Views of students and academicians from foundation higher education institutions on commodification of higher education

In this research, it is aimed to determine and analyze the opinions of the students in foundation higher education institutions and lecturers working in these institutions about the individual, social and economic consequences of the commodification of higher education. The study was carried out with a mixed research design which used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. In the quantitative dimension of the study, the target population consists of 17.962 university students studying at the in education, law, economics and administrative sciences of foundation higher education institutions in Ankara. 381 university students took part in the sample, obtained with stratified and random sampling. As for the qualitative aspect of the research, sixteen lecturers took part in the study group determined with maximum variety sampling among purposive sampling methods. The data collected in the quantitative dimension of the study were interpreted by percentage distribution, mean and standard deviation values. Percentage, frequency, t-test one-way variation analysis (ANOVA) were used as inferental statistics to compare the opinions of the participants based on institution, faculty, gender, education condition, educational level and parent education status. The data were analysed by SPSS 26 software. In the qualitative dimension of the study, the data obtained via the interviews were analyzed by using content analysis. Considering the quantitative and qualitative parts of the research, both students and lecturers defined higher education as a public service. The students and lecturers participating in the research stated that the paid higher education has negative effect on social equality. According to the participants of the research, foundation higher education institutions of cause injustice in access to higher education. In this context, higher education should be offered to everyone free of charge as a public service. Students' access to services such as accommodation, food and transportation should be free of charge.