CoHE Makes Arrangements to Prevent Exploitation in Procedures regarding
Equivalence and Transfers
April 9, 2021
With the legislative amendment published in the Official Gazette today,
an arrangement was made to prevent exploitation in the procedures
related to the diploma equivalence of higher education institutions
abroad and the transfers that have deeply wounded the conscience of the
community and was brought to the attention of the public by CoHE not
long ago.
In search of input-based qualification and quality, the condition of
success ranking was stipulated for some specific programs regarding the
practice of popular professions, and the whole academia and all segments of
society approved and supported CoHE’s arrangement.
The Council of Higher Education made
amendments that prevent the violation of principles of social justice
and equal opportunity
in the regulation to prevent the circumvention of the condition of success
ranking without meeting the competence requirements for programs that
require success ranking such as medicine, law and teaching by enrolling in
the related programs at overseas universities.
As is known, the procedures of students that graduate from overseas
universities are carried out according to the legislation on equivalence and the procedures of those that want to be
transferred to the same programs in Turkey before graduation are carried
out according to the legislation on transfers.
In consideration of the exploitations that have recently emerged
, the Council of Higher Education made changes in two regulations regarding
the issue.
1)
The process and conditions for transfers to programs that require success ranking were rearranged within the
framework of the principles of social justice and equal opportunity.
The amendments are as follows:
a)
Students enrolled in a university that is listed in the top 400 of the
world rankings that are determined by the ranking institutions recognized
by the Council of Higher Education can be transferred to the related
program of a Turkish higher education institution provided that they
fulfill the requirements of term/year and success ranking.
b)
The conditions and process for transfers of students that are enrolled in
universities that are not listed in the top 400 of the world rankings will
depend on the countries in which they completed their secondary education
in consideration of the principles of social justice and equal opportunity.
- Students, who completed their secondary education in Turkey, are required
to take the central placement exam and fulfill the condition of success
ranking in the relevant score type of the program that require success
ranking as of the enrollment year. Students who fulfill the requirement of
success ranking in the central examination can get transferred without
being subject to term or year limitations.
- Students who completed at least the last two years of their secondary
education abroad can be transferred to the related program of a Turkish
higher education institution provided that they successfully completed at
least four terms, excluding the preparatory year, of the program they are
enrolled in.
In this way, it is aimed to prevent the circumvention of success
ranking through transfers for students who did not fulfill the
requirement of success ranking in central exams or got lower scores.
Besides, the possibility of students being allowed to start studying in a
lower year compared to their current year should not be overlooked as the
Turkish university where the student got transferred to will carry out the
procedures for course/year adaptation under the principles for credit
transfers in the regulation.
https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2021/04/20210409-17.htm
2) Students who complete the degree programs that require the condition
of success ranking in programs taught in Turkish at universities abroad
will be required to fulfill the condition of success ranking to get
equivalence for their diplomas.
It is essential that students completing their secondary education in our
country are subject to the same conditions as their peers in accordance
with the principles of social justice and equal opportunity. For this
reason, it is not fair for a student who could not be placed in a program
taught in Turkish that require the condition of success ranking in our
country to get equivalence and have the same rights by completing the same
program at an overseas university without fulfilling the condition of
success ranking.
If a student, who fulfilled the condition of success ranking, graduated
from a program taught in Turkish at an overseas university, the equivalence
procedures for the diploma will be carried out within the framework of the
program qualifications required by the “
Regulation on Recognition and Equivalence of Foreign Higher Education
Diplomas
”. However, these individuals must complete the deficiencies regarding the
legislation on professional practices of the said programs.
For instance, individuals who graduated from a law school at an overseas
university and will practice one of the law professions (attorney, judge,
prosecutor, notary) in our country should successfully take the missing law
courses, which will be determined within the framework of program
qualifications by the Council of Higher Education, in a Turkish law school
even if the university they graduated from is listed in the top 400 of the
world rankings.
https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2021/04/20210409-16.htm