Global Development

Adult, Continuing Education, and the Economy’s Need for Workforce Training

The adult education function is one of the emerging aspects of the two-year post-secondary vocational and technical schools in Turkey. In the past, the admission to these schools was solely based on student selection examination administered by Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM) by nationwide examinations. However, as a result of the new system that gives priority to the vocational and technical secondary school graduates since 2001, there has been an increase in the enrollment of adults in the two-year colleges.

Two-year vocational and technical schools can be classified in three groups based on their functions: Multi-purpose colleges, specialized colleges and binary program colleges. While multi-purpose colleges can be observed in US, Japan, Canada, and former Yugoslavia, the second group of schools are usually specialized in one program. The third group of institutions implements binary programs. The two-year post-secondary schools are usually considered in the second or third group in Turkey. The purpose of these two-year vocational and technical schools is to train students who do not have a strong academic background and graduates of vocational high schools. Although they are located within the university structures, they have been loosely related to four year institutions. They offer associate degree programs in technical fields, business and economics, health sciences, social services, and marine sciences (Kavak, 1992).

As Cohen and Brawer (1996) stated, various economic, social and political factors were influential in the establishment of two-year vocational schools around the world. The expansion of the two-year vocational school system was driven by mainly economic reasons. Turkey followed an export oriented economic growth model after 1980. As a result of this model, the need for mid-level skilled technicians increased. The most important reason for the expansion of two-year post-secondary vocational system in Turkey was the demand for the skilled mid-level manpower. Other contributing factors were as follows: demand for higher education, equality of educational opportunity, mass education and the change in society’s view that longer periods of education is necessary (Baskan, 1996; Kavak, 1992).

Access was one of the motivating factors but it was not emphasized. The Higher Education Law 1750 in 1973 allowed greater opportunities to transfer to four year institutions. However, Higher Education Law 2547 which has been in effect since 1982 restricted the transfer function to four-year institutions. This law increased the authority and control of the Council of Higher Education to manage effectively the planning function and coordination of the higher education system. The Council has played a dominant role in higher education and the Council’s approach to universities have drawn criticism from some academics (Aypay, 2003).
The Future of VSHEs

Key policy documents on higher education state that “the natural growth in the Turkish Higher Education System will be in two-year vocational and technical schools.” The Council of Higher Education would like to increase the percentage student enrollment to VSHE to 30% (currently 18%) which is the average in the industrialized world (YÖK, 2005).

Development plans in Turkey also state that in order to increase the competitiveness and the use of technology, vocational schools in higher education should be improved. Development plans have expressed that “In order to train the necessary manpower the economy needs, VSHEs will be emphasized” (DPT, 1999). Many key policy documents clearly state the goal of expansion of higher education system through VSHEs.
Challenges for VSHEs

Three groups of Vocational and Technical Schools of Higher Education institutions exist in Turkey. The first group of institutions, top-tier VSHEs, have their own physical facilities. They are very well equipped and they have adequate number and high quality of faculty members. These institutions have been supported through World Bank Projects in the past. A total of 31 VSHEs were included in the two World Bank supported Industrial Education Projects. Out of 31 VSHEs, 969 faculty was sent abroad for training.

A second group of institutions (approximately 60 VSHEs) are similar to the first group of institutions. With a little assistance they could be in the same category of high quality top tier VSHEs.

The third group of institutions require massive development and new funding. These institutions are usually located in small and more remote areas and have very low enrollment numbers. These institutions also have poor physical facilities that are not usually designed to be VSHE (Aypay, 2003). Poor physical facilities, the quantity and quality of faculty members and programs have been the main problems for this group. The main issues in VSHEs in Turkey are inadequate facilities, the low number and quality of the faculty, and program issues. There is a need to revise and improve curriculum of certain programs. In addition, financing, administrative issues, the articulation between vocational and technical high schools, VSHEs as well as universities have been some of the persistent issues.

Aypay (2003) found that 72% of VSHEs did not have their own physical facilities out of surveyed 40 VSHEs. Only 10% of the institutions claimed that they have sufficient tools and equipments, while 45% indicated partly sufficient and 20% said insufficient tools and equipments. Only 15% of VSHEs claimed they have enough number of faculty, 38% had partly sufficient while 23% said the number of faculty was insufficient.

Traditionally, students in VSHEs were selected both from general high schools (academic) and vocational high schools based on their scholastic aptitude in a centralized student selection exam. However, the priority was given to vocational high school graduates over general high school graduates since 2002. Vocational high school graduates gained open access to the VSHEs. They do not have to take the nationwide student selection examination to get into the two-year vocational schools. The only requirement is student high school GPA. Students in the region listed based on their GPA and admitted until the capacities of VSHEs in that region is filled. The higher the grades of students, the better VSHEs they get in the admission process (Aypay, 2003).

Problem Associated with Open Access

The reasons for the increase in the number of students in two-year schools are: overall increase in the demand for education based on the increase in the population, an increase in the compulsory basic education, and the demand from local authorities and political parties for the establishment of two-year colleges in their home towns.

The percent of students enrolled in two-year vocational and technical schools is higher in the world than it has been in Turkey. Turkey’s goal is at least to have a closer number of students enrolled in the VSHEs to the industrialized world average. When comparisons are made, the industrialized and European countries have been taken as a reference. Approximately 6,483 faculty members have been training students in the two-year colleges. This number only includes full-time faculty members. The faculty/student ratio is 1/12 in the world based on UNESCO statistics. However, the ratio is close to 59 in Turkey which exceeds the world average (part-time faculty is excluded).

Previously, almost half of the students were the graduates of vocational and technical high schools while the other half was the graduates of general high schools. However, since the implementation of the law of 4702, this ratio has been changed dramatically. Almost all the students enrolled in VSHEs come from the vocational and technical two-year schools (MEB-YÖK, 2002).

The profile of the socio-economic status of students enrolled in the two-year colleges is as follows: Over 90% of the students have mothers with high school level education or less. Only 4% of the fathers’ educational level university degrees. Almost 80% of students reported their mean income was lower than 400 USD. The profile was based on 286,000 student responses (ÖSYM, 2002). These statistics clearly indicate that VSHEs serve the lower SES students in Turkey.

The reasons why students enrolled in the two-year colleges in Turkey are similar to the expectation from these institutions. A total of 80% of the students reported that they have enrolled to develop their skills in their vocation. Almost 30% of students reported that they have been enrolled to have a vocation, 20% said they wanted to increase their knowledge in their vocation, 20% enrolled to earn a stable income, and another 8% enrolled to earn a diploma and get respect from the society.

The quality of students

The rapid growth of the two-year vocational and technical schools in Turkey have brought the issues associated with the rapid growth. As indicated earlier, the three main problems of VSHEs in Turkey: Faculty, programs and physical facilities. The number and the quality of faculty members have been a persistent problem of these schools. The need for revision of the programs offered in VSHEs have also been an issue. In addition to these main issues, the following issues have been remained unsolved: Financial flexibility, administrative and governance issues, lack of staff, the articulation issues with the secondary vocational and technical schools as well as universities, and the mismatch in skills between VSHE programs and the needs of industry.

In addition to the high number of faculty/student ratio, the quality of faculty members has also been an issue in the two-year college system in Turkey. When part-time faculty is excluded, Faculty/student ratio goes up to 59. This number highly exceed the world average.

Source, YÖK, 2003.

Cost

Literature on economies of scale and scope in vocational education is extremely limited. Economies of scale and scope in VSHEs has been a problem in Turkey. Only study of economies of scale in VSHEs in Turkey carried out by Dundar and Lewis (1995, p.370) of post-secondary vocational schools in Turkey. They found that “even within the same institution average instructional costs for vocational training in some cases exceed those found in four-year (university) programs”. The average student enrollments in Turkey has been found to be quite low.

Dundar & Lewis (1995: pp.382-385) reached a number of conclusions about costs in VSHEs. They found that “as institutions get larger, both average and marginal costs decline up to a point, and then as institutions get even larger both types of costs increase but marginal costs increase at much higher rates”. Average costs were found to increase significantly as a result of: falling student/teacher ratios; and increased student participation in programs requiring use of large and/or additional instructional equipment. However, rather than proposing that existing schools should be merged, Dundar and Lewis recommended that Turkish public policy makers should concentrate more on expanding and changing the enrollments of existing schools; and establish enrollment boundaries that reflect student demand. According to them, “the mission and rationale for vocational training should be market driven and the system should work towards facilitating this mission both in its expansion and in its contraction for most efficient public policy.”

VSHEs in small towns with a population under 5,000, number of students less than 500 and with a small number of programs has been inefficient. Balcı & Kavak (1996) suggested that VSHEs should be established at the provincial level and these schools should offer programs at the sub-provincial levels. In contrast to Dundar & Lewis, Balcı & Kavak (1996) suggested small VSHEs should be amalgamated based on population of the location as well as student number. These VSHEs usually located in sub-provinces.

Organization and Administration in VSHEs

The two-year college system is located within university structures. Usually, typical two-year colleges are located in a sub-provinces where a university is located in provinces. The organizational structure of two-year vocational and technical schools have been based on universities. However, there are structural differences between universities and two-year vocational schools.

VSHE directors are appointed by university rectors and the director chooses his/her assistant directors. There is no criteria set by law to be appointed for VSHE director and assistant director positions. Lack of explicit criteria for the appointment of VSHE directors leads different practices and creates complexity. For example, rectors usually appoint an academic whose primary appointment is at a school other than VSHE. For example, Aypay (2003) found that 75% of directors’ primary appointment was at another college/school of universities other than VSHE. This practice sometimes leads to issues of commitment because the director usually do not commit full-time to VSHE since he/she spends sometime at his/her own institution. If the director is pursuing an academic career, it is better for her/him to be at a four year institutions because it is more prestigious. As a result, faculty members also transfer from VSHEs to four year institutions since it is easier when VSHEs within universities and more prestigious.

Lower levels of commitment from the directors create resource and staff issues. Resource and staff issues arise when four year institutions and two-year institutions compete for resources and staff positions. It is clear that four-year institutions dominate university academic and administrative structures at universities. VSHEs do not always receive their fair share from resources. Council of Higher Education attempted to balance some of these but the issue is a difficult one.

An additional problem arises, when there are faculty members with doctoral degrees in VSHEs but directors without having doctorates. Academic career is more valued than experience in universities. Moreover, department chairs have to be appointed among the faculty members who have doctoral degrees by law. If there is no faculty with doctorate, then department chairs have to be appointed temporarily.

Organizational adaptation to environment is more difficult when VSHEs are located in university structures. Universities usually resist changes to protect the academic tradition which took centuries to form. However, one of the powerful aspect of VSHEs is their skills in adapting to their environment and changes in society and technology.

The decision to establish VSHEs based on pre-determined criteria belongs to the Council of Higher Education. Previously, these schools have existed within the Ministry of Education as well as within university structures. For over a quarter of a century, the two-year colleges have been continued to be a part of universities.

Organizational size is the most important factor regardless of organizational form. Students, programs, libraries, and other unit costs have not been important to differentiate the VSHEs from other institutions. However, certain public VSHEs can be differentiated from other institutions based on organizational size in Turkey. This finding is similar to the existing community college structures in the world (Balcı & Kavak, 1996; Demir & Işıksoylu, 1996).

Centralized administrative structure within universities provides standardization in purchasing, information processing, planning of physical facilities, staffing, financing, equal resource distribution, and promotions. Competition among the institutions and provides standardization in coordination, service to society, human resources development for all two-year colleges. The centralized structure is useful if the competing institutions are similar.

The authority to establish programs had been in the universities in the past. However, recently, the Council of Higher Education has been the final decision maker on this issue. Universities offer opening of new programs, closing and merging the existing ones. But the final decisions made at the Council of Higher Education. VSHEs have not been efficient when they are established in towns where the population is less than 5000, the number of students is lower than 500, and fewer programs (Balcı & Kavak, 1996).

Some of the two-year schools related to faculties at universities. The law no 2547 defines VSHE as “a four-semester education & training higher education institution to train middle-level manpower in certain fields.” Although very limited in numbers, a few VSHEs are connected to universities through faculties of a universities.

Programs based on academic disciplines exist in a few VSHE programs. The rest are based on interdisciplinary studies and general education (behavioral sciences, human sciences, social and natural sciences). In addition, some VSHEs are directed towards specific purposes. These VSHEs provides training in certain areas such as: Health VSHE, Technical Sciences VSHE, Social Sciences VSHE, Divinity VSHE, and Judicial Services VSHE.

Overview of Programmatic Emphasis of National Priorities

Economic development was the most important motivating factor on the expansion of the system, the programmatic emphasis has been consistent with this goal. Another motivating factor is Turkey’s priority to be a full member of the European Union. Turkey started negotiations on November 3, 2005 which this accession process is expected to take a decade or a little longer. Even before the EU’s declaration of Turkey’s candidacy to be a member of the European Union, Turkey has taken economic measures towards the integration to the European Union. Turkey signed the customs union with the European Union in 1996. While other candidates had taken financial aid, Turkey did not receive any financial incentives. This has been a strong motivating factor since took economic measures such as customs union before political integration into the EU.

Technical programs has been the most common programs in the Turkish VSHEs. The emphasis in technical programs common around the world (Cohen & Brawer, 1996) Over 200 percent increase took place in the number of technical between 1992 and 2002. This development shows that the emphasis is in technical programs.
Figure 3. VSHE Programs.

Currently, training is offered in a total of 258 programs in VSHEs. Technical programs consisted of 60% of all programs while administrative programs 23%. Open Education programs only 10% while health programs make up 7%. There is a 10% increase in technical programs in the last decade. There is a 14% decrease in the number of Business and Economics programs (Aypay, 2003).

The dramatic increase in technical program emphasis accompanied by an even greater increase in the types of programs offered in two-year schools. There is a 600 percent increase in the number of programs offered in VSHEs since 1981. Courses revised to include 60-65 % theoretical knowledge and 30-35% applied skills (Aypay, 2003).

A component of Second Industrial Training Project included a revision of 15 programs. 70% of all students are enrolled in these programs. The following principles are taken into account while revising the VSHE curriculum: Proficiency, validity, consistency, variety, flexibility, accreditation, use of ICT, compatibility to modular programs, and training in real settings (MEB-YÖK, 2002).

Description of a VSHE: Çanakkale VSHE²

A brief description of a VSHE included in this section. This institution is considered in the second group of VSHEs in Turkey. This institution can easily be turned into a top-tier VSHE with a little support. Çanakkale VSHE is located at the Aegean coastal city of Çanakkale in the western Turkey. The city is historically known as Troy and located on the straits of Çanakkale (Dardanelles). The city has a population of 75,000. Çanakkale VSHE is a part of VSHE system at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University and only VSHE in the city center of Çanakkale. It is one of the 15 VSHE located in throughout the provincial towns of Çanakkale.

VSHE is established in 1976 under the formal education department of Ministry of Education in Food Technology program. VSHE later became a part of Trakya University which was a state university established in 1982 located 2.5 hours driving distance to Çanakkale. With the establishment of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University in 1992, it naturally became a part of this new university.

Vocational and Technical Education Project (METEP) was a turning point for VSHE for the worse as faculty and administrators of VSHE claimed (YÖK, 2004). Law no. 4702, which brought open access (admission without examination) to vocational and technical high school graduates in 2002, solved the articulation issues between the programs of vocational high schools and VSHEs. When this project’s implementation was begun, two programs of the VSHE started delivering programs in Industrial High School and Vocational School for Girls as a part of resource sharing initiative.

The vision of Çanakkale VSHE is to train qualified skilled higher technicians. The mission of the Çanakkale VSHE is as is to serve the region by producing goods, service, and project. The goal of Çanakkale VSHE is to train individuals who value knowledge, establish the connections between knowledge and life, and follow innovations closely. Çanakkale VSHE programs emphasize vocational investigation, problem-solving skills, evaluation and decision-making skills.

Table 2. The Programs of Çanakkale VSHE.

Technical Programs	Number of Students	Economics and Administrative Programs	Number of Students
Graphic	46	Accounting	155
Photograph	75	Business	178
Computer Technology and Programming	108	Bureau Management and Secretarial Training	103
Construction	301	Accounting (Evening)	108
Computer Technology and Programming (Evening)	105	Business (Evening)	102
Construction (Evening)	83	Bureau Management and Secretary (Evening)	94
Mechanics (Evening)	215
Electrical (Evening)	325
Furniture-Decoration (Evening)	86
Textile (Evening)	94
Child Development (Evening)	92

Total number of students:   2,284

Çanakkale VSHE has the following facilities: Two computer labs, one technical drawing studio, photograph studio, concrete and tool lab, dark room, film recording studio, geological laboratory, asphalt laboratory, secretarial office, and two professional workshops at the two vocational high schools.

The curriculum revised recently with a collaboration, “The Ministry of Education-Higher Education Council VSHE Curriculum Development Initiative.” Curriculum was mainly determined centrally with the participation of a large group of experts as well as faculty members from VSHEs. In addition, elective courses determined by the Çanakkale VSHE, based on the regional, technological developments and economic utility for the region.

Compared to other VSHEs in Turkey, Çanakkale may be considered as one of the attractive cities regionally. Çanakkale MYO placed itself among the VSHEs that provide quality education. Since 1992, the programs of the VSHEs attracted students and had not experienced a decline in student enrollments.

Although many of VSHEs in Turkey constrained by limitations in terms of laboratories, qualified faculty members, Çanakkale VSHE has recently started experience physical limitations because of the surge in student enrollments as a result of “open access” policy nationwide. However, Çanakkale VSHE still have not experienced problems related to laboratories. Some of its programs create value added through the revolving funds.

The three challenges Çanakkale VSHE is currently experiencing is the quality of students, issues related to newly established programs, and physical limitations such as classroom, imposed by the recent surge in enrollment, again as a result of open access policy.

Since open access policy enforced by law, students do not have to go through admission exams. The majority of students of VSHEs come from Vocational and Technical High Schools. Therefore, the quality of students who have been enrolled to vocational and technical high schools are quite low. Çanakkale VSHE and other VSHEs claim that this has had an adverse effects upon them. These students usually are not ready to receive university level training. In addition to lack of knowledge, these students demonstrate behavioral problems as well.

This issue points out to a problems the Turkish VSHEs are likely to face in the near future. They do not provide preparatory courses. VSHEs hope that the law will change and more qualified students will come soon. This may not be the case and VSHEs may need to provide preparatory courses to these students.

Some of the programs opened by the pressure from the Council of Higher Education. Council of Higher Education’s goal was to create certain programs which existed in the vocational and technical high schools in Çanakkale VSHE. Therefore, vertical connections articulated between programs of Vocational High Schools in Çanakkale and Çanakkale VSHE. These programs were opened without being able to follow through the necessary preparations. The main goal was to utilize the existing capacity after work hours (evenings). Students went to the vocational high schools where they graduated from and in certain instances with the same faculty. Initially, this created some problems. Organizational problems emerged between vocational high schools and Çanakkale VSHE. Students were demoralized by going to the same schools where they had graduated. A positive aspect of this project has been the utilization of VSHEs and Vocational and Technical High Schools during the evenings. This was not the case in the past. As a result, students may both work and continue their training in the evening. Lack of faculty has been a limitation initially. However, open faculty positions filled over time.

The strengths of Çanakkale VSHE is its long 30 year history, limited number of problems in terms of training and teaching, and sufficient number of faculty in terms of both quality and quantity. These strengths of Çanakkale VSHE are usually the weaknesses of the majority of VSHEs in Turkey. Only 1/5 of all VSHEs have not been constrained by these problems. The rest have been struggling with these issues.

Growth related issues have been expected in Çanakkale VSHE. The number of programs are greater than the administration planned to have. The administration is willing to create two institutions: One for Social and Administrative Programs and one for Technical Programs. This is a common approach in Turkey. However, this leads to inefficient use of resources. There are certain programs both in business & economics programs and technical programs.

In order to increase the effectiveness of Çanakkale VSHE, the administration and faculty would like to discontinue open access policy for vocational high school graduates. Since the demand for higher education is quite high and the spaces in higher education are limited, VSHEs can easily find more qualified students. This was the case a few years earlier. Faculty and administrators are likely to remember the past when it was easier to teach and there were fewer behavioral problems. There are studies conducted to support this claim shared by many VSHEs in Turkey. However, the mission of two-year colleges has also been to provide access to disadvantaged groups around the world.

For a better integration of Çanakkale VSHE with the market, student work-study needs to be more effective. Currently, work-study is mandatory, but it is far from providing an opportunity to find jobs. Since Çanakkale is not an industrial city, students experience serious problems in finding jobs. The provincial areas depend upon agriculture as their economic mainstay.
The relationship between VSHE and the parent university is as follows: Since Çanakkale VSHE is one of the oldest institutions when Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University was established, it has a good reputation when compared to other VSHEs. VSHEs do not usually receive necessary attention and respect from universities with which they are connected. Even though, these institutions provide income for universities (especially for the newer ones), VSHEs still do not get enough attention. When considered from this perspective, Çanakkale VSHE has a good relationship with the university. However, this is not the case with other 15 VSHEs attached to Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University.

The contribution of Çanakkale VSHE to its immediate environment is limited since the city does not have a large industrial base. Construction laboratory courses serve to the city of Çanakkale for concrete and asphalt testing. Other programs provide seminars and training programs when there is a demand from the public.