Higher education policies and the choice of location for universities in Turkey

Universities have a distinctive importance for the society as an institution of modern life. The interaction of universities with the society has been subject to a broad range of studies. Most of these studies dealt with the influence of universities on the society. However, ?external influence? on universities have been a relatively less studied area. ?External influence? approach takes historical, political, economic and socio-cultural processes that shape universities into consideration. In this study, it has been aimed to examine the development of universities since the foundation of the Turkish Republic and the locational choice for universities during this period. First, higher education policies in Turkey have been evaluated taking political turning points into consideration. Secondly, it has been sought to identify the criteria of locational choice for universities. In light of the historical evaluation, higher education legislations of different periods were analysed and tried to establish the extent of political influence. A particular university was taken as a sample to represent locational choice criteria for each politically distinct period. Parliamentary records and planning decisions were analysed in order to identify the influence of government policies and local politics in the formation of locational choice criteria.