Journal of Higher Education and Science

277-287

Authors: Pelin Deniz TEKNECİ

Turkey has witnessed a rapid massification in its higher education sector. The rate of total gross enrollment in Turkish higher education reached 79 percent in 2014 while it was 31 percent in 2004 and surpassed OECD averages. This study aims to depict the trends observed in the Turkish higher education sector. In this context, changes observed in enrolment rates, faculty and student compositions, expenditures and publication outputs of Turkish higher education institutions during the last decade are discussed. In addition, comparison with OECD averages are provided to understand the relative position of Turkey compared to other countries. Analyses have shown that Turkish higher education system performs very well in terms of higher education enrollment rates, female students, and female faculty members. Meanwhile, this study has revealed that it needs to improve its performance in terms of quantity of faculty members, doctorate students, and international students, funds received from abroad, participation of private sector, and quantity and quality of scientific publications. It is considered that issues which are exacerbated with the rapid expansion of Turkish higher education system can be handled effectively via deploying a comprehensive database regarding Turkish higher education system, promoting data based policy making, determining clear and measurable targets with associated costs in the national policy documents, and establishing a performance evaluation system for universities.

297-303

Authors: Volkan Hasan KAYA, Zafer BAHÇECİ, Elif KAYA

Atatürk's opinions and suggestions on education still keep their validity. Therefore, reviving the values which were recognized in the past and taking lessons from history should be one of the steps to be taken in order to reach contemporary civilization level. In this study, by using history research method. Atatürk's opinions on education were tried to be determined with the guidance of his views about education ,teachers, and elementary education. The existing situation was attempted to be identified and expalained by using descriptive research method of general research types. The data obtained in the result of source scanning was limited to the following the subject fields; “science”, ”education's place in human life”, “the importance of education for Atatürk”, “the importance of Education Congress”, “Atatürk's opininon on science”, and “youth and teachers in Atatürk's views”. Suggestions to education were presented in accordance with Atatürk's views.

317-325

Authors: Ayşegül UNUTKAN, Sultan GÜÇLÜ, Emel ELEM, Safiye YILMAZ

Gender discrimination adversely affected women in all areas of social life, especially in the fields of education, work, marriage and family life. Feminism has emerged to draw attention to the these impacts of gender discrimination and to reduce it's negative consequences. Social transformation is necessary to ensure gender justice. One of the important steps for achieving this transformation is to educate the youth and increase their awareness. This study was conducted with the aim to determine Dumlupinar University, School of Health students' opinions on feminism and gender roles. The population of this study consists of 1293 students. Sample is comprised of 846 students who accepted to enrolled in the study. Data have been collected with using a questionnaire and assessed with percentiles, Kruskal-Walls and Mann-Whitney U-Tests. 43.3% of students defined feminism as “a style of thought that advocates women are more superior than men” and 31.9% of them as “a style of thought that advocates the equity of social opportunity”. It was identified that male students have more traditional opinions on gender roles related to work, social, marriage and family life. This study has revealed that male students have more conventional opinions in the fields of in working and married life, while the male and female students have egalatirian opinions in the propositions about social life and family life. Besides, the results of the study have revealed that opinions of students on gender roles related to work, social, marriage and family life exhibit statistically significant differences among the departments for all of the statements given. It was observed that midwifery students have more egalitarian views. Also, it was determined that upper class students have more egalitarian opinions. As a result of our study, it has been seen that university students still have a traditional perspective on social gender roles. According to the results of the questionnaire we can state that the youth do not understand feminism with all its aspects and digest it. Therefore, the awareness of the university students about feminism and gender should be increased. It is also considered to be useful the creation of student groups advocating gender equity in universities.

333-350

Authors: Serdar ÜNAL, Berivan BİNAY

The extent to which academic disciplines are affected by the nationwide development and changes occurring at the level of higher education and what kind of quantitative changes this can potentially lead to in the relevant disciplines are significant. In this paper, the quantitative changes seen in the sociology discipline which we consider to have an important place in the social sciences category are provided on the basis of the developments made in the higher education sector in Turkey. The current profile of the discipline is discussed in comparison with historical data, as well. To this end, the study focuses on the historical development process of the sociology discipline and education in Turkey from a quantitative perspective. For this purpose, the historical changes of quantitative data on the available undergraduate and graduate programs in the field of sociology, on student demand for these programs and on academic staff are examined through various quantitative indicators. In addition, the distribution and change of the students and academic staff in the field of sociology are classified according to the geographic locations, the foundation years and the types of the universities. In this way, the current profile of the discipline of sociology is described and some inferences are made on its general trends, status and future projections in Turkish higher education system. In this respect, the findings presented in this article have a descriptive nature. In this study, quantitative data from the documents in the archives of the Student Selection and Placement Center of Turkey, Council of Turkish Higher Education and universities are utilized and the data pertaining to the discipline of sociology are analyzed and presented through some specific categorizations.

359-363

Authors: Ebru ÖZER, H. Serdar YALÇINKAYA

When a study of literature made on the factors affecting organizational commitment, many different elements are seen to affect organizational commitment. One of these factors is the price received by the employees. This study aims to measure the impact of Higher Education Personnel Law No. 2914 which has provided an increase in academics' salary on organizational commitment of academics. The first part of the study is focused on the concept of organizational commitment, whereas the second part is focused on the organizational commitment questionnaire survey evaluation of faculty members working in Turkey. As a result, it was observed that academics had organizational commitment before the increase in salary and their organizational commitment to their institution stepped up after the increase.

373-383

Authors: Alper YETKİNER, Murat İNCE

High-qualified human power is needed greatly in development process. A successful and qualified postgraduate education is rather important for especially underdeveloped and developing countries in being raised of this human power that is needed. Due to these reasons, being attached of the necessary importance to postgraduate education and being solved of the problems in the department is required (Sevinç, 2001). In this study, it is aimed to determine the problems that the individuals studying postgraduate education at Institute of Education Sciences encounter and to form solution offers concerning the problems encountered. In the study, qualitative research method and phenomenological research were used. The participants who study postgraduate education in different majors and departments in the Institute of Education Sciences at a state university constituted participants of the study. Data of the study was collected with semi-structured interview schedule designed by the researchers. The data collected in the study were analyzed by content analysis technique. The study findings revealed that postgraduate students had mainly problems of foreign language and Academic Personnel and Postgraduate Education Entrance Exam (ALES), problems of getting permission from their institution or school, communication problem with thesis supervisor and problem of toilsomeness of thesis writing process. In the conclusion, recommendations regarding problems encountered by students in postgraduate education are made.

396-401

Authors: Ayşegül KADI, Osman Ferda BEYTEKİN, Hasan ARSLAN

The purpose of this study was to examine the values and academic dishonesty tendencies of teacher candidates. The population of this study included teacher candidates who received pedagogic formation education during 2013-2014 academic semester at the Faculty of Education at Ege University. The study was conducted with 244 teacher candidates, who were chosen through convenient sampling method. Academic Dishonesty Tendency Scale and Portrait Values Questionnaire were used to collect data. It was a correlational study due to the investigation of the relationship between values and academic dishonesty tendencies of teacher candidates. It was also a survey study since the academic dishonesty tendencies and values of teacher candidates were examined in relation to demographic variables. The results suggested that there wass a significant difference between the values and academic dishonesty tendencies of teacher candidates for gender variable. The values and academic dishonesty tendencies of teacher candidates did not differ for different fields of study. There was not a significant relationship between the academic dishonesty tendencies and values of teacher candidates.

135-141

Authors: Ömer AÇIKGÖZ

Due to the strong relationship between economic development and the development of human and social capital, we will have a philosophical discussion on the educational roots of economic and social shortcomings in this article. To this end, firstly, the concepts of economic and social shortcoming will be discussed. Later the roots of modern education paradigm will be addressed and what kind of education paradigm we are in need of will be debated. Finally, some suggestions regarding the improvement of education system for a more productive society will be put forward along with a general discussion.

151-162

Authors: Osman SİVRİKAYA

During recent years, “the occupational health and safety” topic, which has gained importance in different countries in the world, has got attention in Turkey as well. The importance of human life and health is being increased in the world especially in the developed countries. As a result of this, in order to prevent the work accidents involving death or personal injury in the work life, the importance of the “occupational health and safety” is increasing gradually. In Turkey, the regulation studies are being carried out on this topic with the successive regulations especially during recent years. The application aspect of the topic, which is related to employers on the occasion of legal liabilities in accordance with the regulations, and for the graduates who are seeking for a job and especially want to be occupational safety specialists, it is popular from the point of view to be hope for a job. However, due to the difficulties to follow the rapidly changing developments, efficient awareness about the topic is not possible. It is possible that to get true and current information about the topic is possible by showing necessary sensitivity about occupational health and safety education. The graduates from different departments wonder the topics such as what is “occupational health and safety” education and “what kind of an education is necessary to become an occupational safety specialist”. Hence, in this article, by giving current information about occupational health and safety education and their content in the higher education institutions in Turkey, the points, which have had improvements compared to the past, are considered, and certain suggestions are presented to have better occupational health and safety education.

178-185

Authors: Zeynep BAYKAN, Mehmet KILINÇ, Melis NAÇAR

The aim of this study was to determine the opinions and attitudes of the freshman students in Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine towards absenteeism. It was a descriptive and cross sectional study, which was conducted in May 2015. 81% of 310 students were accessed. A questionnaire including an absenteeism attitude scale was applied to the students. For the analysis of data, Chi square and Mann Whitney U tests were used. 7.2% of students said that they always attended the theoretical lessons whereas 71.1% of them reported that they sometimes did not attend these lessons. 21.7%, on the other hand, stated that they mostly did not attend these lessons. 81.1% of the students indicated that they always attended the practical lessons. Another finding was that foreign students attended the theoretical lessons more than Turkish students. The most common suggestion made by the students for preventing absenteeism was linking the basic courses with clinical information to be used later. The mean score obtained from the absenteeism attitude scale was 54.6 ± 15.0. The mean scores obtained from necessity, responsibility and obligation subscales were 19.6 ± 5.5, 21.4 ± 6.7, and 13.6 ± 6.1, respectively. 73.5% of the students indicated that attendance should not be controlled in the Faculty of Medicine. At the end of the study it was revealed that medical students had negative attitudes towards attendance and there was a need to organize activities that would increase their motivation and prevent absenteeism.

195-208

Authors: Turgay ÖNTAŞ

In this study to demonstrate primary school teachers' employment process and their first year teaching in private educational organizations is aimed. The major employer of primary school teachers is public schools that are funded by state. There will be a gap between grade inflation and employment rate when all of the teacher candidates claim to be appointed to public schools. Hence private educational organizations provide alternative career opportunities for teacher candidates. Qualitative methods will be used in this study to display real evidence from the eyes of teachers and also principals. The data have been obtained through documents and interview techniques. After the data have been collected, descriptive analysis has been used. The findings of the study were given within the frame of themes and codes which were determined based on the problem statement. The first theme, career was presented in the context of choosing sector, recruitment and selecting process, professional development, leave the profession. The second theme, factors affecting first years' success was explained in the context of teaching factors, consistency and skills focus. The third theme was presented in a category of pressure, workload, complaining psychological and physical exhaustion, flexible working conditions.

220-230

Authors: Barış USLU

The purpose of this research is to determine the level of faculty's perceptions related to managerial flexibility regarding scholarly practices in universities, and to examine the differences in these perceptions in terms of their personal, professional and institutional features by controlling the impact of their managerial duties when the impact of their managerial duties are controlled. In line with this purpose, quantitative data were collected online from 1339 faculty members who work in Turkish public universities via the online version of the Managerial Flexibility Regarding Scholarly Practices Scale. The data were examined by descriptive and covariance analyses. The general level of faculty's perceptions related to managerial flexibility regarding scholarly practices was found at a medium level (Mean=3.17; sd=.87) while their perceptions related to managerial flexibility regarding research practices was found at a high level (Mean=3.43; sd=.94). In addition, after controlling when the impact of their managerial roles are taken under control as covariant, significant differences in faculty's perceptions related to managerial practice flexibility were explored in terms of their disciplines and universities' establishment dates and locations were explored. According to these results, the perceptions of faculty members working who work especially in social fields, at universities which are located in regions covering many prestigious universities are more positive than others. It might be claimed that having advanced academic support mechanisms as the institutional component of universities in these developed regions and carrying out studies in social science disciplines with less resources are the reasons of these differences. It might be said that the reasons of these differences between the perceptions of faculty members are that academic support mechanisms has been institutional components of universities which are situated in regions where the most of developed higher education institutions are found and that studies in social science disciplines can be carried out with less costs. To minimize the differences in faculty's perceptions related to managerial practice flexibility and to increase the institutional contribution to their academic productivity, university managers can operate less expensive practices such as the support for academic writing in foreign language, academic study and project preparation trainings, internal review system, formal mentoring program, forming interdisciplinary study groups, and departmental seminars, as well as establishing fundamental units like teaching-learning institute, research office and media advisory bureau.

242-251

Authors: Dilek BAŞERER, Zeynep BAŞERER, Aysel TÜFEKÇİ AKCAN

The research was conducted in order to understand views of academics on ethical responsibilities, principles and violations in academia. The research was carried out with 14 academics. Data were collected by using a structured interview form composed of five questions. Content validity, internal validity and external validity were checked for the validity of the research while external and internal reliability was checked to ensure the research reliability. Data were analyzed by using a qualitative method ‘content analysis'. The findings were presented under three sections: (a) ethical principles and violations in scientific research and publications, (b) ethical principles and violations in social relationships, and (c) ethical principles and violations in respect to social responsibility. As a result of the study, it was found that academics were aware of the ethical principles. In addition, given the example that they provided from their surroundings, it was discovered that ethical principles were being violated in scientific research and publication process as well as in social relationships in academia.

261-267

Authors: Mehmet ŞEREMET

In this study, the main aim is to investigate opinions of the students who study in 4th grade of the department of maritime transportation and management engineering of the maritime faculty on employability potential of the maritime degree programmes. In accordance with this purpose, in 2014-2015 academic year, opinions of 154 final year students (candidate seafarer) from three different universities were qualitatively assessed. The major finding of the study is that professional experience based on internship causes various differences in the perception of seafarer candidates towards the profession and in their choice of profession. Moreover, the students' self-assessment on their transferable skills development showed that foreign language skills were not well improved, which is principally one of the most necessities in the job market. As a result, according to the opinions of the students it can be said that practical education and internship opportunities of the department make the biggest contribution to the profession. Nevertheless, after graduation, they feel that they might meet some challenges in the job market such as job shortages and tendency to lowering rates in the wages. The study was finalised by a set of suggestions which might help to improve employability potential of the programmes as well as the quality of student's learning experience in maritime programmes.

1-12

Authors: Durmuş GÜNAY, Mahmut ÖZER

Higher education system in Turkey is witnessing a significant expansion in recent years. Both the number of higher education institutions and the number of higher education students as well as of academic staff have been dramatically increased. This expansion is also making itself visible in vocational education. Similar to other areas, expansion in vocational education - that is oriented toward the quality, based on the links on education-employment, and sustainable - is of great importance for both efficient use of resources as well as the increasing opportunities of taking advantage of graduates. In particular, there is a distinct importance of vocational training in improving the economic competitiveness of Turkey. Therefore, this study discusses the current situation of post-secondary vocational colleges (MYOs) in detail. It also focuses on the steps taken to improve the quality of education in vocational colleges in recent years. Next, it addresses the current challenges of the vocational colleges and provides some suggestions to overcome these challenges.

31-40

Authors: Dicle ÖZCAN, Halil ÇAKIR

This study focuses on how the concept university autonomy which constitutes one of the most tangible indicators of academic freedom is positioned in the context of university's relations with state, society and market and concentrates on the possibility of university autonomy. From the emergence of universities in the Middle Age to the modern universities of the present, the concepts of university autonomy and academic freedom have been maintaining their actuality with a growing interest. In the light of studies in Turkey, the purpose of this study is to discuss the change of university autonomy in the historical process and where it can be positioned in the context of building blocks of university autonomy concept and the recent relationship between universities and market-industry-business world.

50-60

Authors: Tevfik UYAR

Astrology, a pseudoscience, is highly popular in Turkey. Astrologers, who are its practitioners, produce discourses in the scientific field at the media and at their own platforms. Furthermore, it is possible to find some instances of astrology related activities in Turkish universities. In this article, demarcation of science from pseudoscience and the pseudoscientific status of astrology were discussed in a first place. Next, threats of astrological discourse within economic, educational and medical fields and their threats to society were expressed with some examples. Instances of the astrological activities within higher education institutions, such as an astrology-based master degree thesis, the astrology certificate programs, and an astrology column in an official medical school magazine were evaluated, and it was put forward that they contributed to increase the level of threat and it was also claimed that the existence of astrological activities in the universities contradicts the main purpose and principles of the higher education. In conclusion, some regulatory actions like the implementation of the scientific literacy and demarcation problem to each level of educational curriculum, a general policy for excluding the pseudoscience from higher education institutions and a recommended health warning at the top of the astrology were suggested.

71-76

Authors: Yeşim ÖZER ÖZKAN

The study has aimed to compare the grade conversion tables of Council of Higher Education and universities that adopt a different passing grade in Turkey and put the students' views on this subject forward. The research has been planned using case study one of the qualitative research designs. When examined in detail, it has been determined that neither grade conversion table of Council of Higher Education nor that of universities that have different pass grades have been able to provide a standard. It has been seen that while Council of Higher Education's grade conversion tables provide a transformation in favor of the students studying at universities with 50 pass grade the university, it provides a disadvantageous transformation for the students studying at universities with passing 60 and 70 pass grade and students' opinion also fully support this finding. As a result, the lack of a common university passing system and application of different grading systems (norm-referenced/criterion referenced) can naturally be considered as an obstacle in front of obtaining comparable scores.

94-101

Authors: Emine CABI

This study was carried out to obtain the views of master's degree students studying via distance education about tools and methods of measurement and e-assessment. Exhibiting advantages and disadvantages of the use of different measurement tools and methods and assessment processes are considered to contribute to elimination of significant deficiencies in terms of both distance education institutions and teaching staff. Phenomenology, one of qualitative research designs, was used for data collection. Criterion sampling method, one of the purposive sampling methods, was taken into consideration. Being taken a course via distance education, and having the experience of measurement and evaluation by students was used as the sampling criteria. In this context, the study was conducted with a total of 10 students; four of which in the second semester and six of which in the third semester have taken course via distance education. In data collection, semi-structured interview form was used. There were five open-ended questions in the interview form. Descriptive analysis was used for the analysis of the obtained data. While assignments-projects and weekly online exams as the most preferred measurement tools by the students, navigation in the digital environment, reports and peer-evaluation were the least preferred ones. All of the students prefer e-assessment instead of the traditional evaluation for it is independent from space, providing equality of opportunity, more comprehensive. In e-assessment, it is stated that students who are responsible, highly motivated, contributor, inquisitive, skillful at using high-technology, are more successful.

116-122

Authors: Huriye ARIKAN

Academic support is a student focused program offering university level extracurricular activities developed in line with the institutional academic goals and educational approach. The main goal of the program is to support the enhancement of a learning culture that fosters creativity which is constructed and perpetuated by the students. The core activity of this program is active learning sessions. This paper briefly summarizes the support program's activities and analysis the achievements of active learning sessions in terms of student success in some selected first year Calculus, Science of Nature and Humanity and Society courses.