The commercialisation of universities
‘Currently, a young person enters the workforce at the age of 26. That is why we plan to shorten the 12 years of compulsory education and lower the age of entry to university to 15.’
The steps taken in education and the statements made continue without end. With every step taken, education is being stripped of its status as a right. It is being turned into a commodity to be bought and sold. It is being commercialised. Schools and universities are being transformed into commercial establishments and job centres. MESEMs (vocational training centres) and four new school models are replacing schools with workshops, construction sites and factories.
The secular, scientific nature of education is being eliminated. Teachers are being replaced by company employees, masters, spiritual advisors, theology graduates, Religious Affairs employees, and sect structures, with protocols. The identity of the school and the teacher is being eliminated.
We have lost equal, free, qualified, scientific education. We continue to lose the last remnants at every step. While the fundamental problem in education is the destruction of equal, free, scientific, quality education, the problem for the ministry and the regime is the inability of capital to find cheap labour at an early age. The rationale for lowering the age of university admission is based not on the best interests of students but on the best interests of employers.
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The reduction of compulsory education, the spread of MESEMs (Vocational Education Centres), four new school models, vocational secondary schools, the reduction of university duration, and the lowering of the university entry age to 15; every step is for capital.
The following statements in the latest Medium-Term Plan (OVP) and the Presidential Annual Plan are noteworthy:
The capacity of higher education institutions, particularly vocational colleges, will be strengthened to meet the medium-term labour force needs of the public and private sectors.The vocational and technical education curriculum will be updated in collaboration with the private sector, and private sector participation will be increased.
The government is making it permanent to make children and young people available to the private sector.
The Youth Employment Initiative-Power Promotion Programme, announced as good news for university students, and the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR) Youth programmes were promises to employ young people and university students under MESEM conditions.
A new regime of slavery is being built, characterised by flexible, temporary, insecure work, below the minimum wage, without public pension rights, and where union membership is prohibited.
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Higher Education Council (YÖK) President Erol Özvar stated that ‘the four-year undergraduate education will be completed in three years, the duration will be shortened with a system based on three semesters per year and summer schools, and sector-collaborative, applied education will be increased in vocational schools (MYO)’. What they call applied education is the transformation of universities into MESEM conditions.
What they call sector-collaborative education is the employment of university students under MESEM conditions. In order to be able to employ them below the minimum wage, the number of university students employed flexibly and without security under the name of ‘allowance’ had reached half a million in the first 11 months of 2025 (474,229).
We know from the 12th Development Plan, the Medium-Term Plan, the statements made, and the steps taken that the policy of dismantling schools and universities has been ongoing for a long time.
In November 2025, the Presidential Annual Programme was published in the Official Gazette. The programme explicitly announced the establishment of a flexible, temporary, insecure, and below-minimum-wage employment regime under names such as new generation working models and active labour force.
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The programme included provisions for the centralised determination of appointment and promotion criteria for universities, the widespread adoption of project-based flexible employment, and the inclusion of industry representatives in decision-making mechanisms, thereby promoting marketisation and the widespread adoption of flexible, insecure work.
Vocational and technical education is being transformed into MESEM-style models by establishing industrial partnerships and joint education models, converting vocational colleges and universities. A model is being planned whereby vocational colleges will be opened within industrial zones, linked to industrial and commercial areas, turning young people into cheap or even free labour. The educational institution status of both secondary schools and universities is being abolished.
Schools and universities are being liquidated. Child labour, the exploitation of children and young people in flexible, insecure, temporary, low-paid jobs, is establishing a regime of slavery. Education is also being designed to suit this new regime of work and slavery.
From Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MUSIAD) to sects, foundations, associations, unions, and platforms, they are acting as spokespersons for the regime, declaring that education is no longer a right and announcing a regime of slavery.
The duration of education is a burden on the state, an obstacle to working at an early age and early marriage, and should be shortened.
Everything is class-based. Everything is for capital.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled 15 yaşta üniversite: Üniversitelerin mesemleştirilmesi, published in BirGün newspaper on March 12, 2026.
