Council of Higher Education, Turkey

QUALITY ASSURANCE STRUCTURE in HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM of TURKEY Muharrem Kaplan Council of Higher Education EU & International Relations Department

Increase in Demand for Higher Education YEARAPPLICANTS to the SSE (Acc )

Years - # Students Admitted to the Universities

Education System in Turkey Pre-School (Before 7 Years) Primary School (7-14) Secondary School (15-18) Ministry of National Education Student Selection Examination, SSE Short Cycle and First Cycle Second Cycle Third Cycle Council of Higher Education

Student Selection Examination - Preferences Weighted Cumulative Grade in High Schools Grade Accumulated from Questions of SSE Total SSE Grade

Higher Education System

Current Enrollment in HE PhD Ms U.G Poly.

Gender Dimension Faculty Female & Male Uni. Teachers

CoHE Council of Higher Education No Ministry of Higher Education but CoHE Autonomous body Established in 1981 The President, Prof. Yusuf Ziya Ozcan Members of the Council are independent professors

The Council of Higher Education composed of 21 members: 1. The President of Turkey → Seven Members, 2. The Council of Ministers → Seven Members, 3. The Inter-University Board → Seven professors from among non-members of the Board.

Higher Education Institutions State HEIs Universities and High Tech Institutes 94 War & Police Academies 6 Non-Profit HEIs WAQFs Non-profit foundation universities 45 2-year Vocational & Polytech. Sch. 6 Totally 151 Higher Education Institutions, These numbers can increase due to high demand

Universities-Student Population They Served %

Commission of Academic Assessment and Quality Improvement, YODEK 2001 Turkey Bologna Process, European Higher Education Area, EHEA 2005 Commission established by CoHE Published Directives of AA & QI on the basis of QA Standarts & Principles in EHEA by ENQA (European Assoc. For QA)

Academic Assessment and Quality Improvement Processes Academic Assessment and Quality Improvement Process in HEIs Strategic Planning Process Institutional Assessment Process Periodical Improvement and Monitoring Process

THE SCHEME OF THE MAIN PROCESS OF ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT AND QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN HE TURKEY CoHE The COMISSION of AAQI (YODEK) HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT INSTITUTION (MUDEK) SENATEBOARD OF AAQI (ADEK)   External Assessment    The Directives on Academic Assessment and Quality Improvement in HEIs  The Processes  Strategic Planning  Assessment  Periodical Monitoring & Improvement  STRATEGICAL PLAN  and Vision  SWOT, Strategies  Indicators/Aims  Activities/Projects  Resource Planning and Improvement   Forming Team/s and Coordination  Institutional Assessment  Assessment Report  Site Visits and Assessment   The Strategic Plan of CoHE Academic Assessment and Quality Improvement Report of Higher Education  Approval  Academic Assessment and Quality Improvement Report  Improvement Proposals   Assessment Reports    Improvement Action Plans Every Year5 Year

Experiences in Accreditation ABET → Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, USA based, 4 universities used nearly 50 engineering programs, MUDEK → The Association of Academic Assessment and Quality Improvement for Eng. Departments, TURKEY based, 2007, 10 + universities 60 + engineering departments EUA → European University Associations, Europe based Many Universities in Turkey are being accredited by EUA, CoHE is writting the support letter for them.

Performance Indicators of EUA and YODEK Some Indicators => Student/teacher ratio Tech. Staff/teacher ratio The material resources/student ratio Mechanism for the recognition of student participation Diversity of source of financing Survey (EUA) also SSE (TURKEY student preference) Foreign students number and ratio Scientific research and publications, etc.

Bologna Coordination Commissions BCC Every HEI has to establish its own BCC The head of BCC is vice-president/rector Responsible for implementation of Bologna Process in HEI. August 2009, CoHE gathered the data, based on more than 600 variables The variables have been analysed for monitoring and policy making According to the data collected, some of the challenges and tendencies observed as follows:

Some Challenges Lots of new universities who need infrastructure The work load of academicians is a lot Participation of other stakeholders, such as industrial sector and students is still below under expectations Some old and well established universities are fairly slow compare to new and flexible ones Academic Assessment and Quality Improvement Boards did not performed well in some universities In some universities only pilot observation

Strength of HE in TURKEY Departments in Science and Technology are eager in QA Increase in cooperation with industrial sector Participation of proffessors, as stakeholders, are very good QA process opened more places for HEIs far away from the eyes QA has pushing effect on established HEIs, competition between universities are increasing ABET experiences helped so much in QA of MUDEK Effect of sharply increasing number of ERASMUS students from Europe and to Europe is amazing There is no important resistance for QA system in HEIs as there was a little at the beginning Number of people who hold PhD is increasing

To Summarize According to the last data collected: Universities that have more flexible administration performed very well, because of easy adaptation and More student oriented universities are moving forward incredibly fast Well established old universities have disadvantages but they are benefitting from advantages of international students

Thank You for Your Listening By Muharrem Kaplan Council of Higher Education