CoHE Delivers Good News to Prospective Academics: “YÖK Academic Career-Merit Project will be Opened”
February 11, 2021 / Ankara
President Erdoğan delivered the good news that the “YÖK Academic Career-Merit Project” would be opened in a week at the introductory meeting of the “YÖK Anatolia Project” which was held at the Presidential Palace last week. CoHE made the platform available for universities and academics.
The platform was promoted at the meeting held at CoHE. CoHE President Prof. M. A. Yekta Saraç headed the meeting and the members of the CoHE General Assembly participated in the event.
CoHE President Prof. M. A. Yekta Saraç made an opening speech. He noted that the YÖK Academic Career-Merit Platform was an important work of the Council of Higher Education which would allow the employment of PhD holders in the Turkish higher education system in a more transparent and merit-oriented manner.
CoHE President Saraç stated that universities in search of faculty members in line with their strategic goals and Turkish and foreign nationals, who completed their doctoral studies successfully and would like to work in the Turkish higher education system, would come together with the help of the YÖK Academic-Merit Platform, which is a service offered by the New CoHE. “The project will contribute to the process of fulfilling the need for PhD holders in the Turkish higher education system and it will be possible for the employment process of faculty members to be more transparent and based on qualifications, merit and competence,” he said.
Saraç noted that the project had two sections which are prospective faculty members with doctoral degrees and universities in need of competent faculty members. He added that Turkish and foreign nationals who completed their doctoral studies successfully could log in to the section for faculty members with doctoral degrees.
CoHE President said that the section for universities is in the module of “YÖK Career” which is found in the Higher Education Information System (YÖKSIS) and that the platform would allow universities to post their calls or advertisements to fulfill their need for faculty members with PhD degrees.
Saraç reiterated that the platform would be first opened for state universities and that it would be opened for foundation universities later.
Click here to read the full transcript of the speech made by CoHE President Prof. M. A. Yekta Saraç. (In Turkish)
- How will state universities meet faculty members with PhD degrees through the platform?
Higher education institutions can post their calls and announcements for faculty members with PhD degrees needed by their institutions by using the “YÖK Career” module on the Higher Education Information System (YÖKSIS).
Universities will post their calls to determine whether there are enough PhD holders willing to work in their preferred fields at their universities and add their announcements for faculty members with PhD degrees, which were published in the Official Gazette, to the announcement section.
The basic/scientific fields and keywords determined by the Interuniversity Board (ÜAK) will be used in the classification of the required fields in both calls and advertisements. In this way, the expertise that universities are looking for will be matched with the areas of expertise that people define themselves.
- How will prospective faculty members with PhD degrees benefit from the platform?
Turkish nationals will be able to enter the platform via "https://kariyer.yok.gov.tr" or through the E-Government Gateway.
They are expected to be PhD graduates to view the calls and advertisements posted by the universities. PhD graduates will be included in the system by filling out their personal information on the application.
After the candidates are registered in the system;
- They can see the calls and advertisements posted by the universities,
- They can follow/unfollow calls and advertisements,
- They can add their preferred calls and/or announcements to their lists/favorites,
- If they wish, they can send a "Letter of Intent".
A Letter of Intent includes the information the candidate wants to convey to the university for the call of interest and can only be viewed by the relevant university.
Candidates will receive automatic email notifications for calls and advertisements added to the platform that are compatible with their field and keyword selections. This notification will continue to be sent until the candidate terminates his membership in the system.
Those who have superior qualifications and want to be included in Turkish higher education will also be able to benefit from this platform.
CoHE officials stated that they believed that the issues experienced in the academia and subject to complaints can only be resolved through transparent processes, and that new regulations focused on merit and competence would be made in the academia.
Click here for the fact sheet on the YÖK Academic Career-Merit Project.