All 22 Turkish graduates, who completed their education under Russia’s targeted training programme for Akkuyu NPP operating personnel have received their master's degrees from the Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU), with 12 people receiving cum laude degrees.
During two years of education, the students were trained in "Heat Power Engineering and Heat Engineering" as well as "Electrical Power Engineering and Electrical Engineering" branches at the historic campus of the university founded in 1899, which is and considered to be one of the best technical universities in Russia.
Turkish citizens, who graduated from Turkish universities with bachelor’s degree in "Heat Power Engineering and Heat Engineering", "Power Engineering and Electrical Engineering", "Nuclear Power Engineering and Technology" and "Chemical Technology" were admitted to the programme. Admission to the master's course was based on the results of an interview in English with SPbPU tutors. Teaching of vocation-related subjects was held in English, and the students were also provided with additional Russian language classes. The graduates of the programme will be employed by Akkuyu NPP project company Akkuyu Nuclear from September.
The training programme for Akkuyu NPP operating personnel is implemented through the “Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Turkey on cooperation in the construction and operation of a nuclear power plant at the Akkuyu NPP site in the Republic of Turkey”. The education programme was initiated by Akkuyu Nuclear in 2011. The costs of training are covered by Russia. Training takes place at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (NRNU MEPhI) and SPbPU.
The first students from Turkey started their studies at Russian universities in 2011 under the “Nuclear Plants: Design, Operation and Engineering” specialists education programme. In total,186 young Turkish specialists (35 graduates in 2018, 53 in 2019, 55 in 2020 and 43 in 2021) have completed the training course and are now working on the first nuclear power plant construction project in Turkey.
Currently, 85 Turkish students are continuing their studies within the programme, including 36 at MEPhI and 49 at SPbPU. Another group of 25 graduates from Turkish universities, selected this year to study at the SPbPU master's programme, will start their studies in the autumn.
Photo: The cohort of Turkish graduates will start working at Akkuyu NPP in September (Photo: Akkuyu NPP)