Lead Partner

INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTRAL TRANING CENTER

The Directorate of International Agricultural Training Center was established with unification and restructuring of three separate institution providing training intended for Rural People and international stakeholders for different subjects and purposes. When all past reorganization and reform processes of the Training Center are considered with holistic view, it has been seen that over half-century of training experience have been gained and history of “former training bodies” contributing to current structure of the Center goes back to 1962.
Training Center is responsible for organizing international training and cooperation activities. These tasks primarily include carrying out training activities within the framework of mutual cooperation with national and international organizations on concerned domains and development of joint projects to ensure transfer of experiences and technologies. Structuring technical research and examination, conducting impact assessment and organizing events at international level are among other embraced activities.
Training and programs carried out at the UTEM are categorized into four main groups; Technology Use in Rural, Sustainable Rural Development, Animal Production and Capacity Development.
The target group of UTEM in trainings consists of adults dealing with rural people. Basic concepts and practices, supporting sustainability approach and improving efficiency level are considered in the category of “Technology Use in Rural Areas”. Some short courses, such as Smart and Precision Farming, Utilization of Renewable Energy Resources, Occupational Safety in Agriculture and Using Geographic Information Systems are placed among the training programs within this framework.
The main objective of UTEM's training programs in the Rural Development category is to ensure planning and optimization of limited production factors’ utilization and to improve the level of innovation adoption in agriculture and rural. “Cost Analysis in Agricultural Production”, “Database Preparation”, “Agricultural Extension and Advisory”, “Program Monitoring and Assessment Practices”, “Climate Change and Agriculture” are present in the trainings offered in this group.
In addition, UTEM is currently involved in a pilot study to develop Open Online Training platform for target audience. Presently online language learning program is being piloted on this platform and the UTEM is transforming a computer labs to a distance learning studio.
European Partner

TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MADRID (UPM), SPAIN

Technical University of Madrid is the largest Spanish university focused on technology and innovation. With two recognitions as Campus of International Excellence, it is well recognized in its research activity together with its training of highly-qualified professionals, competitive at an international level. More than 2,400 researchers carry out their activity at the UPM, grouped in 204 Research Groups, 19 Research Centers or Institutes and 55 Laboratories, all of them committed to transform the knowledge generated into innovation advances contributing to solve our world challenges.
The School of Agronomic Engineering at the UPM has been training students since 1858 and some of the most prestigious Spanish University Colleges are in the area of Agriculture and Food. In this School, the research group GESPLAN is actively involved in topics such as rural development, social capital in rural areas, sustainable management, evaluation and program planning, livelihood improvement and empowerment evaluation.
European Partner

FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, RURAL AND MOUNTAIN RESEARCH (BAB), AUSTRIA

BAB is a socio-economic research institute located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded in January 2019 as the merger of the Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics (founded in 1960) and the Federal Institute for Less-favoured and Mountainous Areas (founded in 1979). BAB is attached to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism (BMRLT).
BAB has been involved in numerous national, international research and EU-wide activities in the fields of agricultural and food economics, regional development, agri-environmental concerns and rural sociology. BAB focuses on the observation and impact assessment of agricultural markets and policy measures in addition to integrated rural development measures with regard to sensitive environments. BAB has assessed new pathways of diversification, innovative concepts and integrated rural development schemes, the relationship between farm management and the landscape, CAP instruments and the Community Initiative LEADER. The exploration of transition instruments for a more sustainable farming is also a major task and challenge.
The institute has participated in the international discussion of rural amenities since the 1990s, largely steered by OECD, and the research focused on public goods and the provision of ecosystem services. BAB also puts its emphasis on sociological surveys and approaches on living conditions, health and wellbeing, the change of life style patterns in the farming and rural population or gender policies. BAB is one of the leading research institute tackling social, environmental and economic issues in rural areas in Austria.
Turkish Partner

DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF LIFELONG LEARNING UNDER MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION, TURKEY

Directorate General of Lifelong Learning is responsible for all policies and programmes about adult education and non formal learning in Turkey. The main mission of the Directorate is to supply lifelong learning opportunities for adults and make people aware of and improve their basic skills and vocational skills.
The duties and authorities of General Directorate of Lifelong Learning:
• To conduct, implement, monitor and evaluate the training and education activities for Lifelong except for formal education and promote the dissemination.
• To carry out open education services with non formal education and training.
• To provide education and training programs for the citizens who are not able to access the formal education or dropped out the formal education or graduated from the formal education through non formal education on basic vocational and technical skills.
• To prepare non formal education and training programs and prepare the books and educational materials education programs and submit them to the Board of Education.
The main institution responsible for adult education in Turkey is General Directorate of Lifelong Learning. It serves citizens with approximately 3500 course programs. These programs include courses such as entrepreneurship and agricultural technologies.
European Partner

ÉVORA UNIVERSITY (UÉVORA), PORTUGAL

The University of Évora is organized in 4 Schools: Arts, Sciences and Technology, Social Sciences and Nursing and offers 41 undergraduate and 120 postgraduate degrees. Research and Development (R&D) covers several scientific areas through a network of 14 Research Units, all of them submitted to international evaluation, under the coordination of the Institute for Research and Advanced Studies. The main R&D areas of the University of Évora are: Agronomy and Biodiversity; Geophysics, Environment and Landscaping; Materials and Surface Science; Economics and Business Studies; Computer Sciences and Software Interoperability; Social and Political Sciences, History, History of Art, Science and Cultures; Applied Mathematics; Education; Linguistics and Literature; Elderly Healthcare.
The current 150 R&D projects are developed through national and international partnerships, funded by the FP7, FCT as well as by private sponsorship. Research in the areas of Agriculture and Environment is coordinated by the Research Centre “The Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development (MED)” and based on a multidisciplinary team approach targeted to a coordinated effort in understanding the complex Mediterranean agro-ecosystem. It relies on an interdisciplinary cooperation, which includes staff from the departments of Agricultural Engineering, Animal Science, Biology, Crop Science, Chemistry, Ecology, Economics, Physics, Soil Science and Veterinary Medicine.
The University of Évora-MED has been the pioneer institution in Portugal to work on Conservation Agriculture (CA). For more than 30 years this partner has developed research work on multiple aspects related to the challenges with the implementation of CA. As a consequence, a reasonable number of PhD studies conducted at UE have also had its focus on topics related to CA, as well as a number of projects approved at national and European level.
Turkish Partner

ESKISEHIR OSMANGAZI UNIVERSITY (ESOGU), TURKEY

ESOGÜ was founded in 1993. Recently, the university has 12 faculties and 2 schools, 4 vocational schools and 4 institutes for graduate studies. Eskişehir Osmangazi University, a strong and long-established university with 50 years of scientific experience, continues to produce knowledge with 12 Faculties, 2 Schools, 5 Vocational Schools, 4 Institutes and 32 Application and Research Center, and progressing towards modern science.
Faculty of Agriculture continues its R&D activities in order to education agricultural engineers who use science and technique in line with the needs of the society, contributes to regional and national development by conducting researches on the issues that the country needs and aims to become a qualified educational and research institution by cooperating with private and non-governmental organizations.
ESOGÜ and Faculty of Agriculture serves for R&D through the universities’ own budget and also conduct externally founded multidisciplinary and internationally projects in order to exchange information and experience, to contribute to both universal academic knowledge accumulation and local and rural development.