The Risk of 'Bulgarization' in Universities and Internationalization: A Major Task Falls to YÖK-2

Due to popular demand, it became necessary to write a second article on “Turkish Higher Education, Universities, and Foreign Students.”

Friends called and shared their stories.

Students who do not know Turkish or English.

Students who cannot even write in their own language.

Students who cannot write horizontally on paper.

In short, a population that is not literate.

I am, of course, excluding the sane majority.

My entire Sunday was spent answering WhatsApp messages.

As you know, the foundation of my writing is based on the interview given to Nuran Çakmakçı, the owner of the Education Radar column, by our esteemed Prof. Dr. Sezer Komsuoğlu, who served as Rector and Advisor to the President of YÖK for many years.

Two important events occurred during the publication phase of this interview and my article.

The Karabük incident and the Moscow attacks.

When I wrote my article, neither event had happened yet, but they formed the main idea of my piece.

Karabük and Ottoman-Russian relations.

Looking at the overlapping topics, it seems we haven't wasted our 28 years in academia, nor have we turned our hair gray in vain.

Anyway, let me say a few words in this article about the risk of BULGARIZATION in higher education.

Actually, everyone knows about it.

I heard about it last year while my son was making his university preferences.

It turns out it is possible to pay money and get an education in medicine, pharmacy, law, or engineering at universities in the Balkan region.

They say you can get a medical degree without ranking in the top 50 thousand in Turkey, a law degree without the top 125 thousand, and an engineering degree without the top 300 thousand, all from Balkan and Bulgarian universities.

And these diplomas even have a “blue tick.”

Of course, they can get them.

After all, in the liberal world, both education and healthcare are now paid services.

Let us not be surprised if justice becomes paid soon as well.

Those of us who bash the “Traditional Social State” and chase “Rabid Liberal” policies can celebrate.

You cannot enter a campus in America or England without paying money either.

But you cannot get a diploma without going to school.

Especially since entering European universities is not difficult, but graduating is not easy at all.

The dropout rate from German universities is not a negligible figure.

They say 3 or 4 out of every 10 people are expelled.

It used to be like that for us too.

Not everyone who entered university could finish; they would extend their studies, and there were even those who returned after being expelled through amnesty.

I extended my studies by one semester because I got a 40 on my steel construction final, even though I would have passed if I had gotten a 42.

My late professor, Şenay Saydaş, never showed me any mercy.

There is no such system anymore.

For many universities, both entry and exit have become quite easy.

The “What if it’s heard?” syndrome is poisoning the system.

(We have even seen someone who couldn't even rank in the top one million in the university exam become a district governor and not pay for the kebab they ate.)

In civilized countries and Europe, paying money is definitely not enough for you to get a diploma.

You need to put in serious effort, stay sleepless, and worry about passing courses.

Professors never graduate students without teaching them the necessary basic details.

In other words, he who pays the piper does not necessarily call the tune.

Professors still have authority, weight, and power.

You do not encounter wishes from some to “turn a blind eye” to cheating, to ask “slightly” difficult questions, or to pressure students “a little” more out of fear of “What if it’s heard?”

You have to earn your degree.

Exams, assignments, projects, social responsibility projects, internships.

Sleepless nights.

Vitamin supplements.

You must fulfill all of them properly.

Despite all this, getting a diploma is still not guaranteed.

If these seem too hard, then off to the Balkans.

There are no exams, no assignments, and no projects.

You don't even have to go to school every day.

After going only 2-3 times a year to stop by the school and take a vacation, the diploma arrives by cargo with sham exams where the questions are given upon entering the exam hall.

A 4-year faculty degree is completed, but one hasn't even stayed in Bulgaria for 40 days.

You can even get a diploma that requires 4 years of education in just one year with accelerated registration dates.

On the days they stayed, they were more sleepless in Varna casinos than on campus.

Friends who say they studied in BULGARIA are waiting in line at YÖK for equivalence. Many have received it, and the rest will receive it soon.

Then the incident exploded in Cyprus.

There were detentions that started in Cyprus and extended all the way to Ankara.

Just like the fake diplomas distributed by the rector of a foundation university in Ankara, who stayed in prison for quite a while.

Diplomas arrived before the tea they drank with the Turkish delight brought by those who came to congratulate them on their position was even finished.

The public is even joking with each other in ministries, asking which diploma you got and why you didn't get a pilot's license.

Of course, this rector of ours did not go to prison for fake diploma fraud.

Now, virtual universities like “One Phone One Tripod University” have started to emerge.

I even saw advertisements for a university approved by America in a room of a skyscraper.

They found a retired professor, had that professor teach all the courses, and distributed diplomas.

YÖK is following these closely and not granting equivalence.

Anyway, there is no one who doesn't know what I've written.

Let's get to the core of the matter.

A very big task falls to the Council of Higher Education (YÖK).

In our country, where hundreds of thousands of foreign students come with great hopes, universities must be very selective.

They should not take children who have no middle or high school education, who are at the hunger threshold, and whose identity cards are even problematic, and bring them to our country.

They should educate children who have a future ahead of them thoroughly and graduate them with the necessary equipment.

Sentences like “Which university did you graduate from?” or “I wish I could love the professor who graduated you” should not be encountered.

They should not turn the education fair in African countries into a labor market.

They should subject them to a screening exam, even if it is simple.

They should not treat students like cattle and put them on a risky migration route.

They should not position Turkey as a transit country and our universities as Bulgarian Universities.

They should not make the poor, oppressed African children, who are struggling under Francophone influence and whose homes have been destroyed, appetizers for the French intelligence service DGSE.

In fact, those who committed the illegitimate acts in Karabük are definitely not ordinary African students who want to learn something from Turkish Universities. These are DGSE agents infiltrated among these poor children to smear Turkey and stain Turkish Higher Education.

It seems that the Francophones have put Turkish Higher Education and Universities in their crosshairs to further exploit African children and African resources.

There is an atmosphere as if they are trying to show Turkish Universities as illegitimate and turn the route of Africans coming to our country in another direction.

Of course, our Rectors should also be interested in the quality of education rather than constantly bringing up the number of foreign students and being proud of it.

Otherwise, Turkish Universities will become institutions where time is spent rather than institutions where education is received, and in 5-10 years, they may have to be proud of the number of students they brought from Bangladesh.

Of course, those concerned know what I know and are taking precautions against the risk of BULGARIZATION of our universities.