ASELSAN ACADEMY GRADUATE EDUCATION PROGRAM

In 2017, ASELSAN launched ASELSAN Academy, the fourth generation university model, with the aim of taking the cooperation between industry and academia one step further. ASELSAN Academy, a first in Turkey, continues to develop and expand every year based on the principles of open innovation, co- development and sustainable cooperation.

The ASELSAN Academy Graduate Education Program is a program under the auspices of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), in which Gazi University, Gebze Technical University, Istanbul Technical University and Middle East Technical University are stakeholders, offering ASELSAN employees the opportunity to pursue master's and doctoral education without leaving the campus. The program is carried out according to the regulations and rules of each university and the student receives his/her diploma from the relevant university.

In order to ensure time efficiency and close cooperation, courses are taught in ASELSAN campus and ASELSAN laboratories are made available for thesis studies.

The number of students in the program, which includes Computer Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Engineering departments of stakeholder universities, has increased exponentially over the years, and the first graduates were given at the end of the 2019-2020 Academic Year.

CREATING THE GROUND FOR INNOVATION

ASELSAN Academy aims to ensure that the research conducted within ASELSAN Academy forms the basis for innovative technologies and innovation.

The three main objectives of this program are to create a strong and continuous link between universities and industry, to support the postgraduate education of defense industry personnel, and to make thesis research the most productive for all stakeholders. At ASELSAN Academy, it is essential that the thesis work of the personnel directly contributes to the projects in which they are involved and forms the basis for technological development. In this way, thesis studies are carried out on subjects that include innovative, advanced technology applications, directly contribute to the nationalization target of our country and eliminate export restrictions.

As of the Spring 2021-2022 semester, ASELSAN Academy has 736 students, 640 of which are master's degree students and 96 doctoral students, and 92 graduates.

Workshops

Workshops are organized every year at stakeholder universities to evaluate the development and outputs of the ASELSAN Academy Program and to establish new collaborations. The first workshop was hosted by Middle East Technical University, the second by Istanbul Technical University, the third by Gazi University and the fourth by Gebze Technical University.

ASELSAN Academy brings together ASELSAN Technology Mentors and experienced engineers with academicians in various meetings, and creates a basis for cooperation in order to identify research and development needs in projects, direct the competencies of the academy to these needs and set new technology targets.

In all these workshops and meetings, projects are planned with a common mind to produce domestic and national technologies.

All-round Support for Thesis Studies

ASELSAN Academy, through different mentoring mechanisms, transfers knowledge and academic experience to academy students throughout their education, monitors their theses and guides their thesis studies when needed.

In addition, employees with a PhD degree working at ASELSAN can be the second thesis advisor in order to effectively associate projects with the work done within the scope of the thesis and to support the thesis process within the company.

Supporting ASELSAN Academy Theses (TOHUM Projects)

In addition to the support provided from the project budgets for the use of ASELSAN's existing infrastructures and contribution to the projects carried out in the graduate theses carried out at ASELSAN Academy, a new resource opportunity was defined under the name of TOHUM (SEED) Project support in order to meet the infrastructure and other expenses that may be needed specifically for the thesis. These supports are evaluated by a Committee to meet additional needs such as materials, devices, etc. within the scope of ASELSAN Academy theses and are initiated with the approval of the Senior Management.

TOHUM project support has a similar structure to the Scientific Research Projects (BAP) support of universities, and selected theses are supported up to 50 thousand USD per project.