This paper examines the shifting landscape of higher education in Turkey, highlighting a disconcerting trend of politically motivated appointments, coined as "parasailing." Departing from traditional merit-based norms, this practice of appointing professors without necessary approvals disrupts the academic environment, prompting concerns…

Internationalization of higher education (IHE) has become one of the most prominent strategies in national policies and universities' agendas during the past three decades. IHE provides numerous benefits to nations, institutions, and higher education stakeholders and plays a vital role in improving the quality of education and research. However,…

In January 2016, 2212 academics have signed a petition to criticise human rights violations in Kurdish cities, and faced grave consequences as a result. By presenting the experiences of six dismissed signatory academics, this article aims to show the effects of authoritarian neoliberal policies on higher education institutions. After demonstrating…

National constitutions determine the foundation and the operation of universities in a country. Constitutions are renewed to meet changing societal needs. In Turkey, universities have also been affected by constitutional changes. This study examines how universities have evolved in the history of Turkey's written constitutions and seeks to use…

This work explores how a country's political status may impact its soft power policies, such as internationalization of higher education, through an examination of the Turkish case. Based on a survey of and subsequent interviews with actual implementers of policy, university international office heads and staff, the study draws on the theory of…

For the last couple of years, Turkey has been experiencing difficult times resulting from the recent domestic coup attempt, refugee crisis and terrorist attacks from neighbouring countries, and the following political conflicts around these issues with the United States and Europe. This article investigates challenges and strategies of higher…

This article presents findings from a corpus-assisted discourse analysis of mission and vision statements of 105 state and 66 private/foundation universities in Turkey. The paper combines a corpus-based approach with critical discourse analysis to interpret the data in relation to its institutional as well as socio-political context. It argues…

In recent years, studies on teacher training have focused on the development of a culturally responsive understanding in prospective teachers and its use to allow students benefit from learning-teaching environments in the best way possible. Considering diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds of students as wealth is a prerequisite for…

Turkey has more than 130 years of experience of elementary teacher education in formal meaning after opening of the first elementary teacher school. During this time period, approximately in every 10 years there were some major changes based on the level of elementary teacher schools such as middle school, high school or higher education…

Discusses how, through several colleges in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, three powers--the United States, Turkey, and Russia--seek to influence the course of Central Asia. (EV)

Freedom means the right of the universities to do their scientific activities and to regulate and do the higher education through their organs. The three feet that make up the university freedom are scientific freedom, administrative freedom and financial freedom. Scientific freedom is realized by the freedom of the faculty and teaching staff and…

Reports on a pilot project which examined the feasibility of introducing a quality assurance system, originally developed in the United Kingdom, in Turkish universities. Although a convergence between systems was observed, there emerged significant cultural, structural, political, and technical issues that affected the transfer fo the UK system to…