The proposal of a new method for the location selection of universities

The university, which emerged as an urban institution in medieval Europe, was shaped according to social requirements, not initially as a result of planning. In time, with the increasing demand for higher education, especially after World War II, the planning approach towards universities emerged. University planning is a process, which consists of many important stages, such as 'determining location selection, type, and size of the university and it's academic, financial and spatial structure'. Location selection decisions of the universities, which constitute the first stage of this process, are divided into two; the first is the distribution of universities within the country and the second is the location selection of universities within the city. The distribution of universities within the country is the macro-scale, the location selection of universities within the city is micro-scale planning decisions. In this study, it is aimed to determine and digitize the parameters that affect the location selection of the universities within a country on the macro-scale, and the location selection of universities within a city on the micro-scale, and to develop a method that can be applied in the location selection of the universities. In this context, the concept of the university is mentioned first, and then a historical evaluation of universities in Turkey and the world was made. Universities' purpose of establishment, working styles, social contributions, and their level were discussed. During the period since the emergence of a new institution called the university in our country, an inventory was prepared for the reasons of the establishment of universities, the criteria for determining the cities in which the universities were established during this process were examined, and the decision-making system for our country was investigated. In the continuation of the study, as a result of the studies carried out in the world and in our country relating to the location selection of universities, 26 sub-parameters under 5 main parameter groups affecting the location selection within the country; 25 sub-parameters under 4 main parameter groups affecting the location selection within the city have been determined. The evaluation of the parameters affecting the location selection of universities within the country and the city were performed by the AHP method; the evaluation of alternative decisions was carried out by the TOPSIS method and a decision-making methodology was developed for the location selection of universities. In order to test this methodology, for the location selection of the universities within the country, 'Antalya, Eskişehir, Kayseri, Konya, Sivas, and Zonguldak' cities; for the location selection of the universities within the city 'Selçuk University' was determined as the sampling area. The determination of these alternatives is based on the study conducted by the State Planning Organization (SPO) in 1970. With the application of the methodology developed for location selections of universities on a national and urban scale, it has been found out that the economic and socio-cultural parameters outweigh any other parameter in the location selection of universities on a national scale. The increase in the diversity of economic and socio-cultural activities would facilitate the establishment of a university, and thus the university would draw to itself higher quality students, faculty and administrative staff. It was concluded that accessibility and the interaction between university and city that the university was located, were more important in the location selection on an urban scale. Although the establishment of a university campus becomes easier with the growth and development of higher education, the extra-urban campus universities expose to the threat of inefficiency of the city centers and fail to reflect the basic functions of the university. Therefore, the return of the university to the city and the reconciliation between the University and the city must be achieved. With this study, both the assessment was made for the location selection process of universities within the country and the city, and a decision support system was also created in which the location selection of universities within the country and the city was made according to the scientific data. It is thought that the proposed methodology will contribute to the research conducted and/or to be conducted for the location selection of the universities. It is expected that the results obtained in the whole study will guide the actors involved in the location selection process of universities in the decision-making process.