15 October 2009 / İBRAHIM ASALIOĞLU, ANKARA
A record number of spaces for students remain unfilled at Turkish universities around the country, even after the matriculation of an additional 96,000 students in a round of “supplemental placement.”
Many private universities and universities in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) still have open slots, whereas Turkish state universities have been unable to fill their schools of higher vocational education. This situation persists despite an effort by YÖK to ensure all spaces would be filled by easing admissions requirements, lowering the ÖSS score necessary to gain entrance to certain programs. Last year, 31,000 students had been enrolled in a round of “supplemental placement” in an attempt to fill 89,000 empty slots, leaving 58,000 spaces unoccupied for the school year. This year, 96,000 students were enrolled in this manner, 38,000 of them in distance education programs, but a record-breaking 103,000 spots remain empty. The supplemental enrollment period is designed to fill programs that did not see sufficient enrollment in the general enrollment period or that were opened following the end of the normal enrollment period.
