Diploma

Looking at the title, don't get carried away by empty dreams. I don't get into trivial matters. 

Diplomas don't really matter anyway.

There is a story often told in TEDx talks about a man without a diploma who became very wealthy. When asked,

"If you had a diploma, would you have achieved even greater things?"

He replied,

"No, I couldn't have, because if I had a primary school diploma, I would have become a security guard in New York; since I didn't have one, I couldn't."

This answer shows that these diploma issues no longer hold any real significance.

And now, rumors have emerged regarding İmamoğlu's diploma.

They say he transferred laterally while studying in Cyprus.

And that he also transferred vertically.

Those who write this clearly do not have a grasp of the subject.

Vertical transfer means moving from a two-year vocational school to a four-year faculty.

It is not an easy task.

I have seen people work like crazy in a two-year technical school and transfer to a four-year faculty. I have even seen some who worked very hard there as well and climbed to high positions like academician or general manager.

Nowadays, this vertical transfer is not very difficult.

In previous years, one could transfer from a two-year open education justice department—which could be entered without an exam as a second university—to a law faculty via the vertical transfer exam.

That has now been banned as well.

These transfers were nearly impossible in the nineties.

Quotas were very limited.

Not everyone with high grades could succeed. 

So, this rumor has no basis.

Let's come to lateral transfer.

Lateral transfer was also very difficult in the nineties.

From the Civil Engineering Department of Karadeniz Technical University, where I studied, only one or two people who studied like crazy in the library were able to transfer to the Civil Engineering Department of Istanbul Technical University.

It is not possible now.

The rules have changed.

Even if your grades are always 100, even if you are the best in the world, even if you are the son of Sultan Suleiman, if your university entrance score is lower than that of Istanbul Technical University, lateral transfer is impossible. In other words, you can only transfer from Karadeniz Technical University to Bayburt University, which has a lower score.

And no one does that.

Therefore, with the new rules, lateral transfer to high-scoring universities is not possible.

But it is still possible from outside Turkey. 

Meaning, if you arrange your affairs, you can even transfer from a poor American university to METU (ODTÜ).

You don't need to rank in the top fifty thousand at all.

So, transfer from abroad is still possible.

You can find a loophole and slip through.

Since diplomas are not as important as they used to be, they use this loophole for departments that only hardworking students can enter, such as medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, and law. 

Because there is a threshold of the top fifty thousand for medicine and the top 70 thousand for dentistry in the university entrance exam in Turkey.

Anyway, let's come to the Cyprus issue of İmamoğlu.

I do not have any documents in my possession.

The documents are at YÖK (Council of Higher Education).

If there is any irregularity, YÖK will publish the documents anyway.

That does not concern me.

Let me also write this.

The loophole issue existed in the 1990s as well.

In other words, the transfer from KTÜ to İTÜ, which is not possible now, was possible in the nineties, albeit difficult. 

It was possible, albeit difficult, from Cyprus universities.

In lateral transfers, university entrance scores were not taken as a basis as they are today.

A separate quota of 1-2 people was opened for those who wanted to transfer from Cyprus universities.

There is even a loophole for the children of those working in foreign missions of institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The YÖS exam.

This exam is actually for foreign students and the questions are very easy.

Even though they are Turkish citizens, Turks with foreign passports can also take this exam.

The children of some of our professors, who have dual citizenship because they were born abroad, also benefit from this simple exam.

There are even those who studied medicine and became doctors through YÖS.

So, the system was and is complex.

I enrolled in a school in America with my KTÜ civil engineering diploma and transcript without getting any equivalency.

However, when I returned with a 3.9 GPA, the diploma I received from a university in the top eighty in America was only valid with the equivalency approval of YÖK.

Because in the nineties, YÖK had not yet fully grouped and classified universities.

The recognition of universities was done manually.

While YÖK did not do it, higher education institutions in other countries had not made these classifications either.

Cyprus is included in this.

After all this technical information, let me write the essence of the matter.

I have been in it for 30 years, and even I have a hard time understanding it.

It is a dynamic system.

New regulations are constantly being made.

For example, taking the university entrance exam in Turkey is sufficient to enroll in any German university.

It is even possible to enroll in a university in America with just high school grades without taking the university entrance exam in Turkey.

If this university is in the top thousand in the world rankings, there is no problem with equivalency.

As a result,

In the İTÜ and YÖK of the nineties, it was not possible to perform any lateral or vertical transfer in violation of the procedure.

Outside of the Law, Regulation, and Principles, not even İmamoğlu, not even the son of Suleiman the Magnificent could have made this lateral transfer.

Let's say that and close the subject.