In order to open new horizons for the country’s youth for the maritime and aviation industries which are developing without knowing any boundaries, the University of Kyrenia, which is the only university in TRNC and nearby geography focused solely on maritime and aviation, is determining its guiding strategy for this year and the coming years.

According to the press release issued by the Directorate of Press & Public Relations Office of the University of Kyrenia, Asst. Prof. Dr. Ediz Tuncel, Secretary the General of the University of Kyrenia, delivered a speech regarding the issue. In his speech, Tuncel underlined the crucial and indisputable role of the University of Kyrenia in meeting the need for qualified personnel of national and international maritime and aviation industries through providing quality education in compliance with national and international benchmarks and standards. “Being the only university in TRNC and nearby geography focused solely on maritime and aviation, the University of Kyrenia has undertaken a historic mission and put the wheels into motion towards making our country and the city of Kyrenia an international hub of higher education on maritime and aviation. The core of our mission is to provide quality education in the line with national and international criteria and standards and to cultivate first caliber and highly qualified professionals capable to address the emerging needs of national and international industries involved in maritime or aviation. To this end, the University of Kyrenia has set it as its primary goal to open new horizons for the country’s youth and create opportunities for them to make career in these rapidly growing sectors. The University of Kyrenia, which is unrivaled in terms of quality and public interest, keeps its doors open for those willing to achieve a good career and gain qualifications to establish a competitive edge over the others. It is a very pleasing situation that our young people are aware of the country’s great potential on maritime and particularly on aviation issues. As they know that there is a great shortfall of qualified personnel, they have begun to look for career opportunities in these rapidly growing sectors. Our young people’s interest in the departments of the faculties concerned with maritime and aviation, is an indicator demonstrating the soundness of our goals and the historic mission assumed by the university. There is a huge shortfall of qualified personnel particularly in the aviation industry and it is not possible to make up this shortfall with the existing educational opportunities in our region and across the world. By taking into account the great shortfall of personnel in aviation sector and analyzing the global and regional needs of the industry, the University of Kyrenia was established with a potential to provide educational opportunities for at least 4000 students at international standards. In the line with the short, medium and long-term goals of the university, this potential will respond especially to the needs of regional aviation industry” said he.

Tuncel: Turkish aviation industry has the capacity to provide employment opportunities for each of our graduates instantly…

Touching upon the growing need for civil aviation personnel in Turkey, Tuncel stated that Turkish civil aviation industry was one of the fastest growing sectors across the world. “The need for qualified personnel is growing in the line with the rapid growth of the sector. Since there is a qualified personnel shortfall in Turkey, the need for qualified staff is met increasingly by employing or hiring foreign aviators for years. The sectoral potential to provide more people with employment opportunities is rapidly rising. However, with a fierce competition, this field requires a highly-qualified workforce and specialization at all levels. Upon its establishment, the University of Kyrenia with its high-tech equipped infrastructure and qualified academic staff has assumed a major role to offer quality and cutting-edge education in compliance with national and international standards and train highly qualified personnel equipped with comprehensive professional knowledge and skills to respond the emerging needs of Turkish civil aviation industry. After a short time, the need for qualified personnel will be met by our highly qualified graduates. Turkey’s aviation sector will be in need of at least 6 thousand pilots and cabin crew in the next seven years. Alongside the need for 6 thousand pilots and cabin crew, twice as much of this figure is the number of the need for qualified management and logistic personnel in the next seven years. Some higher education institutions including universities with undergraduate and associate degree programs, vocational schools, and secondary education institutions in Turkey provide diploma or certificate training on civil aviation. However, three universities and ten flight schools, which are certified for aviation training in Turkey, will be able to graduate only 1760 pilots and cabin crew within this period. Apart from the need for pilots, almost 2000 qualified personnel consisting of cabin and cockpit crew are needed to be employed by Turkish Airlines (THY) in 2015. The need for qualified personnel continues to grow every year and with the existing educational facilities it seems impossible to respond to this need sufficiently in the near future. The current situation is the most obvious indicator demonstrating that Turkish aviation sector has the capacity to provide employment opportunities for our graduates instantly. Those, who are willing to make career particularly in the aviation sector, can get all required information by applying to the Registrar’s Office at the Rectorate of the University of Kyrenia” said he.