Academic freedom between past and present: the birth of one-dimensional academia in Turkey

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the context of the restructuring of Turkish academia, the concept of internationalisation has been affected by amendments to the Higher Education Law. Interviews with 12 academics who are currently working in Turkish academia demonstrate in particular the loss of internationalisation. This article has found that the authoritarian government aims to build up and create a new academia and new academics. Amendments following the post-2016 coup d’état and the recent Covid-19 pandemic demonstrate that President Erdoğan’s ‘New Turkey’ tries to deconstruct academia and therefore restructure a ‘new academia’ similar to his political system, based on the order and command chain, and homogeneity. Building upon Marcuse’s theory, the article shows that Turkish academia can be labelled as one-dimensional. The article seeks to unravel how Turkish neoliberal authoritarianism takes advantage of Covid-19 in order to re-establish a new academia. The author elaborates on some of the current changes in Turkish higher education as a result of the recent amendments made by the Higher Education Law in 2020, as well as how the effects of the new law were further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.