Journal of Higher Education and Science

Number Number 2, 2014

67-72
Evaluating Turkish Higher Education System within the Framework of New Higher Education Act Studies

Authors: Gülsün ATANUR BASKAN, Sakine SİNCER

Abstract

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Number of views: 334

The global demand for higher education has been increasing all over the world and universities endeavor to reach international standards. It has been discussed for a long time that it is crucial to restructure the existing higher education system in Turkey to achieve a competitive position in global world. Within this scope, the new higher education act, on which studies have been going on for 1,5 years, has been shaped and broached to stakeholders. The aim of this study is to evaluate the existing higher education system in Turkey within the frame of the new higher education act studies. The weak points of the Law of Higher Education No. 2547 published in 1981, which cannot meet the needs of today's higher education, will be compared to the new draft law for higher education.

73-89
Within the Timeline of Science Ethics:Two Parenting Advice Books and a Scientific Milestone

Authors: Emel AKÖZER, Mehmet AKÖZER

Abstract

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Number of views: 349

Plagiarism allegations on similarities between Dr. Benjamin Spock's Baby and Child Care (1946) and Dr. İhsan Doğramacı's Annenin Kitabı (1952; The Mother's Book) and the public presentation of the ruling on the 15th of April, 2014 by European Court of Human Rights consummating legal proceedings on these allegations, are not likely to contribute to ensuring a correct understanding of plagiarism as conceived in science ethics in the general public and scientific community. First, the Court has not ruled in support of the veracity of allegations. Second, parallels between the two books – regarding genre, claims to originality, and the nature of similarities – do not justify evaluation in reference to the concept of plagiarism as defined in science ethics. Besides, intellectual property law, on which allegations pretend to be based, cannot be taken to found illegitimacy of plagiarism in terms of science ethics. Science ethics defines plagiarism as misconduct positively with reference to norms of scientific integrity, the fairness principle, and values essential to collaborative work, rather than negatively with reference to violation of intellectual property. In the mid-20th century, in an environment where such principles or values have not yet taken root, the course of the discovery of DNA structure, one of the century's greatest breakthroughs, has enabled ethics violations substantially surpassing issues of intellectual property or plagiarism, and moreover, these violations have apologists even today. Scientific integrity and fairness imply “treating colleagues with integrity and honesty” as equally as “providing proper references and giving due credits to the work of others”. Abusing plagiarism allegations as a means to defame colleagues or permitting such abuse to become commonplace neither suits advocacy of scientific ethics nor complies with the “fairness” principle. A strategy to fight plagiarism must be tested against whether or not it contributes to entrench the norm of scientific integrity and fairness principle or how far it contributes.

90-98
The Influence of Bülent Ecevit University on Zonguldak and the City's Perception of University

Authors: Hasan SANKIR, Ayça DEMİR GÜRDAL

Abstract

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Number of views: 373

A university offers numerous contributions to the city where it is located. The contributions are basically in the areas of human resources, information, education, employment and social services. In order to increase the impact of these contributions, it is vital to determine how and in what ways the universities are perceived by the inhabitants of the cities; to determine possible areas of cooperation between the city and the university; and to make information transfers from joint research studies. The main objectives of the university-city interaction is to uncover the areas of influence which a university creates physically and socially within the city and to demonstrate how a university is perceived by the society as an institution. While evaluating the economic and socio-cultural contributions of the university to the city and the ways of improving these contributions; targets of the university towards the development of the city; its activities related to these targets and all the necessary consequences should be taken into consideration. Within this framework, this study has two goals: firstly, it aims to provide basic data necessary for Bülent Ecevit University's future strategies of integration with the city and secondly, it aims to contribute to the social science literature as a study that examines the city-university relations. Moreover, this research study is an important contribution to the literature as it is the first study conducted in Zonguldak within this field. Neighborhoods of Zonguldak central districts were determined as research population. Sampling area was limited to Merkez (Centre), Kilimli, Kozlu, İncir Harmanı, and Üzülmez districts. The main reasons of this limitation are that these districts are densely populated with students and that these neighborhoods host campuses of the university. This study includes a questionnaire consisting of open and closed-ended questions.

99-111
Views on the Finance of Turkish Higher Education

Authors: Metin ÖZKAN, Tokay GEDİKOĞLU

Abstract

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Number of views: 382

This research originated from the increasing number of discussions in relation to the financial support of higher education, the quest for creating sustainable resources for the increasing demand of higher education and the inadequate number of academic research that focuses on the finance of higher education in Turkey and seen as a necessity. In line with this requirement, it is aimed to determine the opinions of the participants regarding how the Turkish Higher Education should be financed. The study population consists of administrative staffs who conduct financial issues in universities. Universities included into the sample are identified based on stratified sampling method by considering the rankings revealed by “University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP)”. The sample of the study includes 138 staffs conducting the financial issues of these universities. The data are collected by means of a questionnaire consisting of 48 items developed by the researchers. According to the findings, higher education should be financed predominantly by diversification of the resources instead of financing by public resources. It is suggested that this method can also develop financial autonomy and thus can provide an opportunity for using the resources more effectively. Resources from the public budget to determine the amount to be transferred to the university is a determinant of performance criteria, the amount determined by the method of allocation be given directly to universities and colleges by the method of budget spending this budget bag is required. Performance criteria should be taken into consideration during the identification of resources to be transferred to universities from the public budget, the amount determined should be assigned directly to universities and universities should spend this budget by considering their own priorities.

112-123
Vocational Education and Zakat: The Case Study of Punjab Vocational Training Council

Authors: Iqbal M. KHAN

Abstract

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Number of views: 410

The aim of this research is to explore the prospect of teaching Entrepreneurship Education to those who acquire vocational skills at Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC). It is also to explore whether PVTC has promoted entrepreneurship through its vocational training institutes located all over Punjab. This study also deals with the concept of utilization of ‘Zakat' for the purpose of vocational education as a mode for possible replication. The research objective has been to follow the progress of this institution. It has also been to record the successes of this model of a public-private ownership, a model of utilizing the ‘Zakat' to fund education projects, a value based organization, a learning organization and a highly innovative institution. The other objective is to explore the evidence of entrepreneurship education and its effectiveness in PVTC. Literature has been reviewed on vocational training and entrepreneurship education. It also reviews experience and evidence of such practice prevailing in other environment. Combined with this is the review and conceptualization of a model based on ‘zakat'. Research Methodology used is basically qualitative; data has been collected through semi structured intensive interviews and from focus groups of stakeholders. The strategies adopted to collect data in this study are “survey”, “case study” and “grounded theory.” The data collected from semi structured interviews were concluded by thematic analysis, analyzing technique of writing reports from data. NVivo software was utilized for triangulation to reduce the data bias and increase validity by comparing primary and secondary data. The findings of this research have been that the pedagogical skills offered by PVTC's are not effective for entrepreneurial potential development. Work is required for entrepreneurial curriculum development and training of PVTCs' instructors, students and practitioners. The research also reveals that Zakat Education Model can be further refined for the benefit of the education programs. The paper concludes that despite the efforts by PVTC to launch micro entrepreneurship ventures, it is a very weak effort. It needs to work on an effective pedagogy for training entrepreneurship and to upgrade its curriculum to strengthen both vocational skill program and entrepreneurship education.

124-131
Design and Development of a University E-Library System in Turkey: A Case from Dicle University

Authors: Murat YALMAN, Tamer KUTLUCA

Abstract

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Number of views: 370

Services provided for students in traditional libraries at universities have been renovated in line with the development of technology. Therefore, today libraries are not evaluated with their sizes of places but with the variety and abundance of sources found in libraries. In terms of current educational activities, it is fairly important for universities to structure and renovate their libraries. The reason is that learning is now independent of place and time. The spread of the Internet and of Internet technologies and the increase in the number of Internet users make e-library obligatory and unavoidable. Therefore, universities should internalize the concept of e-library and take electronic library into consideration while restructuring their library services. The present study tried to determine how to carry out an e-library design in accordance with the library services of universities. In this process, the overall purpose was to determine the needs by examining the user interface of the webpage designed, its interface features, its differences, ease of its use, its clarity for users to understand and the pros and cons of the system. In this way, universities using e-library are believed to provide their students with better services by increasing their quality of education.