Turkey is a Paradise for Foreign Academics Who Have No Better Place to Go’: The structure of transnational academic mobility towards Turkey

Abstract

Transnational academic mobilities are on the rise globally. While most of these mobilities are directed towards developed countries, it is seen in the recent years that the number of academics who have moved to developing countries increased also. One of these countries is Turkey. This study discusses the socio-spatial outlook of transnational academic mobility in Turkey. This discussion is divided into these four themes which were put forward by Terri Kim (2009) in order to understand the pattern of transnational academic mobility: Who moves (1), what kind of information they act on (2), where they move (3) and what influences these mobilities (4). Information obtained from CoHE (the Council of Higher Education in Turkey), curriculum vitae of academics and in-depth interviews with academics were used within the scope of the study. The findings of the study showed that in most universities, nationality, religion and gender are taken into consideration before the qualification processes of foreign academics. In general, those who come from developed countries are employed by private universities whereas those who come from countries that are less developed than Turkey are employed by public universities. Most of the academics are employed in temporary positions and the academic expectation from them are limited to the lectures which they give frequently. This situation decreases the transnationalization of higher education by employing foreign academics (macro level); increases the attractiveness of Turkey for the academics who are under the stress of academic performance (meso level) and causes it to become ethnic clustering in many cities (micro level).

Keywords

• transnational academic mobility
• foreign academics
• higher education
• Turkey

Turkey is a Paradise for Foreign Academics Who Have No Better Place to Go’: The structure of transnational academic mobility towards Turkey

Abstract

Ulusaşırı akademik hareketlilik küresel olarak artıyor. Hareketliliklerin çoğu gelişmiş ülkelere doğru olsa da son zamanlarda gelişmekte olan ülkelerde de yabancı akademiyenlerin sayısının arttığı görülüyor. Bu ülkelerden biri de Türkiye’dir. Bu çalışmada Türkiye’de ulusaşırı akademik hareketliliğin sosyo-mekansal görünümü tartışılmaktadır. Bu tartışma Terri Kim’in ulusaşırı akademik hareketliliğin paterninini anlamak için ortaya koyduğu 4 tema altında yapılmaktadır: Kim hareket ediyor (1), ne tür bilgiyle hareket ediyor (2), nereye hareket ediyor (3), bu hareketlilikleri ne etkiliyor (4). Çalışma kapsamında Yükseköğretim Kurumu İstatistiklerinden, akademisyenlerin erişime açık özgeçmişlerinden ve akademisyenlerle yapılan derinlemesine görüşmelerden yararlanıldı. Çalışmanın bulguları gösterdi ki çoğu üniversitede yabancı akademisyenlerin niteliklerinden önce milliyetleri, dinleri ve toplumsal cinsiyetleri dikkate alınıyor. Genellikle gelişmiş ülkelerden gelen akademisyenler özel üniversitelerde, Türkiye’den daha az gelişmiş ülkelerden gelenler ise devlet üniversitelerinde istihdam ediliyorlar. Akademisyenlerin çoğu geçici pozisyonlarda çalışıyorlar ve daha çok ders vermeyle yükümlü olan bu kişilerden yayına dayalı akademik performans beklentisi ise sınırlıdır. Bu durum, Türkiye’de yabancı istihdamı yoluyla yükseköğretimin ulusaşırılaşmasını azaltmakta (makro düzey); akademik performans baskısı altındaki akademisyenler için Türkiye’nin çekiciliğini artırmakta (mezzo düzey) ve çoğu kentin etnik kümelenme alanına dönüşmesine neden olmaktadır (mikro düzey).

Keywords

• Ulusaşırı akademik hareketlilik
• Yabancı akademisyenler
• Yükseköğretim
• Türkiye

References

1. Alptekin, D. (2011). Sokaktan Akademiye: Kadın Hareketinin Kurumsallaşma Süreci (From Street to Academy: Institutionalism Process of Woman’s Movement). Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 26: 32-43.
2. Arslan, N. (2017). Beyin Göçü ve Diaspora Ağları (Brain Drain and Diaspora Networks). Sosyal Siyaset Konferansları 73 (2): 1-33.
3. Beck, U. (2006). Power in a Global Age: A New Global Political Economy. Blackwell, Oxford.
4. Bilecen, B. (2013). Negotiating Differences: Cosmopolitan Experiences of International Doctoral Students. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education 43 (5): 667-688.
5. Bilecen, B. and Van Mol, C. (2017). Introduction: International Academic Mobility and Inequalities. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 43 (8): 1241-1255.
6. Burford, J., Uerpairojkit, T., Eppolite, M. and Vachananda, T. (2019). Analysing the National and Institutional Policy Landscape for Foreign Academics in Thailand: Opportunity, Ambivalence and Threat. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 41 (4): 416-429.
7. Burke, P. (2010). Bilginin Toplumsal Tarihi: Gutenberg’den Diderot’a (A Social History of Knowledge: From Gutenberg to Diderot). Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, İstanbul.
8. Charle, C. and Verger, J. (2005). Üniversitelerin Tarihi (Histoire des Universités). Dost Yayınları, Ankara.

9. CoHE (the Council of Higher Education in Turkey) Statistics (2018). Statistics of Foreign Academic Staff. https://istatistik.yok.gov.tr/ Last Access: 12.10.2019.
10. Çetinsaya, G. (2014). Büyüme, Kalite, Uluslararasılaşma: Türkiye Yükseköğretimi için Bir Yol Haritası (Growth, Quality, Internationalization: A Road Map for Turkey Higher Education). Anadolu Üniversitesi Yayınları, Eskişehir.
11. De Bel-Air, F. (2016). Migration Profile: Turkey. European University Institute Policy Brief, 9, Florence, Italy. https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/45145/MPC_PB_2016_09.pdf?sequence=1 Last Access: 12.10.2018.
12. Dülger, S. (2017). Küreselleşmenin Türkiye İşgücü Piyasası Üzerine Etkileri: Beyin Göçü (The Effects of Globalization on Labor Market in Turkey: Brain Drain) (2000-2015). Celal Bayar Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Basılmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi (Celal Bayar University, Institute of Social Sciences, Unpublished Master Thesis), Manisa.
13. Fahey, J. and Kenway, J. (2010). International Academic Mobility: Problematic and Possible Paradigms. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 31 (5): 563-575.
14. Güngör, N. D. (2003). Brain Drain in Turkey: An Empirical Investigation of the Determinants of Skilled Migration and Student Non-Return. Middle East Technical University, Institute of Social Sciences, Unpublished PhD Thesis.
15. Gür, B.S., Çelik, Z. and Yurdakul, S. (2018). Yükseköğretime Bakış 2018: İzleme ve Değerlendirme Raporu (A Look at Higher Education 2018: Monitoring and Evaluation Report). Ankara: Eğitim-Bir-Sen Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi-Educators Trade Union.
16. Hoffman, D. M. (2008). Changing Academic Mobility Patterns and International Migration: What Will Academic Mobility Mean in the 21st Century? Journal of Studies in International Education 13 (3): 347-364.
17. Jöns, H. (2007). Transnational Mobility and the Spaces of Knowledge Production: A Comparison of Global Patterns, Motivations and Collaborations in Different Academic Fields. Social Geography 2: 97-114.
18. Jöns, H. (2009). Brain Circulation and Transnational Knowledge Networks: Studying Long-Term Effects of Academic Mobility to Germany, 1954-2000. Global Networks 9 (3): 315-338.
19. Jöns, H. (2010). Transnational Academic Mobility and Gender. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 9 (2), 183-209.
20. Jöns, H. (2015). Talent Mobility and the Shifting Geographies of Latourian Knowledge Hubs. Population, Space and Place 21: 372-389.
21. Kauppinen, I. (2012). “Towards Transnational Academic Capitalism,” Higher Education, 64, 543-556.
22. Kim, T. (2008). Transnational Academic Mobility in a Global Knowledge Economy. In The World Yearbook of Education 2008: Geographies of Knowledge and Geometries of Power: Framing the Future of Higher Education, D. Epstein, R. Boden, R. Deem, F. Rizvi, and S. Wright (Ed.) 319-337. Routledge, London.
23. Kim, T. (2009). Shifting Patterns of Transnational Academic Mobility: A Comparative and Historical Approach. Comparative Education, 45 (3): 387-403.
24. Kim, T. (2010). Transnational Academic Mobility, Knowledge and Identity Capital. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 31 (5): 577-591.
25. Knight, J. (2006). Internationalization of Higher Education: New Directions, New Challenges. 2005 International Association of Universities Global Survey Report. Paris: International Association of Universities.
26. Knight, J. (2008). Higher Education in Turmoil: The Changing World of Internationalization. Sense Publications, Rotterdam.
27. Leemann, R. L. (2010). Gender Inequalities in Transnational Academic Mobility and the Ideal Type of Academic Entrepreneur. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 31 (5): 605-625.
28. Luczaj, K. and Bahna, M. (2018). Explaining the Role of International Scholars in Semi-Peripheries. Evidence from Slovakia. Studies in Higher Education 45 (4): 706-722.
29. Magnan, S. S. and Backi, M. (2007). Social Interaction and Linguistic Gain During Study Abroad. Foreign Language Annals 40 (1): 43-61.
30. Mahlck, P. (2016). Academics on the Move? Gender, Race and Place in Transnational Academic Mobility. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy 2-3: 1-12.
31. Özkanlı, Ö., and White, K. (2008). Leadership and strategic choices: Female professors in Australia and Turkey. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 30 (1): 53-63.
32. Saltmarsh, S. and Swirski, T. (2010). Pawns and Prawns: International Academics’ Observations on Their Transition to Working in an Australian University. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 32 (3): 291-301.
33. Seggie, F. N. and Ergin, H. (2018). Yükseköğretimin Uluslararasılaşmasına Güncel Bir Bakış: Türkiye’deki Uluslararası Akademisyenler (A Current Look at the Internationalization of Higher Education: International Scholars in Turkey). SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research. Report: Ankara. https://setav.org/assets/uploads/2018/09/R120_Yükseköğretim-tamrapor.pdf Last Access: 20.03.2020.
34. Özer, M. (2016). The Internationalization of Higher Education in Turkey: Realities, Motivations and Opportunities. Insight Turkey 18 (4): 53-63.
35. Tekeli, İ. (2010). Cumhuriyet Öncesinde Üniversite Kavramının Ortaya Çıkışı ve Gerçekleştirilmesinde Alınan Yol. In Türkiye’de Üniversite Anlayışının Gelişimi: 1861- 1961, E.
36. Dölen and O. Bahadır (Ed.) 19-51, Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi Yayınları, Ankara
37. Toprak, M. A. (2012). Mekânsal Planlama Poli̇ti̇kalari ve Kentleri̇n Sosyo-Ekonomi̇k Durumu Işığında Türki̇ye’de ‘Üni̇versi̇teleşme’ Süreci̇ (Turkey’s ‘Universitization’ Process in the Light of Spatial Planning Policies and Socio-Economic Situation of Cities). Ege Coğrafya Dergisi 21 (2): 1-23.
38. Webber, K. L. and Yang, L. (2013). The Increased Role of Foreign-Born Academic Staff in US Higher Education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 36 (1): 43-61.
39. Williams, T. R. (2005). Exploring the Impact of Study Abroad on Students’ Intercultural Communication Skills: Adaptability and Sensitivity. Journal of Studies in International Education 9: 356-371.
40. Yang, R. and Welch, A. R. (2010). Globalisation, Transnational Academic Mobility and the Chinese Knowledge Diaspora: An Australian Case Study. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 31 (5): 593-607.
41. Yılmaz-Fındık, L. (2016). Gender Disparity in Turkish Higher Education. Universal Journal of Educational Research 4 (10): 2499-2504.