“2nd Development of Quality Processes in Agricultural Education” Workshop Held at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technologies
“Improvement of Education and Training Processes”
In the opening speeches of the program, Dean of Agricultural Sciences and Technologies Prof. Dr. Ahmet Şekeroğlu said, “The second of this workshop, the first of which was held 10 years ago, was held to understand the changes in the sector and the engineering needs of the sector. Surveys were collected from internal and external stakeholders, students and participating agricultural engineers from the sector. The purpose of this workshop was to update the content or names of the courses taught in our faculty and to improve the education and training processes of the following terms.”
Following the speeches of our Dean, Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Ersin Aydın said, “This workshop is important for education and training, and the opinions of internal and external stakeholders are always needed for the quality of education and training. This quality process is the product of an ongoing effort for 15 years to increase the quality of education and training, and is very valuable for accreditation in programs and university accreditation. The opinions and suggestions of instructors, students and external stakeholders are very important for updating course outcomes,” he concluded his speech.
“Panel Organized with the Participation of the Dean and Department Representatives”
Following the opening, a panel was held with the Dean of our faculty, Prof. Dr. Ahmet ŞEKEROĞLU, and our department representatives. At the opening of the panel, our dean thanked the rectorate of our university and our stakeholders who participated in the program, public and private sector representatives and our graduates for their support and contributions to our faculty and agriculture and began his speech. It was stated that in the organized panel, both the demands of the agricultural sector and the needs felt for the education of the students would be directly evaluated and that an education and training style suitable for these demands would be adopted in the upcoming period.
After the speeches, the participants were given the floor to receive their suggestions, questions and contributions. The majority of the participants stated that the practical training provided was quite successful, however, improving the practical training would ensure that students have better knowledge and skills about the agricultural field, and that the basis of their working lives after graduation would be the practical knowledge they acquired while they were students, and that more successful results would be achieved if the application were carried out directly from the agricultural sector, including farmers, the private sector and the ministry. In this context, the participants also stated that they were working with engineers who graduated from Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technologies, and that they were happy to work with our students, and that students determining the areas they wanted to work in and conducting project-based studies on these would be more effective for regional, national and international development, and that work could be carried out in areas that were suitable for the demands of the Niğde region in particular, and that contributions could be made to the development of the city and the region.
On the other hand, our Dean stated that in the upcoming process, they aim to have students directly involved in the application and field in the form of internships for 1 semester out of 8 semesters planned to be carried out together with our stakeholders, the application areas currently within our faculty are much wider and more accessible than in the past, participation in project calls, especially from TUBITAK, is supported so that our students can conduct project-based studies that are both scientific and create added value, and with the “Farmer Education Center” within our university’s Ayhan Şahenk Agricultural Application and Research Center, they aim to provide training to our regional farmers and to have students directly communicate with producers.
Our stakeholders, who have previously participated in different projects with our university and faculty, expressed their happiness for being involved in projects that have been carried out in the past and received very positive results and feedback, and expressed their gratitude to everyone who contributed, especially our rector Prof. Dr. Hasan USLU and our dean Prof. Dr. Ahmet ŞEKEROĞLU.
In their speeches, our participants who work in the fields of geology engineering, computer engineering, veterinary medicine, economics, etc., who stated that agriculture is also important for multidisciplinary studies, stated that it would be beneficial for the sector if our faculty's education plan also included these fields, and that the students' areas of influence would develop even more.
Our dean's office stated that it is aimed to highlight digital agriculture, economics and farm management courses in the course plans, and that in this context, plans are being made to provide training not only for courses but also for experts in the field.