Bill on student amnesty passed in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey: One article removed

According to the passed articles, the time spent by members of the Higher Education Supervisory Board on the Board will be considered as time actually spent in their profession according to the provisions of the special laws to which they are subject, and will be taken into account in the calculation of promotion, separation into the first class, and the duration of becoming a first-class member. Regarding the age limit for members, the age limit of the position held before being elected as a member will be taken as the basis.

Among faculty members who have applied before the date they reach the age limit and are in faculty positions as of the contract date, those whose continued service in departments and programs determined by higher education institutions is deemed beneficial may be employed on a contract basis for two-year periods, not exceeding the age of 75, until they are entitled to a retirement or old-age pension, with the opinion of the higher education institution and the decision of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK). The Council of Higher Education will be authorized to limit the number of contract faculty members to be employed under this paragraph by department, program, or higher education institution, and to make the necessary determinations to ensure that the implementation is carried out in accordance with service requirements and academic criteria.

In order to ensure the sustainability of contract faculty employment, it will be stipulated that the personal rights existing while working as a tenured faculty member will continue while working as a contract faculty member for those working as contract faculty members due to the age limit, and that implementation unity will be ensured between faculty members in both statuses regarding payments based on actual work.

Faculty members who receive an official invitation from higher education institutions in Turkic Republics and related communities may be granted paid leave for a period not exceeding 3 years, with all personal rights reserved, upon the decision of the university board of directors and the approval of the Ministry of National Education. This period may be extended up to 5 years in universities established by international treaties and in programs opened within foreign higher education institutions in accordance with bilateral agreements as required by protocols to which the Council of Higher Education is a party.

With the regulation, final-year students, excluding the internship training period, who are unable to graduate from the educational institution where they are registered at the end of the maximum education period, will be granted two additional exams or a repetition right for all theoretical or applied courses they have failed or have not taken.

Students who have passed theoretical or applied courses but have not started or completed their applied training or internship training, or who have failed, will be given the opportunity to complete their applied or internship training. Intermediate-year students who have completed their maximum education period will not be granted the right to additional exams.

The Council of Higher Education will be authorized to determine the principles regarding applied training and internship training.

A penalty of dismissal from the profession will be applied to those who use publications and works produced by others for a fee or free of charge, which are not based on their personal effort and accumulation, in appointments, promotions, and the acquisition of titles and degrees, as well as to those who perform these acts on behalf of others or mediate these acts.

REGULATIONS REGARDING DISCIPLINARY INVESTIGATION

With the amendment made to the Law, the procedures and principles regarding disciplinary investigation, the conduct of the investigation, and the use of the rights to express and defend are being rearranged, taking into account the cancellation decision of the Constitutional Court. Thus, it is aimed to ensure the principles of legal security and certainty, as well as the right to a fair hearing.

According to the provision titled "Disciplinary investigation, right to give a statement and defense," in a disciplinary investigation, the invitation to give a statement sent by the investigator to the person under investigation will clearly state what the allegations are, and it will be notified that the statement will be taken within a period of not less than 7 days, and that if no oral or written statement is given within this period, action will be taken within the scope of the existing evidence in the file. The investigator will make a proposal within the scope of the collected evidence.

In the invitation to defense sent to the person under investigation by the authority authorized to impose disciplinary penalties, it will be notified what the act forming the basis of the proposal consists of, what the disciplinary penalty corresponding to this act is, and that they must make their defense within a period of not less than 7 days. The invitation letter will also inform the person under investigation that if they do not make their defense within the given period, they will be deemed to have waived their right to defense and a decision will be made about them based on the existing evidence. In the invitation to defense, it will be notified to the person under investigation that they can examine the investigation documents before using their right to defense.

For faculty members and research assistants who have sub-specialties according to medical specialty legislation, the additional payment ceiling rates will be adjusted to match the payment rates received by their counterparts working at the Ministry of Health.

Faculty members assigned to joint research centers in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law will continue to benefit from additional payments within the scope of their relevant legislation, taking into account their contributions to the revolving fund activities carried out at their own universities. Durable movable goods purchased from the income of the projects carried out may be recorded in the inventory of the coordinator university and allocated to the universities of the joint application and research center within the scope of the project. When the project is completed, the board of directors of the joint application and research center will decide to which higher education institution the durable movable goods will be given through free transfer between institutions. In case of a change in the coordinator university, the debts, receivables, and cash balances of the joint application and research center will be transferred to the new coordinator university.

In order to support scientific research projects carried out within the relevant universities, taking into account the 2.5 percent rate of the gross revenue of the previous year of health facilities in joint use within the scope of the Basic Law on Health Services, the necessary appropriation in the central government budget for that year will be allocated to the relevant university budget. In the event that a health facility in joint use has signed a protocol with more than one university, the 2.5 percent rate will be calculated by dividing it in proportion to the number of faculty members assigned by the universities to the health facility in joint use. The procedures and principles regarding the transactions to be carried out within this scope will be determined by a regulation to be issued by the Council of Higher Education after obtaining the favorable opinion of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance and the Ministry of Health.

REGULATIONS FOR FOUNDATION UNIVERSITIES

With the regulation, higher education institutions established by law, regardless of whether they are state or foundation, will begin education and training with the decision of the Council of Higher Education. Academic units that have started education and training may be closed by the decision of the President for faculties, institutes, and colleges, and by the decision of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) for academic units such as conservatories, vocational schools, and application and research centers, depending on the circumstances and for reasons that arise later.

Legal regulations are being made regarding administrative sanctions and measures to be applied to foundation higher education institutions. In this context, it is determined that measures and sanctions such as warning or requesting warning and correction, suspension of requests for establishing new academic units and/or opening programs, restriction of student quotas or stopping student admission, temporary suspension of operating licenses, and revocation of operating licenses may be applied to foundation higher education institutions depending on the severity of their acts and transactions.

In cases where the founding foundation cannot eliminate the grounds leading to the application of the sanction of temporary suspension of the operating license within 3 years, and it is understood that this situation is continuous, the operating license of the foundation higher education institution will inevitably be revoked.

If the financial structure of the foundation higher education institution and the founding foundation deteriorates to such an extent that they cannot continue their education and training activities and this situation is continuous, the foundation higher education institution's operating license will be revoked and it will be transferred to a state university in the same province that the guarantor or YÖK deems appropriate. The guarantor university will cover the education and training costs of the students of the foundation higher education institution whose operating license has been revoked with the student fees it has taken over and from the collateral account, and will not use public resources.

HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS WILL BE ABLE TO ESTABLISH JOINT OFFICES

Boards of directors of higher education institutions may decide to transfer the ownership of service inventions within the scope of the Industrial Property Law to the Technology Transfer Offices (TTO), provided that the expenses are covered from the capital of the TTOs. In this case, the rights and obligations of the higher education institution arising from the relevant legislation will belong to the TTO. The TTO will be obliged to pay one-third of the income obtained from the rights registered in its own name to the revolving fund of the higher education institution that transferred the said rights, and an amount not less than one-third to the inventor; the remaining amount will remain with the TTO. No deductions other than the treasury share can be made from these amounts transferred to the revolving fund, and these amounts will be used for the expenses specified in the Law. The provisions of this article will also apply to inventions and applications whose ownership was within the higher education institutions before the date this regulation entered into force.

More than one higher education institution may apply to establish a joint office. In this case, the higher education institution where the office is established on its campus or in the technology development zone of which it is a partner will be indicated as the addressee institution in the application. Other legal entities deemed to contribute to the office's activities may become partners provided that they put capital into the office. The office may invest in the commercialization of information produced and inventions made using its own capital or income, or establish partnerships with public and private sector companies.

State higher education institutions in Turkey may establish campuses, academic units, programs, and other facilities needed in this context abroad with the decision of the President. Academic and administrative personnel needed by the overseas units established in accordance with this regulation may be employed by assignment from their own university or from higher education institutions in Turkey, or locally on a contract basis or in return for an hourly wage, by applying the provisions of the relevant Law.

The qualifications, wages, selection principles and procedures, duty locations and durations, maximum contract duration, leaves, termination of their duties abroad, and other procedures and principles regarding the implementation of this article for personnel other than those to be employed by assignment from higher education institutions in Turkey will be determined by the decision of the President.

The procedures and principles regarding the account where the income obtained from the university's activities abroad will be kept, the expenditures to be made, the resources to be transferred from the university budget, and the accounting and auditing of the account will be determined by the relevant university after obtaining the favorable opinion of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance and the Presidency of Strategy and Budget.

SANCTIONS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ACADEMIC WORK DONE BY OTHERS

With the regulation, individuals who obtain an associate, undergraduate, or graduate diploma degree or academic title through works such as theses, articles, books, or projects that they have written partially or completely by others for a fee or free of charge, excluding contributions that do not contain academic evaluation such as survey application and data collection, outside of their personal effort and academic accumulation, will be dismissed from the university teaching profession, and the academic degrees and titles obtained in this way will be revoked.

Individuals who perform or produce such publications or works partially or completely on behalf of others for a fee or free of charge, or who mediate these, will be given a judicial fine of 5 thousand to 10 thousand days. If the act is committed by persons who make it their profession, the judicial fine to be imposed will not be less than 10 thousand days and not more than 20 thousand days. Individuals who obtain a diploma degree or academic title by using these publications and works will be given a judicial fine of 5 thousand to 10 thousand days.

For this crime, the relevant provisions of the Turkish Penal Code will be applied to legal entities.

Those who open associate, undergraduate, or graduate programs in Turkey in a manner contrary to the legislation by acting on behalf of an educational institution located abroad, or those who operate these programs, will be punished with imprisonment from 2 to 4 years and a judicial fine from 100 to 1000 days; those who open or operate a higher education institution in Turkey contrary to the legislation will be punished with imprisonment from 2 to 4 years and a judicial fine from 100 to 1000 days. In this context, those who promote the prohibited institutions and acts will be given imprisonment from 1 to 3 years and a judicial fine from 50 to 500 days.

Those who forge or have forged diplomas, graduation certificates, or certificates belonging to Turkish or foreign higher education institutions will be punished according to the "Forgery of official documents" provision of the Turkish Penal Code.

With the regulation, a regulation is being made for foundation higher education institutions that have a medical faculty but do not have their own hospital. Universities that cannot open a hospital within the specified period, those that have not yet been able to start the hospital construction on a suitable immovable property they own or have an easement right for a period of not less than 30 years due to mandatory reasons such as zoning cancellation or judicial process, or those that have not yet finished the construction they have started, and those that have started the processes of taking over the ownership or easement right, operating right, and license of a suitable hospital within the scope of this provision for a period of not less than 30 years but could not complete the transfer processes, will be given an additional 30 months to complete these processes. At the end of these periods, students of medical faculties that do not meet the necessary conditions will be transferred by YÖK to the guarantor university or a state university to be determined.

1 ARTICLE REMOVED FROM THE BILL

During the discussions in the General Assembly, with the motion of the AKP that was accepted, the regulation regarding not giving a share from the revolving fund income to those who are doing specialty training in the foreign national quota in higher education institutions and research and application hospitals affiliated with the Ministry of Health was removed from the bill.

Following the acceptance of the first 13 articles of the bill and the completion of the discussions on the entire second section, Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Celal Adan adjourned the session. After the break, as the commission did not take its place, Adan closed the session to meet today at 14.00.