YÖK Data Analysis School 2025-2026: Artificial Intelligence Training
2025–2026
He further documented his established expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analysis by completing two modules and successfully passing their examinations in the YÖK Data Analysis School 2025-2026 program.
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analysis, Python-based data processing and statistical methods were already established parts of Muhammet Ali Köker's academic and professional work before he joined this program. His participation in the Data Analysis School was therefore not an introduction to these fields. He joined the program to reassess knowledge developed through years of research, software engineering and applied AI work within a structured, assessment-based academic program supported by several research universities, and to complement that experience with formal evidence of achievement.
The program was conducted under the leadership of the Council of Higher Education of Türkiye (YÖK), coordinated by Marmara University Institute of Population and Social Research, with contributions from Middle East Technical University, Istanbul Technical University and Boğaziçi University. The 2025-2026 Data Analysis School used a modular structure combining theoretical and applied work in data analysis, statistics and artificial intelligence.
Köker completed the Artificial Intelligence and Facilitating Tools and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning modules. For both modules, regular participation was documented with separate participation certificates, while successful completion of the module examinations was documented with separate achievement certificates. He therefore received four documents across the two modules. The achievement certificates explicitly record examination success rather than attendance alone.
Relation to existing expertise
The significance of this program within his professional profile is not the acquisition of a new field of expertise, but the independent academic assessment and formal documentation of expertise that already existed. Artificial intelligence and machine learning had long been present in his academic work through speech and image processing, speaker recognition, pattern recognition and data analysis, and in his professional work through machine learning, large-scale data processing and AI-based software systems.
Accordingly, supervised and unsupervised learning, generative AI, large language models, data analysis and programming tools were approached on top of an existing technical foundation. The principal value of the program was the opportunity to revisit knowledge developed through research and engineering practice within a structured curriculum supported by academic instruction, regular participation, assignments and examinations.
The Artificial Intelligence and Facilitating Tools module addressed AI-based tools, applications supporting data-analysis workflows and modern programming methods in academic and professional work. Its scope was not limited to the use of individual tools; it connected data preparation, analytical environments, programming, generative AI and research workflows.
The Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning module covered supervised and unsupervised learning models together with generative artificial intelligence and large language models. In Köker's case, this was not an introductory encounter with machine-learning methods, but a structured opportunity to reassess their theoretical foundations and current approaches alongside his previous implementation experience.
Assessment and certification
Under the official rules of the Data Analysis School, participation and achievement documents are not issued merely for registration. Participants are expected to satisfy attendance requirements, complete assignments and meet the required level of performance in the final examination. Köker successfully completed the examinations for both modules and received separate participation and achievement certificates for Artificial Intelligence and Facilitating Tools and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Documents awarded:
- Artificial Intelligence and Facilitating Tools - Participation Certificate
- Artificial Intelligence and Facilitating Tools - Achievement Certificate
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning - Participation Certificate
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning - Achievement Certificate
The documents can be verified through the QR codes printed on the certificates.