Education in Turkey

Istanbul University (1453) was founded by sultan Mehmed II as a Darülfünun. On 1 August 1933, as part of Atatürk's reforms, it was reorganized and became the Republic's first modern university.[1]

Education in Turkey is governed by a national system which was established in accordance with Atatürk's Reforms. It is a state-supervised system designed to produce a skillful professional class for the social and economic institutes of the country.[2]

Compulsory education lasts 12 years. Primary and secondary education is financed by the state and free of charge in public schools, between the ages of 6 and 19. Turkey has over 200 universities as of 2022.[3] ÖSYS, after which high school graduates are assigned to university according to their performance.[4]

Turkey has 97% of primary school enrollment among all eligible children as of 2019. This number has significantly dropped with the Syrian refugee crisis. Many Syrian children left school during the crisis.[5]

In 2002, the total expenditure on education in Turkey amounted to $13.4 billion, including the state budget allocated through the National Ministry of Education and private and international funds.[6] The share of national wealth invested in educational institutions is higher in Turkey than average among OECD countries.[7] Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey is the main national body of R&D in Turkey.

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI)[8] finds that when taking into consideration Turkey's income level, the nation is achieving 61.7% of what should be possible based on its resources (income) for primary education and 86.1% for secondary education.[9]

  1. ^ "History". istanbul.edu.tr. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  2. ^ Özelli, M. Tunç (January 1974). "The Evolution of the Formal Educational System and Its Relation to Economic Growth Policies in the First Turkish Republic". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 5 (1). London: Cambridge University Press: 77–92. doi:10.1017/s0020743800032803. ISSN 0020-7438. JSTOR 162345. S2CID 154739517.
  3. ^ "Destination Guides Study in Turkey". www.topuniversities.com/. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  4. ^ Guide For Foreign Students Who Wants To Education In Turkey Archived 15 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Turkey: Primary school enrollment". www.theglobaleconomy.com. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  6. ^ 2002 Report by Turkish Statistical Institute, Prime Ministry of the Republic of Turkey.
  7. ^ "Education at a Glance 2021". www.oecd-ilibrary.org. OECD Indicators. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Human Rights Measurement Initiative". Human Rights Measurement Initiative. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  9. ^ "Turkey". Rights Tracker.org. Retrieved 1 May 2023.