Turkey

Turkey in a nutshell

Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti) is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in western Asia and Thrace (Rumelia) in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhichevan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast.

Source : http://www.cia.gov

The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea and Archipelago are to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. Separating Anatolia and Thrace are the Sea of Marmara and the Turkish Straits (the Bosporus and the Dardanelles), which are commonly reckoned to delineate the border between Asia and Europe, thereby making Turkey transcontinental.

The population of Turkey is around 71,892,808 - July 2008 estimate

Due to its strategic location astride two continents, Turkey's culture has a unique blend of Eastern and Western tradition. A powerful regional presence in the Eurasian landmass with strong historic, cultural and economic influence in the area between Europe in the west and Central Asia in the east, Russia in the north and the Middle East in the south, Turkey has come to acquire increasing strategic significance.

Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic whose political system was established in 1923 under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I. Since then, Turkey has become increasingly integrated with the West through membership in organizations such as the Council of Europe, NATO, OECD, OSCE and the G-20 major economies. Turkey began full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005, having been an associate member of the EEC since 1963, and having reached a customs union agreement in 1995. Meanwhile, as a Muslim-majority country, Turkey has continued to foster close cultural, political, economic and industrial relations with the Eastern world, particularly with the states of the Middle East and Central Asia, through membership in organizations such as the OIC and ECO.

The territory of Turkey is subdivided into 81 provinces for administrative purposes. The provinces are organized into 7 regions for census purposes; however, they do not represent an administrative structure. Each province is divided into districts, for a total of 923 districts.

Provinces usually bear the same name as their provincial capitals, also called the central district. Provinces with the largest populations are İstanbul (+12 million), Ankara (+4.4 million), İzmir (+3.7 million), Bursa (+2.4 million), Adana (+2.0 million) and Konya (+1.9 million).

The biggest city and the pre-Republican capital İstanbul is the financial, economic and cultural heart of the country.[ Other important cities include İzmir, Bursa, Adana, Trabzon, Malatya, Gaziantep, Erzurum, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Mersin, Eskişehir, Diyarbakır, Antalya and Samsun. An estimated 70.5% of Turkey's population live in urban centers. In all, 18 provinces have populations that exceed 1 million inhabitants, and 21 provinces have populations between 1 million and 500,000 inhabitants. Only two provinces have populations less than 100,000.

The population of Turkey stood at 71.5 million with a growth rate of 1.31% per annum, based on the 2008 Census. It has an average population density of 92 persons per km². The proportion of the population residing in urban areas is 70.5%. People within the 15–64 age group constitute 66.5% of the total population, the 0–14 age group corresponds 26.4% of the population, while 65 years and higher of age correspond to 7.1% of the total population. According to the CIA Factbook, life expectancy stands at 70.67 years for men and 75.73 years for women, with an overall average of 73.14 years for the populace as a whole

Turkey is officially a secular republic, with no official state religion; the Turkish Constitution provides the freedom of religion and conscience, but does not represent or promote a religion. The population of Turkey is predominantly Muslim (99%) - the majority are Sunni (75%) and a large minority are Alevi (15-25%). The small remainder of the population are mainly Christians and Jews.

Education in Turkey

Education is compulsory and free from ages 6 to 15. The literacy rate is 95.3% for men and 79.6% for women, with an overall average of 87.4%. The low figures for women are mainly due to the traditional customs of the Arabs and Kurds who live in the southeastern provinces of the country.

The Turkish Education System was built in accordance with Atatürk's Reforms after the Turkish War of Independence. It is a state supervised system which was designed to create skillful manpower for the social and economic process of the country.

Public education in Turkey is divided into five stages: Preschool, primary, middle, high school and university. Preschool system is only preferred in the big cities. Primary school encompasses a five year program. The middle education program is coeducational as well. High school education is encouraged by restricting youth employments.

Education in Turkey has undergone many changes. There were many religious schools in Turkey. Secular schools were set up under the contemporary Turkey Education system which was established in 1924. Elementary school attendance was made compulsory and coeducational. Since 1980s all children have been enrolled in school. However, pre-school is noncompulsory, and mostly common in large cities.

Apart from main public grammar schools, there also exists technical schools, domestic science training centers, teacher training, Islamic teacher training schools, commercial and agricultural schools and many other specialized training institutions. These specialized training institutions also include schools for children with disabilities and adult education.

The Turkish system mandates 8 years of primary education between the ages of 6 and 14, and in 2001 enrollment of children in this age range was nearly 100%. For 14-18 year olds three or more years of secondary education are available in public, distance-learning, and vocational high schools. About 95% of students attend public schools, but inadequacies of the public system increasingly motivate middle-class parents to seek private education.

In 2001 some 1,273 institutions of higher learning were in operation. Except for the Open Education Faculty (Turkish: Açıköğretim Fakültesi) at Anadolu University, entrance is regulated by a national examination, ÖSS, after which high school graduates are assigned to the limited university space available, according to their performance. Annually, about 1.5 million students graduate from Turkish high schools.

In 2002, the total expenditure on education in Turkey amounted to $13.4 billion, including the state budget allocated through the National Ministry of Education and private and international fund. The government is gradually aiming at building more classrooms and increasing the number of trained teachers and hence, reducing the number of students per class from 50 to below 30. The government has also recently stressed the importance of foreign languages and computer skills as part of the curriculla. Despite the presence of a large number of Higher Education Institions offereing excellent facilities, new institutions are gradually being established to meet different needs.

Schools in Country

Middle Schools

Middle school is a two years program between the ages of twelve and fourteen. This level is also coeducational and has been compulsory since 1972. Statistics have schown that middle schools are fewer in rural areas since authorities do not usually enforce middle school programs. Most students in rural areas have to move long distances to attend middle school programs in the city. Middle-school graduation is a prerequisite to access to general, vocational, and technical high schools, and is deemed advantageous for admission to many vocational training programs.

High schools

Secondary school education is free in public high schools. The Ministry of National Education supervises the rate of Turkey Literacy. The types of high schools in the Turkish education system include:

• Public High Schools, the standard type
• Anatolian High Schools which provide more lessons in a selected foreign language (English, German or French)
• Anatolian Imam-Hatip High Schools which have the same curriculum as Anatolian High Schools with lessons about religion
• Science High Schools focusing on science education
• Vocational High Schools, which focus on a certain type of profession (such as Tourism Vocational High Schools, Industrial Vocational High Schools and Electrical Vocational High Schools)
• Imam-Hatip High Schools, a different type of general high school with lessons about religion
• and finally, Private High Schools, which are established by private enterprises.

Some of the foreign high schools of good international standards operating in Turkey are:

• Alman Lisesi - Deutsche Schule, Istanbul

• American Collegiate Institute, Ozel Izmir Amerikan Lisesi, Izmir

• Istanbul International Community School, Istanbul

• Lycee Charles De Gaulle, Ankara

• Lycee de Galatasaray, Istanbul

• Lycee Francais Saint-Benoît, Istanbul

• METU Development Foundation School, Ankara

• Oesterreichisches St. Georgs-Kolleg, Istanbul

• Robert College of Istanbul, Istanbul

• TED Ankara Private School, Ankara

• Uskudar American Academy, Istanbul

• Uskudar Anadolu Lisesi, Istanbul

By the year 2007, there already 7934 High Schools operating in Turkey.

Further and Higher education

(again sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Turkey)

After the national university entrance examination ÖSS (Turkish: Öğrenci Seçme Sınavı) organized by ÖSYM, if they succeed, students continue with their studies at a university.

Universities provide either two or four years of education for undergraduate studies. Some universities also ask for an additional year of English preparatory study to be completed before the start of studies, unless a proficiency examination is passed.

For graduate studies, a further two years are necessary, as is typical throughout the world.

There are around 820 higher education institutions (including over 100 universities) with a total student enrollment of over 1 million and number of students normally exceeds the number of seats.

Major universities are located in Istanbul and Ankara.

Tertiary education is the responsibility of the Higher Education Council, and funding is provided by the state for public institutions that make up the bulk of the tertiary education system.

To encourage higher education a law was passed in 1983 which prohibited the employment of youths younger than fourteen.

Universities in Turkey

In Turkey, the univeristy education system is very old and it dates back to 2000 B.C. when they were seen first time on the pages of history and from that period they were the part of three separate civilizations. Turkish universities are the part of modern civilization and the major universities are situated in Istanbul and Ankara. Undergraduate studies in Turkish Universities are mainly for two or four years whereas for graduate degree it's another two years. There are 118 universities in Turkey, which are classified as either public or foundational (private) and 373,353 students were graduated from these universities in 2006. Public universities typically charge very low fees and foundational are highly expensive with fees that can reach $15,000 per annum, and as such, a majority of students in tertiary education attend public institutions. Since 1998, universities have been given greater autonomy and were encouraged to raise funds through partnerships with industry.

The quality of education at the Turkish universities varies greatly, some providing education and facilities on par with internationally renowned schools (for the technical universities, often compared with the universities in the United States, as there are several Turkish universities regularly visited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, the recognized U.S. accreditor of college and university programs, and their engineering programs deemed substantially equivalent to comparable programs at the U.S. universities), and these reflect as the popularity of a university in students' choices at the ÖSS examination.

Turkish universities actively participate in the Socrates - Erasmus program of the European Commission, aiming to increase student and academician mobility within the European Union, the European Economic Area countries, and other EU candidate states. An increasing number of Turkish university students complete a part of their studies abroad at other participating countries' universities, and Turkish universities receive students of the same status from abroad.

With the passage of law 2547, the rectors of all the public universities are appointed jointly by the faculty, Higher Education Council and the President of Turkey

Wikipedia reports in the List of universities in Turkey that there are 146 universities and academies in Turkey:

• 102 of them are State Universities (two of which are institutes of technology, four of which are technical universities and one of which is an Arts and Music-only university)
• 24 private foundation universities
• 4 military academies
• 1 police academy.

Since the list is long and comprehensive we do not repeat it here. A shorter list is the list of the 18 members of IAU - this is repeated below (see http://www.unesco.org/iau/members_friends/mem_membinst1.html)

1. Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi
2. Akdeniz University
3. Ankara University
4. Atatürk University
5. Baskent University
6. Bogaziçi University
7. Canakkale 18th March University
8. Eastern Mediterranean University
9. European University of Lefke
10. Girne American University
11. Hacettepe Üniversity
12. Istanbul Bilgi Universitesi
13. Istanbul Technical University
14. Mugla University
15. Near East University
16. Sakarya University
17. Suleyman Demirel University
18. Uludag Üniversity

There are yet further lists at http://www.columbia.edu/~sss31/Turkiye/universite.html and on Yahoo at http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Turkey/Education/Higher_Education/Colleges_and_Universities/

Colleges in Turkey

There are so many colleges and no easy to find list of them.

Education reform

Post-secondary

Turkey is a full participant in the Bologna Process. For details of progress see the National Bologna Report of Turkey (2004-2005) at http://www.yok.gov.tr/duyuru/bolonya_sureci.doc

Administration and finance

Post-secondary

(sourced from http://www.yok.gov.tr/duyuru/bolonya_sureci.doc)

The Council of Higher Education is the fully autonomous supreme corporate public body responsible for the planning, coordination, governance and supervision of higher education within the provisions set forth in the Constitution (Articles 130 and 131) and the Higher Education Law (Law No. 2547). It has no political or governmental affiliation.

The President of the Council is directly appointed by the President of the Republic from among the Council members. The day-to-day functions of the Council are carried out by a nine member Executive Board serving full-time, including the President and two Vice-Presidents and all elected from among its members.

The Interuniversity Council is an academic advisory body, comprising the rectors of all universities and one member elected by the senate of each university. In addition to those, the Turkish Rectors Conference acts in an advisory capacity to the President of the Council of Higher Education.

The Center for Student Selection and Placement, ÖSYM (to all higher education institutions) functions subject to the decisions of the Council of Higher Education including both Turkish and foreign nationals.

The Minister of National Education represents higher education in the Parliament and can chair the meetings of the Council but has no vote. The decisions of the Council and the universities are not subject to ratification except for the establishment of a new university or a new faculty within an existing university.

However, a hidden or indirect governance of the state universities by the government stems from the public finance laws, which stipulate in minute detail the procedures to be followed in the preparation of annual budgets, procurement (including construction contracts), and auditing of expenditures, to which all public agencies are subject.

This indirect governance also covers the allocation of both academic and administrative staff positions to state universities. Hence, state universities, being dependent on the governmental decisions on those two issues, do not enjoy financial and administrative autonomies.

Quality assurance

Post-secondary

In 2004 it was noted (in the Bologna progress report that:

By law, it is the responsibility of the Council of Higher Education and the Interuniversity Council to see to it that a national system of quality assurance with a structure and function comparable to its transnational counterparts is established and implemented. In their last meeting, both the Council and the Board have expressed their willingness to establish a national quality assurance system and re-acknowledged that the establishment of this action line has top priority in their agenda after being briefed about the existing practices by some higher education institutes in Turkey. It is expected that there will not be any need for a legislative change and, hence, the process will be completed before the 2007 ministerial meeting.

This is now seemingly set up. YÖDEK - The Commission of Academic Assessment and Quality Improvement in Higher Education (Turkey) - is now soon to be an Associate Member of ENQA.

The Council of Higher Education has also issued a set of Regulations on Academic Assessment and Quality Improvement at Turkish Higher Education - http://yok.gov.tr/duyuru/academic_assestment.pdf.

Interestingly, and still unusually, the Council of Higher Education has issued a set of Regulations on Inter-University Distance Higher Education Based on Communication and Information Technologies - http://www.yok.gov.tr/english/distance.html

ICT in education initiatives

In 2004, the government of Turkey introduced educations reforms that were geared at preparing students for a modern future that is open to cultures of other people. A policy document for integrating ICT as an indispensable part of lifelong learning was adopted for schools from basic education (Grade 1 through to Grade 8) through primary to higher education. ICT initiatives that have been completed or in progress indicate that the government is committed to the use of ICTs for management, education and training purposes. By the year 2005, 15,350 ICT classrooms had been established already with distribution of hundreds of thousands of computers for both students and teachers, instructional administrative softwares, broadband internet access options like satelite and ISDN had been provided. More than 20,000 schools had internet connections already. ICT infrastructure and operation has significantly improved ever since then with almost all levels of education making use of computer-assisted and ICT based learning.

However, there are still issues in Turkey related to few computers to ensure complete integration of ICT in the school system. There are still slow internet connections with some providers and the lack of peripheral equipments in a few schools and insufficient software in the native language.

Virtual initiatives in post-secondary education

Anadolu University

Anadolu University offers several e-learning services, including audio books, on-line resources, actual distance learning.

Avicenna Project

Avicenna is (or was?) a virtual campus in higher education, managed by UNESCO and co-financed by the European Commission (European EUMEDIS programme) in order to produce and adapt training distance modules within 15 European and Mediterranean Universities members. For more details see http://pleiad.unesco.org/aquas/index.php?id=0&lang=en. The site was last updated in 2005 so the project may have ceased.

The project aims at creating a self-sustainable virtual campus, based on cooperation among institutions of higher education in Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Palestine, Spain, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. Installation of adequate infrastructure and intensive training of trainers are the crucial requirements of implementation of the project. The nodes of the network, the AVICENNA Knowledge Centers (AKCs), will be installed in each partner institution to support a Euro-Mediterranean network for ODL services, including production and delivery. Pedagogical resources will be stored and managed into the “Avicenna virtual library”, which forms a network knowledge data-base of pedagogical resources, tools and knowledge.

Istanbul Technical University

Istanbul Technical University (ITU) established a distance learning centre in 1996. Web-based distance teaching projects have recently become an integral part of the ITU educational system. For more details see the article Turkey's eLearning Future in Checkpoint eLearning at http://www.checkpoint-elearning.com/article/1098.html

Lessons learnt

Notable practices

The Ministry of National Education Turkey partnered with Microsoft Turkey and Idea e-Learning Solutions to develop a regional and online training programme to reach the 600,000 teachers in the school system who needed convenient, accessible IT training. See http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/d/4/1d47d31f-1ee4-4610-ad02-f171ed00847d/Turkey_PiL_Customer_Evidence_FINAL.pdf.

References

Helen Chapin Metz, ed. Turkey: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1995.

http://countrystudies.us/turkey/50.htm

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