PROF. DR. YEKTA SARAC’S MESSAGE

Territories witnessed different civilizations in the historical process that has a unique cultural heritage of the Republic of Turkey, it has been moved to today enriched with gains received from both the Western world and the Eastern world. The tradition of higher education, which is one of the reflections of this history, dates back to the 15th century, when “Sahn-ı Seman”, known today as Istanbul University and which was the most important educational institution of the period, was established.

Turkey higher education area, has made significant progress in many areas, including access to higher education especially with quantitative growth it has demonstrated in recent years. As of close to 8 million students today, with over 160 thousand 206 higher education institution lecturers, Turkey constitutes the higher education field. Turkey is the leading country in terms of the number of students in the case of the European Higher Education Area. In addition to this quantitative size, policies that will enable our institutions to realize their missions in a better quality are determined, decisions are taken within the framework of regional development-oriented mission differentiation, research universities are selected and investments are made accordingly. As a result, our higher education institutions reach better points in their fields, integrate with their regions and become the center of attention in their regions.

Access to higher education, quality in higher education and the internationalization of higher education are the main interrelated issues of higher education. Our country’s Vision 2023 objectives within the framework of access to higher education as well as facilitate policy to improve the quality of human resources, to develop policies that will carry the level of quality further, mission differentiation and specialization of our project is to further advance, Turkey develop various strategies in order to become an international center of attraction of the university is determined to be our main goal. When we look at these main goals, we can say that we are at a very satisfactory point in terms of access to higher education. Indeed, the World Economic Forum’s “Global Competitiveness Report 2017-2018” in accordance with the Access to Higher headline Turkey ranks second among 137 countries.

The second important issue after the quantitative and numerical gains achieved through access to higher education is raising the quality bar in higher education. For this purpose, an administratively and financially independent Higher Education Quality Board was established in 2015. Today, each of the universities located in the higher education system in Turkey, winning autonomy in 2017, the corporate external evaluation process conducted by the Higher Education Quality Council is obliged to pass at least once every five years. Increasing the threshold score in the higher education entrance system, limiting in the order of success in Medicine, Law, Engineering, Architecture and Teaching Programs approved by all segments of the society and starting the threshold score application, raising the criteria for admission to the doctorate, starting to include accredited programs in the Guide, which lists our associate and undergraduate programs. Some of the many important projects we have developed to increase the input quality of the higher education system are examples such as updating the principles of education in foreign languages.

As the Council of Higher Education, we believe that internationalization in higher education is an investment for the future; We believe that it should proceed as a sustainable process with an advanced understanding of responsibility towards students, academic staff and corporate stakeholders.

In the last few years, there has been a significant increase in the number of international students included in the Turkish higher education system. The number of international students, which was 48 thousand four years ago, has exceeded 148 thousand today. Those who prefer to take training international students in Turkey are faced with European standards and training opportunities in various fields. On the other hand, the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System Label (ECTS label / ECTS Lebel) area among the countries Turkey, since the ECTS label field 2009 in terms of the number of universities European Higher Education Area (EHEA / European Higher Education Area) are always first in the country. The number of universities that have received the Diploma Supplement Label (DS Label / Diploma Supplement) is 73. The diplomas that our students will obtain at the end of their education will not only be recognized throughout Europe, but will also be an important key that opens doors for them in many leading countries of the world.

Turkey in 2001 with the introduction of the Bologna Process internationalization Another important element of academic recognition, the Turkish higher education system has been fitted to a higher priority queue. Our students, who have received associate degree, bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in total, 2748 of which are in foreign languages, offered internationally by 206 different higher education institutions, have the chance to continue their education in a foreign country. More than 55 thousand students have come to our country for education since 2004 through the Erasmus / Erasmus + program, and around 150 thousand students have continued their education abroad for one or two semesters from our country to different countries that are members of the European Union. 24-25 May 2018 date on regulated European Higher Education Area Ministers Summit in Turkey, located under the main headings of the development of the degree system “Qualifications Framework”, “European Credit Transfer System” and “Diploma Supplement” topic in taking 5 full points out of 5 in terms of achievements set by the Bologna Process It has shown once again that it is ahead of many European countries.

The Mevlana Exchange Program, initiated and supported by the Council of Higher Education, allows Turkish universities and universities abroad to exchange students and academicians, and allow students to study at a university outside of their country of residence for one or two semesters. Within the framework of this program, the number of Mevlana Exchange Protocols signed between universities abroad and our universities reached 2,860.

The Project-Based International Exchange Program is another important step taken by YÖK for the internationalization of higher education. Higher education institutions develop joint projects in areas approved by the Higher Education Executive Board. Within the scope of this program, support has been provided for the exchange of students and academic staff to 93 joint scientific projects conducted between universities of 36 countries and our universities.

The education and training quality of the Turkish higher education system is increasing day by day. In addition to the “mobility” and “exchange” opportunities we offer to our students and academicians, joint projects and joint diploma programs with reputable universities of the world also play a role in this. Today, the number of diploma programs carried out jointly with the major universities of the world, especially the universities of America, England, France and Germany, has reached 226.

We have been successfully implementing the YÖK international scholarship program for three years to meet the trained manpower needs of some friendly and sister countries. The main feature of this program, which is unique in the world, is that the fields to be studied are determined by the relevant country and that the scholarship students will perform their compulsory services in their own countries after graduation. In this respect, YÖK abroad scholarships prioritize the benefit of the country to which the individual belongs rather than the benefit of the individual. Thus, our Board of Higher Education of the new possibilities of understanding to share with Turkey in a friendly and brotherly country offers a significant contribution to the efforts in this direction. I invite international students to study at Turkish universities where quality and qualified education is provided in many fields, especially in the fields of health and engineering. Eastern and Western civilizations and cultures that live together, by experiencing the privileges of the Turkish people of the vast hospitality that serves as the diversity and differences of wealth with diplomas will derive from universities in Turkey not to miss the opportunity to fulfill their dreams for the future, especially I would recommend.