CoHE’s Important Decision to Transfer Powers to Education Faculties
August 18, 2020
As is known, the New CoHE initiated the process of "delegation of
authority" to universities, made arrangements in many topics, including the
establishment of boards such as the Advisory Board for Higher Education
Programs and Turkish Higher Education Quality Council, and transferred
powers and duties to higher education institutions during this process.
CoHE has been transforming the system gradually as it is
working to increase the quality of the Turkish university system, to
develop and strengthen its own "institutional capacity", especially in
human resources, research, education and training, and to accelerate the
decision processes. The decisions taken at CoHE in the last six years and
the arrangements made in different norms regarding the legislation clearly
indicate this change and development.
Under the coordination of the Council of Higher Education, the first
restructuring of studies regarding the faculties of education/educational
sciences and teaching undergraduate programs were carried out within the
scope of the Ministry of National Education Development Project in 1997 and
1998, and partial arrangements were made in 2006 and 2009. Due to the new
conditions and needs, new arrangements were made regarding the faculties of
education, depending on the structural changes made in the education system
in 2012. After the departments and undergraduate programs were reviewed,
necessary arrangements and updates were made. New programs have been
implemented since the 2018-2019 academic year. The courses in the teaching
undergraduate programs that were updated in 2018 are categorized in three
groups: 45-50% for Field Education Courses, 30-35% forProfessional Teaching Knowledge Courses and 15-20% for General Knowledge Courses, as in the previous terms.
Recently, many steps have been taken towards the goals we set in higher
education, arrangements have been made and there has been some positive
developments. It is considered that allowing the related higher education institutions to
develop and update the teaching undergraduate programs of the faculties of
education/educational sciences according to theTurkish Qualifications Framework and General Competencies of Teaching Profession determined by
the Ministry of National Education would be the right choice. Because
program development in education is a dynamic and continuous process.
Turkish universities have the capacity to manage this dynamic process, and
the academic staff have the competence to develop and update programs.
In this context, the issue was discussed at the Higher Education General
Assembly meeting held on 10.08.2020, and the decision of the Higher
Education General Assembly dated 12.04.2018 regarding teaching programs was
annulled.
It was decided to authorize the relevant boards of higher education
institutions in determining the courses, curricula and credits in
teaching programs provided that the following conditions are fulfilled:
a)
Taking into account the categories of “Field Education Courses”,
“Professional Teaching Knowledge Courses” and “General Knowledge Courses”
when working on the course categories.
b)
Taking into account the listing of these categories when working onnumber of courses, course hours/number of credits and frequency of credits.
This arrangement on the faculties of education grants Turkish universities
a broad freedom of action and this “delegation of authority” can be
considered as a historic decision for the faculties of education and
teaching programs.
As the New CoHE, we believe in the competence and abilities of Turkish
universities, the academic and professional sensibilities of
professors, and the love of students for teaching.
It is right for CoHE to make arrangements at a high level after drawing the
general framework on issues related to higher education, and continue the
process with monitoring, assessment and audit.
We believe that CoHE, whose primary duty is to develop policies on higher
education, needs to be an institution that tries to increase access to
higher education by giving importance to equity, social justice and equal
opportunities and prepare the conditions for science to become a rising
value in society and drive the society forward.
Acting on these thoughts, we would like to reiterate that we have
“restructured the higher education system gradually on the basis of
continuous improvement” with the arrangements and legislative changes we
have made in recent years.
This process will continue.