Press Coverage

New Universities Cause Debate on Quality vs. Quantity

Turkish Daily News, Mustafa Oğuz
The government’s education initiative to open 17 new universities, which was passed by Parliament late on Thursday, has stirred up debate on whether it is aimed at addressing the rising demand for universities or just an election ploy. The current Parliament has established 39 universities since November 2002, with only nine out of 81 provinces in the country being left without a university. Some experts believe the government’s emphasis on higher education is misplaced and the focus should really be on vocational studies at the secondary level because Turkey suffers a serious lack of medium-level technicians. The president of the Education Personnel Union (Eğitim-Sen), Alaaddin Dinçer while acknowledging the importance of investing in university education, said the low quality of education at vocational schools was a big worry. Read More

Right to Education, Eights in Education

Today’s Zaman, Nichole Pope
The ban on the headscarf in schools, religion classes in primary schools and education in Kurdish are aspects of the debate on education that often grab headlines. Read More

Turkish Rules on Language of Education Should Change, Says Report

Hürriyet Daily News, Barçın Yinanç
Assuming the mother tongue of Turkey’s citizens is Turkish leads to discrimination and the Constitution should be revised, according to a group of nongovernmental organizations that has proposed a slew of constitutional changes regarding education.

Professor Ergüder Says Higher Education Needs Autonomy

Today’s Zaman, Yonca Poyraz Doğan
Üstün Ergüder, head of the Education Reform Initiative (ERI), has said Turkish society needs to reform its higher education system to free it from the current centralized system in accordance with the demands of a global society.

Is Education Reform Being Shelved?

Turkish Daily News, Gila Benmayor
President Abdullah Gül’s new university president appointments have caused reactions. Some regard this as revenge for the top court’s overruling the change to lift the headscarf ban in universities. Especially the president of the Akdeniz University, Professor Mustafa Ayaydın, who is know for his staunch stance against the headscarf, received the highest number of votes and was sent to the presidential office as the number one candidate on the list, but he was not appointed as the university president and that caused various speculations

Generation Game

Today’s Zaman, Nicole Pope
There comes a humbling and proud moment in most parents’ lives when they are suddenly faced with the fact that they are no longer the fount of all knowledge for their children. The little ones are attending school, learning a lot and may already know more about specific topics than they do. Parents realize their children are the future. The new replace the old.

Educators, Experts: Bigger Role for the State

Turkish Daily News, Şafak Timur
Following this month’s completion of the European Union report on Turkish education, Turkish experts and educators are stressing the need for the state to take more responsibility to improve schools. They also highlighted the need to align the education system with the information age and the latest technology. The evaluation shares the report’s view of the need to increase contributions from NGOs and the private sector. Read More