Universities in Turkey: Short Perspective from an Indonesian Student

Just like many other countries, study programs in Turkish universities are generally divided into Undergraduate, Master, and Doctoral levels. Top universities, in general, have better courses, facilities, and faculty members throughout all their departments compared to lower ranked universities. But, some lower ranked universities seem to actually specialize, and be more excellent in particular departments than top universities. For example, Gebze Technic University actually has very outstanding engineering departments, better than some of top 10 universities. Ege University, Akdeniz University, and Cukurova University also are not among the top 10 but they boast better Agriculture Faculties than some of top 10 universities.

These phenomena are good in my opinion since by this way development of Turkish universities can be done more equally, not too focused only on selected some. In case of agriculture, it is a right and logical decision to build the best Agricultural Departments in actual agriculture centers such as Antalya, Izmir, and Adana. If you to be accepted as a foreign student in a Agriculture Faculty, you would like the chance to learn in one of those three universities and experience to live in Turkish agricultural centers. Uniquely enough, Antalya, Izmir, and Adana are among the most populous cities in Turkey, which of course offer other life adventures as well.

As a matter of fact, Indonesian higher education institutes can glimpse to some of this system. While universities in Java should have excellent Agriculture Faculties, universities in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua need to have competent Forestry Departments. Culture and Tourism studies need to be centered in cities like Yogyakarta, Denpasar, Lombok, etc. It is also more sensible to have the top Geology and Mining Departments in areas that are actually rich in mining activites such as Papua and Kalimantan. Why should students go to Java to learn Forestry and Mining while there are no Forest and Mines in Java, right?