Academic Development Program (AGEP) and Administrative Staff Development Program (İGEP) are unique and comprehensive in-service training programs offered in our University since 2011 and 2014. AGEP is a program designed for academics who are newly admitted to the University, while İGEP is a training program designed for administrative staff with at least 5 years of public service. Programs that are often thought to be similar due to their names are quite different in terms of purpose and content. The most important common feature of the programs are that they provide opportunities for professional networking. AGEP sets the stage for academic and interdisciplinary studies, while İGEP provides a basis for interdepartmental cooperation and awareness in administrative aspect.

AGEP

AGEP is a 55-hour program consisting of 10 modules, designed to facilitate the adaptation of faculty members and lecturers, who are new to the University and who are at the beginning of their academic career, and to enhance the effectiveness of their activities in education, research and community services. At the end of the program, participants are expected to make a presentation on Education and Training, Research and Development or Community Service. In the AGEP program, seminars are given by the university's academic administrators and other faculty members. Academic staff in the AGEP, who complete the program, are provided with a budget to support their academic development and the opportunity to benefit from the services to back up their academic work. Those who have participated in the AGEP can also participate in the Mentorship Program. Mentorship Program helps the new faculty members learn METU culture, know about university facilities, create professional network, and feel themselves to belong to the university environment. In this context, new faculty members who wish to take advantage of the program are matched with an experienced METU faculty member (a consultant faculty member/mentor), to whom they can consult, and are expected to meet on specific dates within the scope of the program.

Since the program initiated in 2011, 181 faculty members have completed AGEP and 91 participants have been included in the Mentorship Program. 21 faculty members participated in the AGEP-6 program, which started in 2017, and 12 participants benefited from the Mentorship Program. For the first time with the AGEP-6, the applications of the faculty members from the Northern Cyprus campus were also accepted to AGEP and they were included in the program. AGEP-6 Final Presentations will take place between October 6-8, 2017 at METU Northern Cyprus Campus.

İGEP

İGEP is a 80-hour training program that includes 29 different subjects in 5 modules designed to support the professional development of the general administrative staff and technical service staff with 5-15 years of public service, to create a skill pool and improve their managerial competence. The seminars are given by the academic staff of our university and the managing directors who are experts in their fields. IGEP participants have to submit a community service project proposal that would (1) facilitate the work in their own department, (2) to improve the services provided by their own department, (3) to create a new service that can be provided in their own department or (4) to make a positive influence on the working or social lives of METU staff so that they can complete the program. Activities are being carried out for the performance of the projects proposed in İGEP.

Since 2014, when the program started, 108 administrative staff have completed the İGEP. IGEP-4, which started in 2017, still continues with 33 participants and it is planned that the participants present their Final Presentations at METU Northern Cyprus Campus in November 2017.