A strange contradiction in the admission of foreign students and the quality of Turkish universities

According to the international group Tasnim News Agency, during the past years, many universities in Turkey have been able to count attract a significant number of foreign students. The increase in the number of foreign students in Turkey, in addition to having significant economic benefits, is also important in terms of equations related to soft power and the policy of expanding Turkish language education.

According to the latest statistics that Professor Dr. Erol Özvar, the head of the Turkish Higher Education Council (YÖK), has announced that Turkey is one of the top 10 countries in the world in accepting foreign students, and plans to be among the top five countries soon.

One of the contradictory dimensions in The acceptance of foreign students in Turkey is that in the past few years, due to unfavorable economic conditions, some of the young people of Turkey have abandoned their university studies and a significant part of them have migrated to other countries.

Turkey hosts 350 thousand foreign students
The statement of the head of the Turkish Higher Education Council indicates that currently 350 Thousands of foreign students are studying in the universities of this country. These students have gone to Turkey from 198 different countries, but statistics show that students from Central Asian and African countries are at the top of the list.

He has said about this issue: the presence of international students does not harm the rights of Turkish citizen students. It is a wrong attitude to look at the issue of foreign students as an illegal or refugee and immigrant problem. They don’t have foreign students.

The Yeni Çağ newspaper, the media organ of the Good Party, announced in a special report that the arrival of foreign students in small towns in Turkey has cultural and social consequences, and in the latest case, in the city of Kotahya, a student The 21-year-old Moroccan girl, who was arrested for illegal prostitution, was diagnosed with AIDS and was deported from Turkey.

This newspaper added that it is necessary to consider strict regulations for the admission of foreign students.

Quantity or quality? This is the problem
In recent years, Turkey has tried to increase the number of public universities. When the Justice and Development Party came to power, Turkey had 53 public universities, but this number has now exceeded 125. Also, the number of public student dormitories has increased from 190 to 587 dormitories, which can be increased attention But the problem is that Turkey still has not been able to find a place for itself in the authoritative lists of the best universities in the world. It is high and they do not have a place in the first three hundred universities. Therefore, it seems that it is not the scientific and educational quality of Turkish universities that has managed to attract 350 thousand foreign students, and to mention the important reasons, we should go to issues such as cultural-natural attractions, low costs, and shared values ​​and education. /p>

Another controversial issue regarding Turkish universities is that none of the European countries can match Turkey in terms of the percentage of students and graduates of higher education. In the two important countries of the European Union, France and Germany, there are only 40 students per 1,000 people, but this number reaches 95 in Turkey!

That is, while the total average European Union countries have 38 people per 1,000 people, Turkey has surpassed all European countries with a figure of 95 per 1,000 people. But the quality and scientific level of Turkish universities can only be compared with some of the weak countries of the European Union.

Is the situation of Turkish students satisfactory?
Numerous reports in Turkish newspapers and TV channels It has been published, which shows that in the last three years, the dropout of Turkish students for economic reasons has broken records. Because many families do not have the ability to pay for their students, and there is no hope of employment.

The report of Cumhuriyet newspaper published in Ankara showed that in a period of 4 years, from 2018 to 2022, a 1,957,000 students have dropped out of school. It has been determined that the highest number of student dropouts were in the metropolitan cities of Istanbul, Ankara, Adana, Bursa and Antalya.
1. Turkey is one of the top 10 countries in the world, in terms of accepting foreign students. The number of public universities in Turkey has doubled in the last twenty years, but this country does not have a place in the list of the top 300 universities in the world.
4. In terms of the number of students per capita, Turkey has surpassed even Germany and France and 95 out of every 1,000 citizens are students. However, the number of unemployed university graduates has reached an alarming level.

In the end, it should be said, attracting foreign students in Turkish universities has many pros and cons. Some critics believe that the attraction of foreign students can be shown to the world as a scientific and cultural achievement only if the academic quality of the universities is at a high level and the graduated students can shine after entering the labor market and for But another group does not have such a view and they believe that attracting foreign students is a valuable and economic measure and can help the development of cultural and social relations.end of message/