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

Öz

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).

Anahtar Kelimeler

• 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

Öz

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).

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Ulusaşırı akademik hareketlilik
• Yabancı akademisyenler
• Yükseköğretim
• Türkiye

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