The impacts of universities on regional and local development in Turkey

Universities are accepted as the most significant instruments for social and economic development in addition to their function as educational and research institutions. Higher educational institutions gained increasing importance as they rejuvenate the social, economic and physical environments in the cities/regions they are located. In cities where new universities are established, the expenditures of these institutions and the students lead to significant increase in the demand in the local market, and thus, leading to increased supply. Due to the fact that universities stimulate urban economy, boost cultural activates, lead to improvements in the physical environment and bring favorable influences on demographics, the mission assigned to these institutions has also evolved. With the increased influence of universities on regional development, the approach to higher educational institutions has changed radically. It is now widely acknowledged that universities are not only educational institutions but they also function as the primary drive for regional development. In Turkey, the motivations behind the establishment of new universities have changed for various purposes since the foundation of the republic in 1923. Between 1923-1960, universities were acknowledged as means to extend the national consciousness and national culture over the entire country, and Turkey was considered in three cultural regions (western, central and eastern). During this period, at least one higher educational institution was established in each of these three cultural regions. Between 1960-1992, however, the endeavor for regional development became influential in the decisions made as to where new universities would be established. From 1960 onwards, the criteria on where and for which purposes universities would be established was specified in the Five-Year Development Plans. Accordingly, it was suggested that new universities should be established in provinces that are identified as centers of development and attraction. In this period, higher educational institutions were attributed with the mission to drive regional development and to reduce regional disparities. Although some of the universities which were decided to be established could not be realized, in total 22 universities were established based on the decisions set forth in the Five-Year Development Plans During the period between 1992-2006, owing to the further involvement of the government, the decision to establish universities in more developed provinces and regional centers, which was based on the Five-Year Development Plans, was fulfilled. For this purpose, from 1992 onwards, new higher educational institutions were established at an unprecedented rate. During this period, a total of 48 new universities were established, whereas only 29 universities were established between 1923-1992. The concept of 'foundation universities' also emerged during this period. The period after 2006 is when the number of newly-established universities skyrocketed. As a consequence of the policy to establish 'one university in each province' which was adopted in the programme of the 58th government in 2002, every province in Turkey enjoyed the foundation of a university. It is also remarkable that all of the private higher educational institutions were established during this period. Over the 83 years until 2006, there were only 77 universities in Turkey. However, during the 8 years between 2006-2014, the number of universities increased by 132% and reached up to 179. These figures demonstrate the remarkable increase in the number of universities in recent years. In addition, the higher educational institutions established after 2006 are located in small- and medium-sized cities in contrary to those established in the early years of the republic which are located in central provinces. Various researches showed increasing interest not only in the increasing number of universities but also on the positive impact of universities on the economic, social and physical growth of the cities they are located. The first studies on the local or regional impacts of universities emerged in the 1960s. While these studies primarily addressed the impact by focusing only on expenditures, recent researches primarily concentrate on the knowledge aspect. In Turkey, studies on this topic emerged in 1999, and the number of studies grew significantly. The majority of the research carried out in Turkey concentrates on a single university and addresses the expenditures of the university and its students. However, universities also lead to remarkable economic, social, cultural and physical changes in the provinces they are in. Therefore, it may be misleading to only address the expenditures. Such an approach may also make it more difficult to comprehensively measure the multi-dimensional impacts of universities and provide lacking information. This thesis study addresses the impacts of universities on the provinces with a comprehensive approach. The economic and socio-cultural influences of universities on the regions they are located can be listed as follows: economic consequences, consequences related to the physical infrastructure, social and cultural consequences, and demographic consequences. This thesis study provides an analysis of the 41 new public universities, which were established in small- or medium-sized cities between 2006-2008, on the socio-cultural\ economic\ demographic and physical environments. The studies available in the literature claim that universities make positive impacts on housing, business, social/cultural activities, population, employment, migration and urbanization rate. In addition, a wider perspective was adopted in the assessment of the impacts of universities, and other criteria as well as the amount of expenditure were taken into account. Within the scope of this thesis, the public universities established after 2006 were included in the sample. However, some of the public universities established after 2006 were intentionally excluded. The primary concern in doing so was to evaluate cities which did not already accommodate a university. Therefore, Erzurum Technical university in Erzurum (2010), Mevlana University in Konya (2008), Medeniyet University and Turkish-German University in İstanbul (2010), Bursa Technical University in Burs (2010), Abdullah Gül University in Kayseri (2010), Social Sciences University (2013) and Yıldırım Beyazıt University (2010) in Ankara, İzmir Katip Çelebi University in İzmir (2010), and Adana Science and Technology University in Adana (2011) were excluded from the sample. These provinces already host at least one university which was established before 2006; therefore, including them in the analyses would not provide an accurate outcome. For the purposes of this research, data obtained from the Turkish Statistical Institute and the Social Security Institution was used and the impacts of the new universities on the physical structure, economic life of the city, social/cultural activities and demographic structure were analyzed comparatively. Therefore, the impacts of new universities were assessed based on parameters such as the changes in the housing market, number of new businesses, rate of population growth, population, change in the number of cinema/theatre spectators, rate of urbanization and the ratio of student population to total population. Ryan Short Cut Method was utilized to analyze the impacts of universities on the urban economy and employment. In summary, the impacts that universities make in the city they are located was analyzed based on two aspects: The contributions of the university to the physical structure, the urban economy, social/cultural activities and demographic structure were comparatively analyzed beginning from the year in which the universities in the sample were established. Within this context, various parameters (such as changes in the housing market, number of new businesses, rate of population growth, population, change in the amount of cinema/theatre spectators, rate of urbanization and the ratio of student population to total population) were considered for analysis. The direct and indirect economic impact and change in employment figures were calculated for 2013 in the 41 cities in the sample by using the Ryan Short Cut Method. The average figures in Turkey were taken into account as the income and employment coefficient in the formula. According to the research results, urban system is totally affected by the socio-economic changes depending on university presence. While the total number of workplaces was 107.283 in 41 cities, it increased 172% in 2013 and reached 185.583. Especially in small and less developed cities average business increment rate passes 190%. Housing production dramatically increased particularly in 2-3 years after university establishment. The average housing production increased 268% in 41 cities in 2 years after 2006-2008 period. The total number of housing production in 41 cities was 13.773 in 2005 and it increased 200% in 2010, reached 27.357. Those impacts are more powerfull especially in small cities. Universities have positive impact on urbanisation with their dynamic effect on cities. From 2007 to 2013, in 7 years, urbanisation has increased 6,22% on average in 41 cities. The number of students increases 100% each year and has an important ratio in city population. The total student number in 41 cities was 166.266 in 2006, while it reached 449.497 in 2013 with 270% increase on average. The largest increase rate exists in small cities. Cities are positively affected in terms of employment and economic conditions by the social, economic and physical contributions of university and students to the city. Those economic improvements affected the migration rate positively. The net migration rate in 41 cities was -4,47 per thousand however, it was -0,20 per thousand in 2013 with 95% increase. For the small and less developed cities greater increase can be observed. There is a tendency from negative to positive values for the emigrated eastern and south-eastern cities' migration rate. Constant increase in population can be observed from 2007 to 2013 city populations. The total population increase in 41 cities is 4,54% from 2007 to 2013. Moreover, with the establishment of universities an increase in cultural activities is determined. While the total number of cinema and theatre audience in 41 cities was 1.460.716 in 2005, it icreased 178% and reaced 2.607.945 in 2013. The total direct economic impact of 41 universities was 6.431.610.753 TL in 2013. When the student population of the universities inreases their direct impact to cities' economies also increases. The total indirect effect is related to the total direct effect. Therefore, when total direct economic impact increases, the total indirect economic impact also increases. The total indirect economic impact of universities in 41 cities was 176.869.295 TL in 2013. The total economic impact in 41 cities was estimated as 6.608.480.049 TL for 2013. Those 41 universities generated 89.222 employment in total in 2013.