CoHE President Özvar Announces New Programs and Departments to be
Opened at Universities in Artificial Intelligence, Digitalization and
Big Data
March 5, 2024 /Istanbul
CoHE President Erol Özvar announced new programs and departments to be
opened at universities in the fields of artificial intelligence,
digitalization and big data.
He chaired the meeting entitled "Artificial Intelligence, Digitalization
and Big Data" at Otağ-ı Hümayun, Yıldız Technical University. In addition
to Özvar, the meeting was attended by the rectors of 20 universities, where
new programs and departments will be opened, and CoHE Executive Board
members Prof. Naci Gündoğan, Prof. Erol Arcaklıoğlu and Prof. Hüseyin
Karaman.
In his speech at the meeting, Özvar stated that there was a need to open
programs at undergraduate/associate degree level to train human resources
on artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence solutions,
digitalization and big data. He stated that for this purpose, the "Working
Group for Determining Artificial Intelligence Based Programs" was
established within the Council of Higher Education and added, "The working
group examined the department/program structures of universities in
different countries and presented potential program proposals to the
Council of Higher Education."
Özvar stated that they evaluated the recommendations of the working group
and decided to open five undergraduate and 12 associate degree programs in
the fields of artificial intelligence, digitalization and big data, two of
which will be opened for the first time. He added that the number of
programs would increase in the coming days.
He explained that they decided to open the departments of "Information
Systems and Technologies", "Software Development" and "Information Security
Technology", which are currently available in some state and foundation
universities, and two new undergraduate programs, which are "Data Science
and Analytics" and "Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning".
He listed the universities where undergraduate and associate degree
programs would be opened as follows: Adana Alparslan Türkeş Science and
Technology University, Atatürk University, Bursa Technical University, Ege
University, Eskişehir Technical University, Gaziantep University, Harran
University, Karabük University, Karadeniz Technical University, Kayseri
University, Kocaeli University, Konya Technical University, Manisa Celal
Bayar University, Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Ondokuz Mayıs
University, Sakarya University, Sakarya University of Applied Sciences,
Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Trakya University and Yıldız Technical
University.
-Associate Degree Programs-
Özvar stated that the 12 associate degree programs to be opened were
Artificial Intelligence Operator, Big Data Analyst, Autonomous Systems
Technician, Digital Transformation Electronics, Robotics and Artificial
Intelligence, Game Development and Programming, Cloud Computing Operator,
Manufacturing Execution Systems, Corporate Informatics Expertise, Unmanned
Vehicle Technician, Front-end Software Development, Back-end Software
Development.
"Students will also be able to take courses from the faculty members of
other universities"
Özvar said, "For the first time in some of the programs, the lecturers of
major Turkish universities will give the selected courses online. In this
way, students of the universities where the programs will be opened will be
able to take courses from other faculty members. We also want to ensure
maximum benefit from these programs, to which sector representatives will
also contribute. Ensuring quality assurance in the new programs is our most
important item in our agenda. The contributions of the professors, who are
experts in the field of informatics and artificial intelligence, and the
relevant sector representatives will increase the quality of the curricula
of the new programs."
"We took many aspects into consideration when selecting universities"
CoHE President Özvar stated that they took many issues into consideration
when deciding the universities in which the programs would be opened and
said, "First, we identified the universities with undergraduate programs
such as computer engineering, software engineering and associate degree
programs such as computer programming, web design and coding."
"The working group determined the courses to be opened in the 12 associate
degree programs. That’s how were able to determine the curriculum. Even
though some of the undergraduate programs already had a curriculum., we
would like to determine a common course list for undergraduate programs and
follow the curriculum."
Following Özvar's speech, CoHE Executive Board member Prof. Erol
Arcaklıoğlu made a presentation on the subject.