There is no hope left regarding university

Deniz Güngör

The AKP government's education and economic policies are causing students to lose hope in university. Data released by the Higher Education Council (YÖK) confirms this.

According to YÖK's current student and academic statistics, the number of students enrolled in higher education has decreased by 5 % compared to last year. While there were a total of 7,081,289 students in the 2023-2024 academic year, including full-time, open and distance learning, this year the number is 6,715,761. Accordingly, compared to last year, the number of students enrolled in higher education decreased by 366,128 in the 2024-2025 academic year.

Of the 3,714,449 students enrolled in formal education, 2,571,297 are in undergraduate programmes and 1,143,152 are in associate degree programmes.

INCREASE IN REMOTE EDUCATION

While the situation is as shown in the data, the number of students enrolled in open and distance learning increased compared to the previous year. Accordingly, the number of students enrolled in online and remote education in the 2023-2024 academic year was 2,927,308, and this number increased by 173,000 this year. Accordingly, in the 2024-2025 academic year, the number of students enrolled in open and distance learning programmes reached 3,000,312. Of these, 1,921,032 are enrolled in associate degree programmes, while 1,080,280 are enrolled in bachelor's degree programmes.

MIDWIFERY RANKED FIRST

The number of students enrolled in applied education programmes reached 2,009,572. Of these, 1,179,435 are enrolled in undergraduate programmes and 830,137 are enrolled in associate degree programmes.

Within undergraduate applied programmes, Medicine has the highest number of students at 132,011, followed by Nursing with 89,570 students and Computer Engineering with 87,788 students.

According to the data, women show particular interest in applied programmes in the healthcare field. In the 2025 Higher Education Examination (YKS), the undergraduate programme most preferred by female candidates was Midwifery, while the associate degree programme was Medical Secretarial Studies. The ‘Telemedicine Technician’ and ‘Medical Data Processing Technician’ associate degree programmes, which were launched for the first time this year, were among the programmes with the highest number of female students in their field.

POVERTY IS BEHIND THE DECLINE

“Increasing youth unemployment forces students to study with the aim of gaining a profession, while at the same time, poverty discourages young people from pursuing this goal. Previous data from the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) revealed an increase in the rate of school drop-outs or those who enrol but do not attend. Research conducted on this data revealed that economic reasons were largely behind these school drop-outs. When we look at the social class of those who drop out of school or enrol but do not attend, the real reason becomes clear.

However, this is not the only reason. A significant proportion of the unemployed in the country are university graduates. Except for the medical field, there is no guarantee of employment in any profession after university. For example, approximately 1 million teachers who graduated from education faculties have not been appointed. Considering all this, young people think, 'I will study for 5 years, my family will have to support me financially, and in the end, I will be unemployed. There will be no difference from now, on the contrary, I would have lost time.‘ For this reason, they leave their studies and work as blue-collar workers. The increase in the number of students in online and remote education has also risen significantly. This is the result of the equation, ‘I haven't left my studies, but I have to work at the same time.‘ Behind this lies a lack of future prospects and poverty.

THE EXCESSIVE NUMBER OF APPOINTMENTS IN HEALTHCARE IS A FACTOR

As health sciences become the field with the best job appointments, groups with lower scores have started to prefer these fields. There may be an increase in the demand for health sciences programmes, particularly because they are considered more secure professions. Students also believe that they will have better working conditions in the public sector. Therefore, they tend to prefer these programmes. In summary, the reason why health sciences departments such as nursing and midwifery are more popular is that appointment and employment transitions are relatively easier. However, this applies to students with mathematical background. Students with Turkish language and social sciences background may prefer history, economics, business administration or geography."

2 million are studying at their second university

There are 6,715,761 students enrolled in higher education. Excluding the 1,961,195 students studying at their second university, the current number of students is 4,754,566. The distribution of these students according to undergraduate programmes is as follows:

•Number of students enrolled in undergraduate programmes: 3,020,035

•Number of students enrolled in associate degree programmes: 1,734,531

The distribution of the 1,961,195 students enrolled in their second university according to undergraduate programmes is as follows:

•Number of students enrolled in undergraduate programmes: 631,542

•Number of students enrolled in associate degree programmes: 1,329,653

Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Üniversiteye dair umut kalmadı, published in BirGün newspaper on November 8, 2025.