The effects of university education on changing of values (Inonu University sample)

Values are general principles that shape the attitudes and behaviors of individuals with a highly complex mind world. For this reason, values constitute a part of the personality structure of the individuals. Every individual has different physical, spiritual, mental, and socio-cultural characteristics that differentiate levels of perception and evaluation of values from others. However, the existence of values that direct the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and occupy a considerably large area of mind is based on the mutual cooperation of the individual and the society. Individual values are only meaningful at the social level. No individual has a value system that is independent of community priorities. Values turn into collective consciousness from the moment they exist in the individual consciousness. Society constitutes a pressure element on collective consciousness in order to maintain its own existence. In this context, values are collectively accepted general provisions which result in social interactions within social life and ensuring the continuity and integrity of society. Interaction between individuals is realized in the corporate domain. Institutions in social life are the basic organizations that are designed to meet specific needs and provide the interaction between values and the whole of the work. The change in values of a society meansthat the change in that society's institutions and therefore the change in whole structure. The educational institution which ensures the continuity of social structure by bringing social values to the individuals through socialization, realizes the adaptation of individuals to society in the process of social change at the same time. In this context one of the most important educational institutions are the universities that aim to raise individuals in a way that they can adapt to the changes taking place in the social structure. Nowadays universities, which have become one of the most basic tools of modernization, have a decisive influence on young people both in terms of academic education and life experiences. This study aims to reveal that the university education and experience is a significant change in the value system of young people.