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This study aims to analyze the impacts of the state of emergency declared after the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey on the academic achievements of the universities.

After the coup attempt on July 15th of 2016 in Turkey, a total of 6,070 academics have been dismissed from 122 state institutions following 11 issued emergency decrees (KHK)[1]. 2,808 academics have been added to this list with the closure of 15 private universities [2]. In total,  8,878 academics have been dismissed from their jobs, corresponding to nearly 15 percent of the number of academics in Turkey. The academics who voluntarily left the country are not included in this number.

Considering graduate and undergraduate studies, an average of 12 years should be spent on being an academic. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the average amount of expenditure of a person starting from primary education until becoming an academic is approximately 124.448 USD [3]. This means Turkey’s financial loss to be roughly around 1.1 billion USD.

In this study, the impacts on the worldwide success ranking of the universities after the cruelty that occurred in public universities in Turkey are examined. The top 50 universities of Turkey are also amongst the 122 universities from where the academics were dismissed. The total number of dismissed academics from the 50 universities is 4,632. Table 1 and Figure 1 detail the number of dismissed academics on a university basis. Dumlupınar University ranks highest on that list, with its 13.6% of academics having been dismissed by emergency decrees. On average, one in every 7 scientists was dismissed. Figure 2 shows that 20 universities have the highest rate in this regard.

Observing the rate of change in academic ranking on a university basis reveals that the success rankings of these institutions decreased by an average of 18%, despite 5% dismissal rate at the top 50 universities [4]. This is an important indicator showing the contribution of the dismissed academics to the scientific achievements in Turkey. Another issue to consider is that instead of dismissed academics, new academics were recruited between 2016 and 2019, thereby increasing the total number of academics by around 7% [5]. Despite the new recruitments, academic setbacks at such a high level are very thought-provoking. The universities which had significant changes in the academic ranking are identified in Figure 3. Celal Bayar University ranks highest on that list, attracting large attention. It ranked 2,207 in the world university rankings before July 2016; however, its ranking dropped to 4,755 in December of 2019, a dramatic change by 109%. Celal Bayar University is followed by Bülent Ecevit University with a 70% drop rate. Noticeably, 42 of the 50 universities experienced a decrease in the world rankings, whereas only  8 universities’ rankings remained the same.

In conclusion, the personal success index (contribution index of the dismissed to academic success), which is formed by dividing the change in the ranking by the rate of dismissing, was calculated. The aim was to calculate the impact of dismissed academics on the success of universities. At this point, the most notable one is Ege University which is ranked highest on that list. Although the total number of dismissed academics at Ege University was 45 and its rate is 1.4%, the global ranking of this university has decreased from 674 to 913, which indicates that academic success has decreased by 35%. The index of this university was calculated at 25.33. Similarly, in the third place of the list, although the total number of dismissed academics at Istanbul Technical University was 32 and the rate was 1.4%, the world ranking of this university decreased by 19% and its index was 13,76. The universities that have the highest index are stated in Figure 4.

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References

1. Kural, B., Adal, H. (2018, July). Haber Listesi : Akademide İhraçlar 6 Bin 81’e Yükseldi.
   Retrieved from: http://bianet.org/bianet/ifade-ozgurlugu/198990-akademide-ihraclar-6-bin-81-e-yukseldi
2. Kural, B., (2016, August). Haber Listesi : Sayılarla Kapatılan Üniversiteler.
   Retrieved from: https://m.bianet.org/bianet/egitim/177442-sayilarla-kapatilan-universiteler
3. University Ranking by Academic Performance.(n.d.)
   Retrieved from: http://tr.urapcenter.org/2019/index.php
4. Country Note, (2014). Turkey–Education at a Glance 2014: OECD Indicators.
   Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/education/Turkey-EAG2014-Country-Note.pdf
5. Yuksek Ogretim Bilgi Yonetim Sistemi, (n.d.).
   Retrieved from: https://istatistik.yok.gov.tr/
6. http://www.webometrics.info/en

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