A cooperation protocol in the field of higher education was signed between Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and the Council of Higher Education (CHE).  Atatürk University Rector Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı also attended the signing ceremony at the company facilities.

 In the protocol ceremony attended by CHE President Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar  and TAI General Manager Temel Kotil and the rectors of Research Universities; It was emphasized that thesis studies that will contribute to the development of the aviation industry in many fields from materials science to mechanical subjects, from software to the development of new generation aircraft will be supported with the scientific research program, in which a total of 200 doctoral students will be provided with scholarship support. In addition, it was stated that thesis studies will be supported by the Scientific Research Program (LIFT UP++) created within TAI.

Temel Kotil, in his speech at the ceremony; said that the company is among the world's leading manufacturers with its talent in the manufacturing industry. Stating that there are 5 thousand engineers and technicians within the company and that these numbers will increase to 10 thousand in 2028, Kotil said: "Universities work for us, and we want to open up what we do here to young people."

A New Era Begins in University-Industry Cooperation

Expressing that they strongly support Turkey's domestic and national industry move through university-industry cooperation, CHE President Özvar stated that Turkey's original and new generation aircraft projects such as the National Combat Aircraft and Hürjet will be supported by doctoral studies.

In this context, Özvar emphasized that they believe that a new process will be entered with both the legislative work that they are at the stage of completing their preparations for and the projects they will implement, and said: "We will share the details of all our works in this field with the public in the coming days. In the coming period, with the support of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, It will be a very different period when industry and industry will be in our universities, and we will enter a new stage in university-industry cooperation. You can see the signs of this as of today. The cooperation that we longed for is being realized between our higher education institutions and the leading institutions of our domestic and national production move, such as TAI both our universities and other institutions, but most importantly, our country gains."

Rector Çomaklı: “We Will Contribute to the Domestic and National Technology”

Atatürk University Rector Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı, on the other hand, said that this protocol, which is the first step of the extensive cooperation between higher education institutions under the CHE umbrella and TAI in the future, is very vital for our country. Rector Çomaklı reminded that various initiatives were taken within the university in order to contribute more to the domestic and national industry; He stated that especially the Data Center, Cold Test Center, High Technology Development Center and Eastern Anatolia Observatory project will contribute to our country's domestic and national technology move.

After the speeches, the cooperation protocol was signed by CHE President Özvar and TUSAŞ General Manager Kotil.

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION DIRECTORATE – 24.06.2022