Proceedings of the 23rd International Academic Conference, Venice

PUBLIC RESPONSE TO THE SYRIAN STUDENTS' RIGHT TO HIGHER EDUCATION AT TURKISH UNIVERSITIES

HAKAN ERGIN

Abstract:

Turkey has been going through a difficult exam these days. Since the Syrian crisis started in 2011, she has welcomed the Syrian migrants with her 'open door' policy. Hosting more than two millions of Syrian migrants now, Turkey has been in a continuous effort to show her hospitality to her guests. In this sense, she provided the Syrian migrants in Turkey with the right to higher education at universities in Turkey without an entrance exam and a tuition fee. This policy enabled more than five thousand Syrian migrants to start higher education in Turkey. However, this issue has become a controversial one in Turkey. As getting into a university in Turkey is very competitive among the Turkish citizens, some find this policy unfair. On the other hand, some others support it thinking that this policy is a 'brotherly' one for their neighbors. Revealing the Turkish people's perceptions towards this policy can let us find out whether this 'governmental hospitable policy' is valid in the eye of general public. Within this context, this qualitative study aims to explore the perceptions of the Turkish people towards the Syrian migrants' right to higher education in Turkey. The data of the study were collected from the reviews made by the Turkish citizens for the news about the Syrian migrants' right to higher education in Turkey on online newspapers. These reviews were analyzed by conventional content analysis technique. The findings reveal that the reviewers are in favour of or against this policy for several reasons.

Keywords: Media, public response, migration, Syria, civil war, right to education.

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2016.023.035

PDF: Download