A proposal for sustainable finance model for Turkish higher education system

This research originated from the increasing number of discussions in relation to the financial support of higher education, the quest for creating permanent resources for the increasing demand of higher education, and the inadequate number of academic research that focuses on the finance of higher education in Turkey. Suggesting a sustainable finance model for the Turkish higher education system has been considered as a requirement. In this study, the mixed model that makes the application of both qualitative and quantitative methods possible was used with the purpose of diminishing the limitations of using qualitative and quantitative methods independently. The participants who were identified for the qualitative dimension of the study include The Council of Higher Education executive members, the court of auditor solicitor, non-governmental organization member, ministry of development personnel, and the academicians who are members of education and economics and administrative sciences faculties. This group of participants involves 15 people and they were selected for establishing diversity. The participants who were chosen for the quantitative dimension of the study include people who deal with the financial issues of universities in Turkey. The universities that were included into the sample were identified by considering the rankings revealed by URAP. Furthermore, stratified sampling method was used during the identification of these universities. The sample of the study includes 138 individuals who handle the financial issues of these universities. In the qualitative dimension of the study, interview technique was used for collecting data. In the quantitative dimension, a questionnaire was used in order to test the applicability of proposed higher education finance model. Content analysis was used for the analysis of the interviews. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, and mean) was used for the analysis of the data collected by means of the questionnaire. The study results show that the constructed model has a structure that enables the efficient use of the resources and it provides the universities the opportunity to have financial autonomy rather than being dependent upon public resources. Since performance criteria were taken into consideration during the identification of resources that will be assigned to universities from the public budget, the necessity of providing the identified quantity directly was stated. Moreover, with the purpose of empowering more student participation in finances, the importance of the improvement of credit systems which can be retrieved in future from their incomes and the pursuit of the systems by private foundations were stressed.