Unemployed university graduates…

Every day, news reports about the shortage of intermediate staff appear in the media… Whether it is the industrial sector or the service sector, the need for intermediate staff in almost all sectors is as clear as day…

This shortage of intermediate staff is justified by some as, "Look, Syrians are working as laborers, Turks don't like the jobs available." There are even those who take it further and say, "If Syrian refugees return, industrial production will be in great difficulty."

Is that really the case?

Recently, the chef of a restaurant I visited came to me as soon as he saw me. Since we provide political commentary on the current political agenda, people share their troubles with us wherever we go.

The head waiter started by saying; "We recently posted a job opening to hire a waiter… Even a young graduate of public administration applied…" The business that posted the job ad is confused, and the young people applying are confused… Young people who study international relations, public administration, business, law, and engineering in every field for years with great dreams and hopes face very serious employment problems when they graduate. On the other hand, furniture makers, hairdressers, hotels, and both the service and production sectors are looking for intermediate staff in every field. It is clear that there is a very serious lack of planning…

The AKP government's education goal from the very first day, the "project to build a university in all 81 provinces," is actually one of the root causes of the intermediate staff shortage that Turkey is experiencing today.

Can the goal be to open a university in every city?

If quality education is provided and quota planning based on employment is carried out, it can certainly be a goal.

For example, when we look at the United Kingdom, we see that there are approximately 165 universities for a population of 68 million. 12 of these universities are among the top 100 in the world rankings…

Although this figure may change in the evaluations made every year, in general, 10 to 15 percent of the top 100 universities consist of universities in the United Kingdom. I am aware that I have chosen a very good example for comparison, but I still wanted to make this note to state that having many universities is not a negative thing, and that what is important is to open quality universities.

The critical point here is quality universities and planned quotas. So, what is the situation in Turkey?

As of 2024, there are 204 universities in Turkey. According to YÖK (Council of Higher Education) data, 129 are state universities and 75 are foundation universities.

Again, according to the news shared on YÖK's official website, in the QS 2025 World University Rankings, where 5,663 leading universities in the world were evaluated and 1,503 were ranked, the number of universities from Turkey entering the top 500 increased from 3 to 5.

METU ranked 285th, ITU 326th, Koç University 401st, Boğaziçi University 418th, and Bilkent University 477th.

In that case, instead of setting the goal from the very beginning as opening a university in every province, it was necessary to set the goal as creating a university at the level of METU, ITU, or Boğaziçi in every province.

Let alone creating a Boğaziçi in every province, everything that could happen has happened to the existing Boğaziçi… How tragic…

On the other hand, to solve the intermediate staff shortage, incentives should be provided to employees who are graduates of vocational and technical high schools. Considering that one-third of young people between the ages of 20-24 are neither in work nor in education and are sitting at home, initiatives on this issue need to start urgently.

As a final word, the basis of everything is planning…

Look at what the French author of the classic book The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, says; "A goal without a plan is just a wish."