"OUR HIGHER EDUCATION BUDGET HAS REACHED A FULL 488.5 BILLION LIRA TODAY"

To help you see where we've come from, I'd like to share some figures with you very briefly. Look, in 2002, the budget allocated to higher education was only 2.5 billion lira. Today, our higher education budget has reached a full 488.5 billion lira.

"WE HAVE UNIVERSITIES IN ALL 81 PROVINCES"

23 years ago, our number of universities was 76. Today, we have 208 higher education institutions in all 81 provinces, 79 of which are foundation universities and 129 are state universities. This means that all young people who want to study, regardless of their family's financial situation, can now easily access higher education opportunities, often within their own provinces. Another important point is this: Our universities are climbing up the world rankings every year. We anticipate that by 2029, at least two of our universities will be in the top 100, and at least 10 will be in the top 500. This is also very important. As you know, for decades, science, the problems of scientists, and the quality of our universities were not discussed in this country. Unfortunately, universities have been in the news for years with dress code bans, persuasion rooms, and student protests. We have put an end to this distortion.

We eliminated both the coefficient inequality and the dress code bans that were a nasty legacy of the February 28th mentality. Today, over 7 million students across our country can freely pursue their university education. We quadrupled the net enrollment rate for young people aged 18-22 from 13 percent to 50 percent. We also reduced the gap in access to higher education between men and women in this age group to zero.

During the same period, we increased the number of our academic staff from 76,000 to 186,000. From where to where? We also made significant strides in housing and scholarships. We increased our total number of dormitories to 875 and our bed capacity to 1 million. Thus, we eliminated a potential avenue for exploitation that the main opposition and fringe organizations had been clamoring for at the beginning of every academic year.

"WE'VE EXPANDED LOAN AND SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS"

We've also resolved the issue of university tuition fees. Is tuition a problem anymore? No. We've also expanded loan and scholarship opportunities for our university students. We now offer loans or scholarships to every student who applies. Dear professors, of course, we're not content with just these. We're integrating big data, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and digital learning technologies into our universities. Currently, over 100 of our universities offer AI and IT-based undergraduate and associate degree programs. We're strengthening the digital infrastructure of our educational institutions and expanding open science and e-learning platforms.

"WE HAVE IMPLEMENTED THE ORGANIZED INDUSTRIAL ZONE AND VOCATIONAL SCHOOL MODEL"

Another issue we are focusing on is university-industry collaboration. The wounds inflicted on vocational education by the February 28th coup attempt have still not fully healed. Even today, we feel the negative impact on employment of the coefficient tyranny implemented solely to hinder Imam Hatip schools. The real sector, especially, is struggling to find personnel to work on production lines, while our youth suffer from unemployment. We are implementing policies to address this contradiction. We have implemented the organized industrial zone and vocational school model, which allows our students to apply their theoretical knowledge in an industrial environment. The employment rate for students studying at these schools has already reached 80 percent. We have accelerated our efforts to ensure that at least one vocational school in every city continues its operations in coordination with the provincial chamber of industry. We will continue to pave the way for our youth and universities with the steps we take and the regulations we make in many areas.

"WE AIM TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN OUR COUNTRY TO 1 MILLION"

Dear guests, at this point, I would like to emphasize our efforts regarding the international character of higher education. Today, there are nearly 8 million international students worldwide. Turkey ranks sixth in the world with over 350,000 guest students. Ninety-five percent of these students, who come from 198 countries, are self-employed. They cover their tuition, dormitory, rent, food, and all other expenses out of their own pockets. The annual contribution of international students in our country to the Turkish economy is over $3 billion. The global higher education economy exceeds $370 billion. As can be seen, there is significant potential waiting to be tapped. We intend to fully utilize this potential. We aim to increase the number of international students in our country to 500,000 in the medium term and to 1 million in the long term.

Now, when we speak so assertively, some immediately appear to criticize us and incite our youth against us. Yet, the vision we present is not one to be criticized, but rather one to be admired. I would like to remind those who fail to grasp our vision of global education of the following: The quotas allocated to visiting students are completely separate from those allocated to our citizens. In other words, no one is infringing on anyone else's rights, nor is they usurping the rights of our youth. These brothers and sisters, who come to our country from different continents as academics, students, and interns, are making significant contributions to Turkish universities.