A Shame in the Face of International Academic Community’s Quiescence!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Introduction

For years YOK [Higher Education Council or YOK in Turkish]...has lost no opportunity to claim that the Turkish Universities are modeled after the “Western system”, and are even more autonomous than their counterparts. These claims, blatantly contradicted by the facts, have met with no effective criticism western Institutions. Rather, an increasing number of such institutions have extended support for the new system, in terms of both material and human resources....The time is long past for the international academic community to seriously reconsider its quiescence in the face of the Turkish regime’s repression of the universities, and to take up solidarity with their colleagues. (Savran et al, 1987, p.26)


It has been 20 years since this statement was published. Transition to democracy in 1982 by a new constitution did not create a significant change in higher education. 25 years later Turkish higher education is still managed by the very same militaristic mentality.

Recently YOK enacted a new regulation: Published in the Official Gazette No: 26519; Date: May 11, 2007. It is about equivalence of diplomas that are earned outside of Turkey. According to this ordinance, a Turkish citizen who earns a higher education degree outside of Turkey will only be granted degree equivalence if all course content is considered in accordance with both the Turkish constitution and the law no 2547 articles 4 and 5. Under this system a course that simply falls outside the student’s major course of study could be held up for question.

Therefore, those universities who profit from large numbers of students from Turkey will have to change their curriculum and do the necessary adjustments according to the Turkish constitutions and the law# 2547 or their enrolment will suffer!








Are you curious what the law # 2547 is about?
It is simple. Click here.










Savran, S., Tanor, B., Vassaf, G. (1987). Out of order: Turkish universities and totalitarianism. World University Service, London

Note: Pictures displayed in this blog were also copied from the book cited above.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes! Unfortunately!