Turkey's most prestigious universities were the target of a pro-government columnist on Friday, who wrote that they should be replaced with schools promoting Turkish culture and claimed their students are “willing agents of other cultures.”
Yusuf Kaplan, who writes for the staunchly pro-government Yeni Şafak daily, said İstanbul's Boğaziçi University and Ankara's Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) and Bilkent University should be “demolished” so they can be replaced with schools similar to US Ivy League universities that he said are “tracing [roots of] American culture and striving to nurture an American spirit.”
These new schools, he wrote, should be modeled on the Nezamiyehs, medieval higher education institutions established by Seljuk Empire vizier Nizam al-Mulk in the 11th century, and they should educate “our vanguard generations on the basis of our civilization theses.”
Kaplan's call for the elimination of the three universities was one of his 20 recommendations for President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He also suggested that “Quran universities” that will conduct “world-renowned, pioneering studies” be established, along with institutions focusing on teachings, among others, of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism.
His other proposals included a “revolution in education, culture and media” to save the young generation from turning into “shallow individuals that have become slaves of a culture of consumption.”
“If these three revolutions are not carried out, we will become extinct in 20 years,” he said.
[h=2]University rankings[/h]
According to 2013 data from the Higher Education Board (YÖK), there are 170 universities in Turkey. Based on research conducted by the ODTÜ-based University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), the three universities that Kaplan suggests shutting down are Turkey's top three.
URAP's statistics include information on 125 of Turkey's universities and compile rankings based on nine criteria, including the number of articles published, the number of articles per academic, the number of citations, the number of citations per academic, the number of scientific papers, the number of scientific papers per academic and the number of doctorate students.
The highest score in all criteria went to Hacettepe University, followed by ODTÜ in second place and İstanbul University in third place.
For the subject of engineering, based on four of the criteria, ODTÜ was in first place, followed by İstanbul Technical University (İTÜ) and Gazi University.
ODTÜ is ranked as the top university for social sciences, followed by Bilkent. Boğazici University is ranked sixth on this list.
Another university rankings compilation released in 2012 lists ODTÜ, Bilkent and Boğaziçi in the top three.
Only five universities -- ODTÜ, Boğaziçi, İTÜ, Bilkent and Koç -- are listed in the Global Universities Index 2012-2013, compiled by the Times Higher Education (THE).
