The Evolution of the University in Turkey and Control Mechanisms over the Academicians Ece Baykal

Abstract This study aims to examine the control mechanisms over universities and academicians in Turkey. In the context of control mechanisms of the modern state, the first part of the study focuses on the history of ottoman 'university' within the framework of the theories of the 'societies of discipline' and the 'societies of control' formulated by Michel Foucault. This section summarizes respectively the first attempts to found a university system in the middle of 19th century; the characteristics of education system during the era of Abdlhamit II (1876-1909) and his efforts to balance modernity and tradition, and the new control mechanisms peculiar to the Turkish Republic. The second section is organized to analyze the findings of a sociological study which is conducted in order to investigate the control mechanisms over the academicians. In a qualitative perspective, the study has also been realized along with depth interviews and direct observation methods within a sample of 6 schools of communications (one private and five public). By focusing on the daily interactions as much as the habitus of the academicians, we tried to study the control mechanisms with its interactive and structural features (the capital of the individual inherited or asset like his social class and marital status-) in a mixed approach based on the theories of Bourdieu and Lahire. Keywords: Universities, academicians, discipline, control, education system. ***** The University, in modern sense, cannot be considered without evaluating the influence of the evolution and the nation-state on it. The University is also a disciplinary institution within this framework. With the evolution of the nation-state in the 16th Century, the institutions which were shaped by this authority also began to change their forms. In this period, the mechanisms of discipline were transformed into control mechanisms. As of

2 The Evolution of the University in Turkey and Control Mechanisms over the Academicians ______________________________________________________________ the end of the 19th century, the societies of discipline described by Michel Foucault yielded its place to the societies of control where the individual is not closed into certain places and he should not obey a discipline determined by a medium of enforcement and strict rules anymore. In the societies of control, the individual is, at least, can resist the control mechanisms by structuring his own space of activity and ethos. According to Foucault, the concept of discipline can be identified by neither an institution nor an instrument; it is a type of power that involves with an entire body of these instruments, techniques, process, levels of application, and the target. It can be practiced by any institutions or the state instruments whose major functions based on ruling the discipline over the society.1 Therefore, we will both try to explain the control mechanism built by the international policies of teaching; those based on the university tradition of each country and those which are built by the structure and function of the university. 1. From Darlfnun of Ottomans to the Republic University To establish a system similar to those of European countries, there have been several attempts in Turkey. One of them was the foundation of interim council of education in 1845. This council 2 that declared the foundation of Darlfnun (the term which was used to call the university in that era) and that called all the people who were interested in scientific instruction and ready to serve the Sultan. Despite the influence of European countries, The Public Education Council which was founded a year later overemphasized on the moral education (tehzib-i ahlak), self-improvement (slah- zat) and human education (terbiyye-i insaniyye) in its report dated on 31 December 1846.3 The second attempt was the foundation of Mekteb-i Mlkiye in 1859. Unlike Darlfnun, the principal objective of Mekteb-i Mlkiye was to educate the new jurists that would substitute the cadis. The students were selected from among the civil servants; the nobles of provinces who were close to the family of the Sultan and some qualified students. 4 The third attempt was the foundation of Mekteb-i Sultani, on the advice of the French minister of education, Victor Duruy. The 50 % of the students were of Christians. 5 According to Fortna, the consent of Ottoman authorities was based on the will of building an Ottoman identity, while the French authorities were making their plans on an education of pro-French elites. 6

Ece Baykal

______________________________________________________________ During the sovereignty of Abdlhamit II, all these institutions had obeyed to the techniques of power that was directly administrated by the Sultan. He tried to restore the higher education system by the reform of Mekteb-i Mlkiye in 1891 and by eliminating some of the courses such as philosophy, literature, etc. He had forbidden the professors from talking about the politics and his personal life, and also discharged many of them. On the other hand, all the techniques of power used by Abdlhamit II were not negative. He was not only interested in the education of elites but also in that of the public: more than 10.000 schools were constructed all around the Empire.7 Through the system of dormitory which are built next to these schools- students had been surveyed and controlled more regularly.8 Abdlhamit II had created a new type of relation between the state and the individual. In this era, the faithful villein of the Sultan yielded his place to the individual controlled by the state. 2. From the Beginning to the Actual Situation of the Republic University After a short time of autonomy at the period of second parliamentary monarchy, the university lost this autonomy under the influence of the partisans of Ittihat and Terakki and turned into an instrument of the State which was used to reinforce the republican system. A short time after the foundation of the Republic, Darlfnun lost its scientific and administrative autonomy according to the Code of 31 May 1933. 9 After the transition to the multiparty system, the modern Turkish university regained its autonomy in 1946. However, in the historical context of the cold war, the government of Democrat Party scared at both Islamic fundamentalism and the communism, and discharged many professors in this period. Since 1960 three military coups have been succeeded at the beginning of each decade: in 1960, 147 professors were discharged by the National Committee without inspection or explication; 70s were a difficult period for all the Turkish academicians. Even in the era of Ottoman Empire, they had not been subject of humiliation, insult and torture. As of the Sixties, with the coups which were repeated at the beginning of each decade, the Turkish State developed these proper control mechanisms over the University. As of the last coup, YK (the Council of Higher Education) became the guard of the republican mode, imposed the ideology of the State based on the logic of national security. At the beginning of 80s, YK was the mouthpiece of the official politics of the state which is based on the reinforcement of turco-islamic synthesis against communism and separatism.10 In the first year of its foundation, 148 professors especially from the left wing were discharged. YK adapted its strategy according to social changes such as the rise of

4 The Evolution of the University in Turkey and Control Mechanisms over the Academicians ______________________________________________________________ Kurdish nationalist movement or that of the Islamic party called Refah during the elections of 1995. In the meantime, all the confidential documents that shaped the activities of investigation and survey on the academicians managed by the rectors were dictated by YK.11 These strategies of control based on the logic of national security, evokes the thought of Foucault which considers all dispositions of security as a part of techniques of nation-states governmentality. This political control has been supported by the economic control based on the privatization of academic sphere. All the presidents of YK encouraged this economic control by establishing the private universities and adapting the education system to the international education policies managed by the World Bank or by OECD. Since the mid 90s the World Bank, UNESCO and OECD carried out many researches and wrote several reports on the higher education and academic research. In 1998, Division of Science Resources Studies of National Science Foundation (NSF) organized a workshop with delegates of NSF and published a report which included some advises for an excellent collaboration between the universities and corporations; however, it secretively tried to reconstruct the content of research. In the report, it was indicated that the performance of the higher education should be adapted to the business markets student demands instead of the demands of universities research staff. 12 In 2007, International Higher Education Conference was organized by YK in Turkey, and some delegates who were from aforementioned international organizations gave detailed advice about the Turkish higher education system in their speeches. In the following year, some professors and members of YK prepared a detailed book which exposes the adaptation of education system to these international education policies. Nonetheless Turkey is a part of the process of Bologna which has been created for the adaptation of higher education systems to demands of the European business market. 3. Control Mechanism Built by the Structure and Function of University: Case of Communication Schools The University itself produces different control mechanisms in its system. In spite of the different practices which change from country to country, there is always a right of entry, as it is called by Bourdieu, to the university space. In Turkey, even if there exists an official criterion for the evaluation of the works of the assistant professors and the associate professors, the law and the regulations on the responsibilities for AK (the Council of Inter-Universities) remain insufficient to explain the process of the evaluation. In order to better analyze these official and tacit criteria

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______________________________________________________________ peculiar to each establishment which also form the control mechanisms inside university space, we think that the direct observation and the depth interview methods will have a final importance. In this study, we use the term external factors of control as representing all the control mechanisms over the universities. The national and international policies over the universities as well as the right of entry are regarded as the external factors of control. The reason for which we use the qualifier external it is that the external factors of control are present in the university space whether the academicians build their own space of activities or not. We try to examine these external factors of control in two main axes: the research and the institutional interaction that are two main daily activities of the academicians. The activity of teaching is not within the framework of this study because it requires a direct observation carried out during the lectures of each person interviewed. The external factors turn into the internal control factors when they are adopted by the academician. We call all the activities and the strategies built by the academician to form his own space of activity as the techniques of refusal. These techniques of refusal can be individual - as the fact of delaying the administrative tasks to deal with the scientific tasks - or organized - as the participation in tradeunion activities. The daily interactions interest us as much as the habitus of the academician. In this context, we tried to study the control mechanisms both towards its interactive and structural features (the capital of the individual inherited or asset like his social class and marital status-) in a mixed approach based on the theories of Bourdieu and Lahire. During this study, the concept of habitus or capital of the individual inherited or asset didnt respond to our lack of explaining the attitudes of the academicians. Sometimes, their origin, their class, or their habitus, emanating from the professional or other cultural group of which they are a member, arent sufficient enough to explain their behavior, their individual techniques of refusal. The theory of intra-individual effects formulated by Lahire is more flexible for explaining these techniques of refusal. This theory assumes that there are many main motives in the past and present life of a person which can stimulate his acts depending on some factors; but, only one of them dominates. Intra-individual effects are the other main motives which stayed in concealment for a long time, and reacts peculiar to actual events. Our sample is made of 6 schools of communications, one private and five public: Istanbul University, Ankara University, Bilgi University (the private one), Seluk University, Marmara University and Galatasaray University. According to the findings of our field work, we noted several external factors of control occurred over the academicians in the axis of institutional interaction. One of the most important factors of control over the research assistants of Istanbul University and Ankara University is made up

6 The Evolution of the University in Turkey and Control Mechanisms over the Academicians ______________________________________________________________ with the article 50 D (which is related with the employing the research assistants) of the Higher Education Law No 2547: "YK, which is the primary cause of depoliticization of academic space, transformed all the academicians in to employees. The problem of research assistants with this article 50 D is consequent to this essential problem. (...) Anyhow, nobody is conscious about their rights. Everybody is grateful and try to manage their affairs by personal requests and relations (...) Whereas everyone has the rights indicated by the law. If we know them we shouldnt be afraid of being discharged. (...) Here, in this faculty, they give us always this message: If you dispute with us while you are working on your doctoral research, you are under the risk of being discharged!"13 IST 1. is aware of the external factors of control and she tries to form her own space of activity by using both individual and organized techniques of refusal. However, the remainders who arent syndicated try to solve their problems by personal requests as stated by IST 1 and they dont try to shape their own space of activity by using the individual techniques of refusal. Article 50 D consider the research assistant as a student working part-time, but none of them is working part-time. In addition to fulltime working they should sometimes to be occupied with the personal affairs of professors or the dean. They are at the risk of being discharged while achieving their PhD program. Contrarily, research assistants of Ankara University are all syndicated even if they dont suffer from the treatment of the article 50 D. The elite structure of Ankara University, which based on the election of academicians who are graduated from this university, and who have the same scientific approach with the professors of that institution, usually prevents the risk of discharge. Despite the prerogative of this situation, research assistants of this faculty try to shape their own space of activity by participation to meeting on academicians rights or by organizing seminars to inform the academicians. They also created an e-mail group which influences not only the academicians of this faculty but also all the academicians of the Turkish universities facing usually similar problems derived from the article 50 D. These research assistants who have got PhD degrees organize many meetings. In April 2009, the rector of Istanbul University was persuaded to employ these research assistants. However, the authorities of YK, with an informal manner, menaced the rector by blocking all the nominations in this university.

Ece Baykal

______________________________________________________________ New positions for assistants and associate professors are not opened at the Galatasaray University. This is another kind of external factor of control on the academicians. The academicians of this faculty cant obtain the degree of assistant professor even if they answer all the requirements. Galatasaray University has a formal link with French government and this impels the university to stabilize the number of its students. Indeed, it depends on the choice of deans and the rector: this relationship is only a kind of guaranty against policy of sanctions managed by YK. In response to this, YK doesnt permit all the nomination demands of this university. Consequently, this tension between the university and YK form an external factor of control on many of the academicians. However, the academicians of the school of communications try to shape their own space of activity by organizing meetings among themselves and transmitting demands displayed during these meetings. The majority of research assistants are syndicated in this faculty and they consider the university as a space of struggle and try to shape their own space of activity by using individual techniques of refusal as writing a movie script or acting. They sometimes spend their free time in the faculty to work on these affairs.14 The principal external factor of control we remarked at the Bilgi University was that the changes at the curriculums in accordance with the needs/demands of the sector/industry, and the adaptation of academicians into these new curriculums without asking their opinion. Despite the discourse of transparency and the horizontal organization model, the academicians here are to obey the decisions of board of trustees. Just after the foundation of the university, the rector tried to transform the status of research assistants to part time students. At that time, there had been organized meetings with the support of some professors and they could persuade the rector to change his plans. Even if no one is syndicated in this school, many of them are trying to shape their own space of activity by working in collaboration with some NGOs. One of them, BIL 5, define also the university as a field of struggle: Organized parliamentary politics form just a small part of political field.() Me, I try to write scientific papers. For example, teaching is completely a political action. It is a power affair. University is also a political institution" 15 As for the external factors of control on research: some of the people interviewed do research in the direction of developing the sector of the media, especially in the universities of Istanbul and Konya; others are paid for each article which they publish in academician journals as at the Bilgi University. We observed the strongest practices with respect to external factor of control especially at ideological level at the Marmara University. Campaigns organized to the advantage of the Turkish army or of the martyrs, died during the conflict with PKK, seminars dedicated to Erasmus students for informing them about the officials policies of Turkish Republic on

8 The Evolution of the University in Turkey and Control Mechanisms over the Academicians ______________________________________________________________ Armenian or Kurdish problems to prevent the representation of the Turkish policies in a wrong way. Academicians are forced to participate to this kind of campaigns or meetings, particularly at the school of communications. "Just after the death of 12 soldiers, there has been some ceremony at the school which provoked nationalist feelings on the majority of my colleagues. For three weeks, there has been a strong nationalist ambience in the faculty. I thought to write a critical paper about our situation for publishing on some left wing news, but I changed my mind because of the future problems that I can face here after the publication." 16 This kind of external factor of control at the ideological level isnt limited with the Marmara Universitys academicians. Those of the University of Konya, which is located in province, are also faced to similar factors of control as stated in the interview of an assistant professor: "Imagine that you want to work on a special subject and your advisor doesnt permit you work on it. We are always faced to this kind of advice. In these cases there is of course a little sense of critics but also there is a censorship too. (...) For example, Ive wanted to work on alevism but I couldnt. Ive projected to work on Kurdish identity during my doctoral research. My advisor doesnt accept my project."17 Despite the ideological factor of control, the academicians of Konya University seemed to be shaped their own space of activity. Although they have different political approaches, they tolerate each other as well as the students who sometimes wear headscarf. Officially, they respect the decisions of YK, but they can de facto - act differently. They arent syndicated but their individual techniques of refusal that based on this tolerance can be more effective than the syndical meetings. In fact, the majority of the academicians involved our sample are the subject of various external factors of control. The organized techniques of refusal are not very developed in the totality of the sample, for example only 11 of the participants (total: 30) are syndicated. These are also taking responsibilities in organizations such as meetings or demonstrations within a trade union in the tendency of left wing politics: Eitim-SEN. Of the remainder who are not syndicated, some do not regard the trade-union as a field of struggle and some avoid to be syndicated for other personal reasons.

Ece Baykal

______________________________________________________________ Academicians of the Ankara University, with the highest rate of academicians who are syndicated, and with the other activities like the scientific meetings and the e-mail groups in the Internet, and who make more efforts in order to form their space of activity peculiar to them. The academicians of the Galatasaray University are also in a similar way to try to form their own spaces of activity. Those of the Bilgi University where there is no syndicated academician, the techniques of refusal remain rather individual. However, it is possible for us to say that they try to form a specific space of activity such as doing collective work with the nongovernmental organizations outside of the university. The academicians of the Marmara University, in spite of three syndicated participants who do not represent the totality of faculty, cannot develop organized techniques of refusal. Those of the University of Seluk and Istanbul are neither syndicated nor organized in order to develop other techniques of refusal. Even if all the academicians do not regard university space as a field of struggle, some of them managed to escape the control mechanisms by building their own space of activity and ethos. This space of activity isnt common for all the academicians of each school. Each academician acts in a different way and develop his or her own space of activity. One of them writes cartoon script to develop an ecologic sensibility over the children. Another one acts in a theatre group to say his words that he cant say in an academic space, etc. To summarize we can say that some academicians define the university space as a field of struggle that formulated by Bourdieu 18 and the others, even if they dont consider it in the same way, try to shape their own space of activity or they sometimes develop individual techniques of refusal related with the intra-individual effects defined by Lahire.19 Reactions of academicians that shape their own space of activity arent only related with their habitus or the capital of the individual inherited but also with these intra-individual effects.

Notes

1 2

M. Foucault, Surveiller et Punir: Naissance de la Prison, Gallimard, Paris, 1975, p.251 O.Ergin, Trkiye Maarif Tarihi, stanbul, 1940, vol.2, p. 453 3 S.A. Somel, The Modernization of Public Education in the Ottoman Empire 1839-1908: Islamization, Autocracy and Discipline, Leiden, Brill, Vol.22, 2001, p.58 4 M. A. ankaya, Mlkiye Tarihi ve Mlkiyeliler, Ankara, 1951, vol.1, p.10 5 V. Engin, Mekteb-i Sultani, Galatasayllar Dernei Yaynlar, Istanbul, 2003, p.33 6 B.C. Fortna, Imperial Classroom: Islam, State and Education in the Late Ottoman Empire, Oxford University Press, 2002,p.101 7 Ibid., p.99 8 Ibid. p.231 9 A. Kuya, niversite Uzman Malche stanbulda, in Cumhuriyet Ansiklopedisi 1923-1940, vol.1, Istanbul, Yapkredi Yaynlar,2002, p.188-189 10 A. nsel, Bir zihniyet tarz olarak YK, in Toplum ve Bilim, no 97, 2003, p.76-77 11 Ibid, p.77 12 P. Millot, La Reconfiguration des universits selon lOCDE: Economie du Savoir et Politique de LInnovation, in Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, No. 148, Juin 2003, p.69 13 Interview with Istanbul Universitys Research Assistant, coded as IST 1, 02.04.08 14 Interview with Galatasaray Universitys Academicians GSU 5 and GSU 4, 23.01.08 15 Interview with Bilgi University Professor, BIL 5, Istanbul, 24.03.08 16 Interview with Marmara University Research Assistant, MAR 5, stanbul, 25.02.08 17 Interview with Konya Universitys Assistant Professor, SEL 3, Konya, 10.03.2008 18 P. Bourdieu, Leon sur la leon, Paris, Minuit, 1982, p. 37-38 19 B. Lahire, Catgorisations et Logiques Individuelles: les obstacles une sociologie des variations intra-individuelles, in Cahier Internationaux de Sociologie, Vol. CX, 2001, p.73

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Books B.C. Fortna, Imperial Classroom: Islam, State and Education in the Late Ottoman Empire, Oxford University Press, 2002,p.101 B. Williamson, Education and Social Change in Egypte and Turkey, London, The MacMillan Press Ltd., 1987 M. A. ankaya, Mlkiye Tarihi ve Mlkiyeliler, Ankara, 1951, vol.1, p.10 M. Foucault, Surveiller et Punir: Naissance de la Prison, Gallimard, Paris, 1975, p.251 O.Ergin, Trkiye Maarif Tarihi, stanbul, 1940, vol.2, p. 453 P. Bourdieu, Leon sur la leon, Paris, Minuit, 1982, p. 37-38 P. Bourdieu, Homo Academicus, Paris, Minuit, 1984 P.Bourdieu, La Noblesse dEtat, Paris, Minuit, 1989 P. Corcuff, Les Nouvelles Sociologies, Paris, Nathan, 1995 S.A. Somel, The Modernization of Public Education in the Ottoman Empire 1839-1908: Islamization, Autocracy and Discipline, Leiden, Brill, Vol.22, 2001, p.58 T. Timur, Toplumsal Deime ve niversiteler, Ankara, mge, 2000 V. Engin, Mekteb-i Sultani, Galatasayllar Dernei Yaynlar, Istanbul, 2003, p.33 Articles A. nsel, Bir zihniyet tarz olarak YK, in Toplum ve Bilim, no 97, 2003, p.76-77 A. Kuya, niversite Uzman Malche stanbulda, in Cumhuriyet Ansiklopedisi 1923-1940, vol.1, Istanbul, Yapkredi Yaynlar,2002, p.188-189 B. Lahire, Catgorisations et Logiques Individuelles: les obstacles une sociologie des variations intra-individuelles, in Cahier Internationaux de Sociologie, Vol. CX, 2001, p.73 P. Millot, La Reconfiguration des universits selon lOCDE: Economie du Savoir et Politique de LInnovation, in Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, No. 148, Juin 2003, p.69 Interviews Interviews with BIL 1,2,3,4 and 5, (Academicians of Bilgi University Communication Faculty) Interviews with GSU 1,2,3,4 and 5 (Galatasaray University) Interviews with MAR 1,2,3,4 and 5 (Marmara University) Interviews with SEL 1,2,3,4 and 5 (Konya Seluk University)

Interviews with IST 1,2,3,4 and 5 (Istanbul University)