EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND OF UNIVERSITY RECTORS IN TURKEY

Abstract

Purpose: Political influence on universities and the way rectors are chosen has always become a hot topic in Turkey. At the same time, the neutrality of Turkish Council of Higher Education (YOK) and its effects on the rector-nomination system come under scrutiny. Researchers and higher education experts indicates the problems and recurrences of controversial candidate lists stem from YOK's well-rooted antidemocratic system. The purpose of this study is to investigate the educational background of university rectors in Turkey. Universities were divided by Public and Private and whether it has Faculty of Medicine or not. Methods: Acting rectors' educational backgrounds were searched and noted from the Turkish Council of Higher education (YOK) web site in January 2011. Analyses showed that there were 102 public and 54 private and total 156 universities in Turkey. Findings: Results indicated that educational background of present rectors in Turkey was mainly coming from Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Medicine. Fifty percent of the present rectors were appointed from these two faculties. Educational background of present rectors was changed when the universities divided by Public and Private University. If universities were public universities, mainly rectors were coming from the Faculty of Medicine. On the other hand, when the universities were private universities, mainly rectors were coming from the Faculty of Engineering. In addition, if university has a Faculty of Medicine, half of the present rectors appointed from the Faculty of Medicine. Only if universities were “privateâ€? universities and have Faculty of Medicine, their rectors were mainly not coming from the “Faculty of Medicineâ€?. Results and Suggestions: Analysis indicated that even though there were 32 different faculty types in Turkish universities, rectors were mainly coming from 13 different faculties. Results demonstrated that % 85 percent of the rectors' were appointed from four different faculties (Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Faculty of Business). Results indicated that the intensity of the faculty members play an important role in rectors appointment system in Turkey. Therefore, for example, there were none rectors appointed from the “Faculty of Communicationâ€?, “Faculty of Tourismâ€?, “Faculty of Maritimeâ€? or “Faculty of Technical Educationâ€? because of the limitation of faculty members. These findings suggest a proposed policy revision for rector appointment systems in Turkish Universities. Keywords: University Administration, Rector Election, Public and Private University, Higher Education, Turkish Council of Higher Education