Higher education during times of crisis in Türkiye | LSE Higher Education

Last year, we commemorated the 100-year anniversary of the Turkish republic with a series of events organised by the Chair of Contemporary Turkish Studies at the European Institute, LSE. One of our cornerstone events was a two-day workshop organised in collaboration with the European Institute at Istanbul Bilgi University. During the workshop, we reviewed the accomplishments of the Turkish higher education sector in the past century, with a particular focus on the main challenges it still faced.

In the process, we uncovered a number of diverse crises that confronted Turkish universities in the last decades. It was not just the so-called “refugee crisis” that impacted universities; there have been other disruptions too. Some of these interruptions reflected global dynamics, such as the pandemic, while some seem to be in line with regional trends, such as growing political polarisation and Euroscepticism. However, there were also disruptions unique to Türkiye, such as the February 2023 earthquakes.

The collection of blogposts in this special issue reflects our discussions around these crises and their impact on the Turkish higher education sector. The posts focus on the personal experiences of academics during times of crisis, provide evidence from students’ perspectives, and reflect research findings.