Current Situation and Future of Foundation Universities
Higher education in Turkey has grown significantly in recent years and participation rates in higher education have increased rapidly. In recent months, we have shared with you Arife Gümüş's policy brief "Current Situation and Recommendations in Higher Education: The Possibility of Transition from Expansion to Development", which assessed this numerical increase in higher education in recent years. Higher education services offered through universities in Turkey have created different alternatives outside of public institutions to meet this intense demand. Foundation universities, which first entered Turkish higher education in 1984, have been playing an important role alongside public universities in meeting the demand for higher education with their ever-increasing number and student capacities for more than 30 years. Out of 193 higher education institutions, 76 are foundation universities and 8 are foundation vocational colleges, making it imperative to focus on the functioning of foundation universities. What is the place of foundation universities in Turkish higher education, which are widely discussed from different angles in terms of their level of competition, their fees, and their relations with the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) or the foundation to which they are affiliated? In what ways do foundation universities, one of the components of the higher education system in Turkey, differ from public higher education institutions?
In his policy brief titled "The Current Situation and Future of Foundation Universities in Turkey", Zafer Çelik evaluates the place of foundation universities in higher education in the context of their governance structure, legal basis, financing, academic performance and quality of education in line with relevant statistical data. Çelik analyzes the structure, current status, quality, and challenges faced by foundation higher education institutions in Turkey, which have grown rapidly, and makes recommendations for these institutions to take a more effective and efficient place in the Turkish higher education system.
