Rate of Female Professors at Turkish Universities Surpasses European Average

June 5, 2021 / Ankara


There are 8 million 219 thousand 518 students, 90 thousand 338 faculty members and 180 thousand 65 academic staff in 207 higher education institutions, including 129 state universities, 74 foundation universities and four foundation vocational schools, in Turkey.

The number of male students in higher education is 51 percent with 4 million 178 thousand 286, while the number of female students is 49 percent with 4 million 41 thousand 232. The rate of female students increased from 42 percent in 2002 to 49 percent, with the spread of universities across the country.

The Council of Higher Education established women’s research centers under various names at universities and carried out several studies with the related academic units. In addition, a cooperation commission was established with relevant institutions to allow female academics to take more part in research and innovation. Activities are carried out at CoHE to increase the number and visibility of senior female executives in the academia.

The number of academics, which was 74 thousand 134 in 2003, reached 180 thousand 65 in 2020, of which 98 thousand 404 are men and 81 thousand 661 are women. While the rate of female academics among the total number of academics is over 45 percent, which is consisted of 10 thousand 11 female professors, 7 thousand 190 associate professors, 18 thousand 736 female assistant professors and 45 thousand 724 female lecturers.

The number of female research assistants in law has exceeded the number of male research assistants.

On the other hand, the number of female research assistants in the academia exceeded that of men. There are 51 thousand 412 research assistants, including 26 thousand 352 women and 25 thousand 60 men, in Turkey.

10 thousand 11 female professors are working in the academia

According to the statistics of CoHE, there are 10 thousand 11 female professors in Turkey. The rate of women constitutes 32.5 percent of the total number of professors. The statistics show that the rate of female professors in Turkey exceeds the average of EU countries. Accordingly, the rate of female professors in Turkey, with a rate of 32.5%, surpassed EU countries, with an average of 20.8 percent, and was balanced with the average of the USA, which was 32.5 percent.

With 45 percent, the rate of female faculty in Turkey has surpassed the EU average of 41.3 percent and the US average of 42.5 percent.

394 women are in senior management positions in the academia

394 academic women, 255 of whom are at state universities and 139 at foundation universities, are working as deans and rectors at 203 universities in Turkey.

While 17 female rectors are working in Turkey, the average rate of female rectors in 48 member states is 15 percent according to the report published by the European University Association and there are no women in this position in 20 of these countries. Of the 377 female deans, 129 work at universities in the Marmara Region, 95 in the Central Anatolia Region, 50 in the Aegean Region, 38 in the Mediterranean Region, 27 in the Black Sea Region, 23 in the Eastern Anatolia Region, and 15 in the Southeastern Anatolian Region. The similarity of female deans in terms of the number of faculties across Turkey stands out when we take a closer look at these rates.

Source: Anadolu Agency