The rate of higher education graduates emigrating from Turkey has reached its highest level since 2015, when data collection began. According to TurkStat data, the brain drain rate was recorded at 2.2 percent in 2025.
According to the report published in Elips Haber by Şevval Dalgıç, while Istanbul ranks first in the data, Germany has become the country to which graduates are most inclined.
Sociologist Prof. Dr. Şükrü Aslan stated that attributing the increase solely to individual career choices would be incomplete. According to Aslan, when the rapid rise in the number of universities, political interventions in the academic field, and economic conditions are evaluated together, the picture points to "academic impoverishment."
Linking the prominence of Istanbul in the data to the increase in the number of state and foundation universities in the city, Aslan stated that the concentration of the academic population is also reflected in migration statistics. However, he pointed out that this density is not sufficient on its own to explain why qualified personnel are leaving the country.
Aslan argued that pressures on academic freedom and the politicization of universities have weakened scientific quality. He also assessed the dismissal of academics who signed the Academics for Peace declaration in 2016 as one of the significant breaking points in this process.
Emphasizing that economic conditions are also decisive in migration decisions, Aslan said that job opportunities for university graduates have narrowed and that current wages are insufficient for many people to sustain their lives. He noted that this pressure affects not only academics but also qualified human resources from different professional groups.
According to Aslan, the way to reduce brain drain lies in strengthening academic freedom, freedom of thought, and a sense of justice. It is emphasized that a free, safe, and predictable academic environment must be created for scientific production to develop and for younger generations to remain in Turkey.
News Source: 12punto
