Education & Research
From The Report: Turkey 2013
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Between 2000 and 2011, the number of students enrolled in higher education institutions doubled. According to a recent study, this increase should reduce the probability of a middle-income slowdown. The stakes for reform are high, given the key role the school system must play in facilitating the country’s transition to a more knowledge-oriented economy. With primary school enrolment up from 95.3% in 2000 to 98.4% in 2010, the republic has shown that it is on track to meet the UN Millennium Development Goal of universal enrolment by 2015. While enrolment is up, ensuring equal regional access will be more difficult to achieve. This is not lost on the current administration, which has boosted school investment in underserved areas.
This chapter contains interviews with Umran Inan, President of Koç University, and Yücel Altunbaşak, President, Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Ready to achieve: Cultivating human capital to meet development goals
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Although the republic has made great educational progress recently, more must be done to improve quality, ensure equal access and connect students to the world of business. The stakes for reform are high, given the key role the school system must play in facilitating the country’s transition to a more knowledge-oriented economy. “Turkey has reached a pivotal stage in its development,” Mustafa Aydın, the chairman of Istanbul Aydın University and the Higher Education Business Council at the…

Analysis

Going international: Universities take steps to raise foreign student numbers
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Among the many issues attracting the attention of school policymakers in Turkey, one of the most critical is the country’s position in the global higher education market. This has been an area of success over the past several years, as seen by the two-fold increase in international student enrolment at Turkish universities from 15,481 in the 2005/06 academic year to 31,170 in 2011/12. By the year 2023, the government aims to raise this number to 100,000, making the republic one of the largest exporters…

Interview

OBG talks to Umran İnan, President, Koç University
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Interview: Umran İnan What can universities in Turkey do to increase their international standing and attract more foreign students and scholars to their campuses? UMRAN İNAN:Turkey’s higher education sector has just recently entered the internationalisation phase; however, the nation has made impressive gains in this area, especially in terms of boosting foreign student enrolment. This process is important for several reasons, particularly because it supports strategic national objectives. For…

Interview

Real world knowledge: OBG talks to Y ücel Altunbaşak, President, Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey ( TÜBİTAK)
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Interview: Y ücel Altunbaşak How can Turkey leverage research and development (R&D) to create a more innovative economy? Y UCEL ALTUNBAŞAK: Turkey has made great progress in the R&D field. In the last decade Turkey had the second-highest rate of increase in R&D spending globally, after China. Since 2002, the number of full-time equivalent researchers has jumped three-fold, business enterprise R&D has increased five-fold and domestic patents have risen five-and-a-half-fold. Yet,…

Overview

Shifting gears: Focus to be placed on creativity along with improving the legal framework
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Turkish policymakers are implementing a long-term development strategy that prioritises innovation in business, science and technology. To this end, more emphasis is being put on research and development (R&D), as demonstrated by the increase in R&D spending from .5% of GDP in 2002 to .86% of GDP in 2011. Officials project that, by the centennial of the founding of the republic, which will occur in 2023, R&D expenditure will account for 3% of GDP. Two-thirds of this amount will come from…

Analysis

A new type of park: Technoparks are drawing international and local interest
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A commitment to a more research-based economy is embodied in the science and technology districts that have proliferated nationwide. Between 2003 and 2012, the number of local “technoparks” rose from 12 to 49, while the number of companies hosted in these sites grew from 169 to 2174. “Although Turkey has yet to develop the research and innovation capacity of more advanced economies, the country is catching up quickly in this department,” Turgut Şenol, the general manager of Teknopark Istanbul,…