Accreditation in Turkish universities

In Turkey, students are more and more willing to participate in the global free movement of students and of high-skilled labour after their graduation. This is why they request international accreditation from universities. Therefore, accreditation is one of the parameters that play an important role in students' university selection. On the other hand, Turkey is aiming to be a European Union member. This imposes institutional legal and civil arrangements and harmonization. Also, the general trend of globalization dictates requirements from university graduates that are answered in best business practice in which accreditation is a major component. In this paper, accreditation efforts to achieve international recognition for Turkish universities are discussed. For this purpose information on higher education is given. Attempts for accreditation on licensure through FEANI is explained. Accreditation on department programmes by ABET (USA) and by an engineering institution (UK) are discussed and their similarities are pinpointed. Also, a Turkish, British and World Bank quality assessment pilot project for education and research is discussed.