The total budget of Turkish universities is as much as the US Columbia University budget.

The total budget of Turkish universities is as much as the US Columbia University budget. As it is known, November-December is the period when budgets are discussed and legalized in the Parliament. Universities, like other public institutions and organizations, are talking about their budgets these days. Rectors will naturally manage a year according to the budget tables they have prepared. Universities prepare a temporary budget in accordance with the budgeting technique rules of the Ministry of Finance based on the Law No. 5018 and submit it to the Ministry of Finance. In the past, SPO, now the Ministry of Development, lobbies for an investment budget.

Since Turkish universities are very young, more investment and budget is demanded for building infrastructure. I think similar processes are at work now. Investments and personnel expenses constitute the weight of the budgets. Personnel budgets are calculated over the salaries of the fixed staff, and since the investments are foreseen, the budgets of the universities are almost certain. It was reported in the press that a budget of 2014 billion 16 million 939 thousand liras was allocated to the Higher Education Institution (YÖK) and universities in the Parliamentary Plan and Budget Committee for 10.

According to the budget appropriations allocated from the treasury, the following universities received the highest budget according to the economic classification of the Higher Education Council, University and High Technology Institutes in 2014;

Universities The budget they receive is TL
Istanbul University 786.510.000
Hacettepe University 551.282.000
Ankara University 541.982.000
Gazi University 537.509.000
Ege University 479.132.000
Dokuz Eylul University 421.122.000
Ataturk University 382.000.000
Anadolu University 378.833.000
Marmara University 373.529.000
Selcuk University 342.805.000
Middle East Technical University 336.810.000
Çukurova University 335.092.000
Uludag University 310.501.000

And others..

Unfortunately, Adana Science and Technology University (ABTU) was ranked 41.018.000th from the bottom with 6 TL among the universities with the lowest share. If this is the newly established ABTU budget, how will we be a strong university, how will we be the star of the region. Science and Technology University, which is very important in this regard in Adana, should receive more support. Adana was neglected in every aspect, but it was also neglected in terms of education and support to the university. For the development of Çukurova Region as a whole, serious support should be given to Adana and Universities. Although it is stated that ABTU and two universities cannot be side by side in determining the settlement area and we oppose all kinds of concreting on agricultural lands, we should not object to a strong university with a different discourse in line with the requirements of the age, but on the contrary, all kinds of support should be supported.

The lion's share of personnel and investment, not scientific research, in university budgets

The budget sizes of our universities are basically calculated over their student, personnel, building and similar investment expenses. These budgets are not determined according to the functions and outputs of universities. I think producing universities should receive more research support. In fact, current strategic planning also requires it. Each unit should make long and short-term planning, produce a project in line with the goal it wants to achieve, and demand a budget to achieve its goal. At the same time, it should be determined and questioned whether it achieves its target every year. In this context, individuals, departments and institutions should try to do more. University units that produce a lot and train qualified people should receive more support. Unless Turkey makes this difference, it means that it has not understood the nature and function of the university.

It is known that the majority of the budget is allocated to personnel expenses. The total number of lecturers, excluding workers and civil servants, is 130 thousand 563, according to the Council of Higher Education. As of 2013, there are 104 universities in Turkey, 71 of which are state universities and 175 are foundations. A total of 17 thousand 807 faculty members, including 10 thousand 962 professors, 27 thousand 385 associate professors, 56 thousand 154 assistant professors, work in universities and other educational institutions. They employ 40 research assistants, 939 lecturers, 20 lecturers, 820 experts, 9 translators and 250 education planners. In the last ten years, nearly 3 public and private universities were opened, the number of academic staff doubled, but the budget did not change much as Real. It is understood that with the current budgets, universities cannot carry out scientific research on a world scale, and university employees cannot receive a salary for a humane life.

What is the budget of America's leading universities?

In the last hundred years, researches require high budgets, especially due to the need of basic sciences to produce data and information by making precise measurements. Billions of dollars are needed for space studies, advanced medicine, chemistry, electronics, computers, bio and nanotechnology and medicine-genetic research, especially basic research. The total budget of state universities affiliated to YÖK in 2014 is 11,5 billion TL and National The total budget allocated to the Ministry of Education is 34 billion TL. The total budget of Turkish universities is not even as much as the research budget of an American university. According to the news of Americabulten.Com, the budget of Harvard University in the USA was 2011 billion dollars in 40. When the budgets of advanced universities in Turkey and the USA are compared, the difference is parallel to the development gap of the countries. Since one dollar is 2 TL, the total budget of Turkish universities is as much as Columbia University's budget (7 billion 789 million dollars). That's a quarter of Harvard University's budget. With the budgets of our universities in 2014, Turkey's advanced research opportunity was almost ignored from the beginning.

In 2011, Harvard University's only donation income was 32 billion 12 million 729 thousand dollars. Budgets of 10 US universities, according to US News And World Report magazine information.

1. Harvard University: $32 billion
2. Yale University: 19 billion 174 million dollars
3. Princeton University: 17 billion 162 million dollars
4. Stanford University: $16 billion 502 million
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $9 billion 712 million
6. Columbia University: $7 billion 789 million
7. University of Michigan: 7 billion 725 million dollars
8. University of Pennsylvania: $6 billion,582 million
9. University of Notre Dame: 6 billion 383 million dollars
10. Duke University: 5 billion 747 million dollars

Another factor that determines the development of countries in recent years is innovation. Innovation and innovation are directly related to the education level of individuals and societies, and all countries with the best education performance in the world today have innovation economies. R&D work is essential for innovation. Innovation, R&D and patent studies and technology production develop completely depending on the share of countries in GNP. In an analysis signed by Özlem Yüzak on 28 November 2013 in Cumhuriyet Newspaper, it is stated that Turkey lags behind in terms of innovation indicators. Today, Turkey deserves to be boasted as the 17th largest economy, but it ranks 29th in the world in terms of R&D expenditures. In the 2012 budget negotiations, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey allocated 455 million for R&D and only 15 million for culture. The level of development of countries is directly proportional to the investment made in people and the share of GNP allocated to R&D.

According to the Cornell University and Global Innovation Index study, Turkey ranks 142th among 2013 countries in 68. There is a serious relationship between the world's best universities being good in education, R&D and innovation and the investment in people. According to a study conducted by the Martin Prosperity Institute in Canada, Turkey was ranked 82th in the 'talent index' and 59th in the creativity list among 68 countries. On the PISA scale, the OECD country ranks 47 out of 43 countries in terms of the mathematics and reading skills of our secondary school children.

There are serious problems in secondary education and universities in Turkey.

It is not a coincidence that we are behind in all these indicators, it is about the importance and effort our country gives to science. Everything develops depending on each other. The most serious problem of Turkey today is that it cannot produce information and technology suitable for its economic size.

Underneath all these inadequacies is the ineffectiveness of our education system, the inefficiency directly related to the lack of autonomy of our universities, and the lack of suitable working conditions. National Education is now dying. The same is true of universities. The problem is that the creativity of young people is blunted by test and rote-based exam systems. Individuals express themselves, and all kinds of differences do not occur, especially in universities. The main problem in universities is education, quality, creativity and how to raise (create) qualified people of the future. Frankly, I wonder how we will develop with this trend? How will we be in the top 10 economies of the world without science, university, creativity and freedom? While millions of terabytes of information are produced daily in the world, we are still talking about food, drink, dress and clothing in a power relationship.

We have to invest in qualified people

The problem is not to buy equipment, but to create qualified manpower. It is to raise self-confident people who are based on merit, have a strong academic background, and have unique ideas. Yes, the main problem of Turkey in creating science and innovation is your question of raising qualified people. Let's put aside all kinds of political discourse, we need to look at how we can prepare Turkey for the future. What can we do to have several universities around the world. We need to focus on how we create a few research universities that will educate and generate knowledge for all the talented youth of the country and produce models for these issues. The state of our universities today is not pleasant at all. Science, research, human upbringing seems to be forgotten. In universities, administrators at first think about how and with whom I can manage the situation without any problems in order to get along with Ankara and be elected again. Universities are suffering from not being able to do anything about it, but nothing is being done. It should be ensured that our universities urgently demand autonomy and return to their main duties, which will fulfill the duties of research, science, education and social enlightenment in accordance with the awareness of being a university.

This trend is doing more harm than good to our country. My fear is that even if the situation improves tomorrow, we will get worse as a result of people who do not know the concept of university and have not seen a university, manage the university like a school. The problem we are experiencing today stems from the fact that the university was perceived as a school and developed to be managed. I do not know how universities will account for history tomorrow. How will we be remembered in the history of science?

Turkey should urgently prepare a new Higher Education law, universities should be autonomous in all aspects. A restructuring based on human efficiency should be made all over again. The country's first priority should be education and science. Emphasis should be placed on raising scientists. An academic learning and transformation project including secondary education should be prepared. Universities should be opened to competition within themselves. Research institutions should receive support from the annexed budget as units working for the public good. University budgets should be determined in a way to carry out advanced scientific research, and scientific accountability should be ensured. When universities make strategic planning, budgets should be made in accordance with the strategic plans of faculties and departments. Each university or unit should be held accountable and supported by the academic activities they produce each year according to their strategic planning. Thus, they should be differentiated according to the success of universities and units. Otherwise, we have to ask ourselves what kind of university and developed country we will leave to future generations.

 

Source : Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Ortas T24

Günceleme: 04/12/2013 22:45