EVOLVING with time

hile a skilled workforce has always been one of the Turkish economy’s greatest strengths, in the last decade, this workforce has become widely educated as well. Increased private sector investment in the education sector combined with strong international ties have boosted into Turkish education systems into the ranks of its OECD counterparts.

Currently in Turkey, around one-third of people aged 24-35 have attained tertiary education, a 100% increase over the last decade according to the OECD. The rapid growth of Turkey’s higher education sector can be attributed primarily to the expansion of the private foundation university system beginning in the early 2000s. In the first 15 years of the millennium, the number of private foundation universities increased fourfold and the number of students in the system increased by ten times.

The buildup of the higher education system in Turkey has had a more recent focus on short-cycle tertiary programs, mostly specific to a certain occupation. Around 48% of first-time entrants to tertiary education enroll in short-cycle programs, the highest share among OECD countries. This bodes well for the future of the Turkish industrial sector. The growing high-tech manufacturing sector will increasingly demand the type of skilled workers produced by the education system, and foreign investors will continue citing workforce as a key Turkish resource.

Rapid growth and an increasing focus on short-cycle programs have prompted change among some of Turkey’s universities. After a major growth in students, Bilgi University has shifted its focus from quantity to quality, a change it sees necessary to surviving in a competitive landscape. Bilgi has also expanded its number of two-year programs in line with demand for career-oriented programs.

Along with the growth of the higher education system has come a notable internationalization, both from an institutional and demographic standpoint. Turkey in 2010 annulled the notoriously bureaucratic process for foreign students to come to Turkey, instead delegating the process to the higher education institutions themselves. In the time since, these institutions have grown their knowledge sharing and exchange student partnerships with international universities. Now, around 150,000 foreign students are enrolled within the Turkish higher education system, up from just 10,000 foreign students 15 years ago. ✖

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