Accreditation Processes in Turkish Higher Education

Abstract

There has been considerable interest in national quality assurance process in Turkey following the pilot accreditation project of the Engineering College of the Middle East Technical University (METU) by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), in 2000. ABET accreditation of the Engineering Colleges of Bosphorus and Bilkent Universities followed that of METU. These universities use their accreditation by ABET to attract the best students in the country. Newly founded private universities, in particular, are trying to use the accreditation of their programmes by international accreditation agencies for marketing purposes. The Higher Educational Council [Yuksek Ögretim Kurumu (YÖK)], which governs all the universities in Turkey, is currently promoting accreditation studies to improve the quality of higher education in the universities. This is a report on accreditation processes in higher education in Turkey.