanbul. Our students can go there to work part-time while they are still studying here. For example, we have students who go to work at a company in Istanbul in the morning and attend classes in the afternoon, or who come to classes for 3 days and spend 2 days working part-time in a company in Istanbul. When they reach their final year, our students usually work part-time somewhere. In fact, we have students who continue to work part-time since the first grade at our school. You know, all the cliché that they ask for work experience when they graduate, so, our students graduate with that work experience. After finishing school, they work in many fields in the sector. You know, computer engineering is a popular department now. We currently have students at many companies such as Hepsiburada, Trendyol, Turkcell, Türk Telekom, and Getir. Furthermore, we have graduates who are working in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary and many other countries. At the moment, our department is preparing you in a way that you can find a job easily without any unemployment problems and you can go and find a place for yourself in the sector. Currently, we have students in almost every company in Istanbul. Yalova University, Department of Computer Engineering has an advantageous position especially in the Marmara Region. Because this is an easy city to live in. There is no other problem that will tire you out here except for going to school. You can easily come to school from your home or from your dormitory. You can focus on your studies. You can also go and work part-time in your spare time. You can improve yourself. This is an advantage of our department. When you come to study Computer Engineering at Yalova University, you will prepare yourself for the sector more easily. Our professors will be very close to you in that respect. Students should not only look at rankings when choosing a university. The rankings of many universities in Anatolia are perhaps a little higher than ours, but you will see that geographical proximity, especially proximity to Istanbul, is very important for a university. It is very important when you come to study computer engineering. Of course, there are many other universities in Istanbul. You can choose them, if your points are sufficient, but if you are going to choose another university apart from a few beautiful universities in Istanbul, we are that alternative. If you are thinking of choosing computer engineering, we will be waiting for you here. We welcome all of you.