University faculties unite against being divided

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Istanbul and Ankara recently, demonstrating against the government's proposal to split off faculties from many of Turkey's universities to form ‘new’ schools, writes Fehim Tastekin for Al-Monitor.

The government says the move is a pragmatic way to deal with growth, but many opponents believe the plan is motivated simply by greed and politics, rather than what's best for students.

As Turkey quickly approaches its 24 June elections, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government's radical intervention in higher education is causing turmoil. The intention is to rearrange some faculties from 13 universities – including established, major ones such as Istanbul University – to create new schools. Many academics and students see the plan as a government effort to gain full control over universities. Thousands of academics signed a petition against the proposal, and there were reports that even patients of Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine joined the protests.
Full report on the Al-Monitor site