Geography in Turkish Higher Education

Abstract

Abstract The published literature on Geography teaching in Higher Education (HE) has focused principally on advanced “western” countries such as the USA, UK and Australia. This paper contributes to a redressing of this imbalance by offering an account of the scale and character of Geography provision in Turkish Universities. It shows that almost all the 22 Universities providing Geography are in the state (rather than private) sector, with the majority of courses having been established in the last 20 years. The paper identifies some important differences between Geography courses in Turkey and those in countries such as the UK. Perhaps the most important is the extent to which Turkish Geography is focused on producing the nation’s supply of secondary school Geography teachers and is not yet seen as equipping students for a much wider range of careers and employment opportunities.