Last five years of undergraduate biomedical engineering programs in Turkey and predictions for the year of 2020

In this study, the files published on OSYM web site that consist of the lists of “Higher education degree programs accepting students via central placements” are inspected for a five-year period starting from the year of 2010. Considering the Biomedical engineering programs, universities, quotas and the number of students placed were noted. Using the data noted, several tables and graphs providing valuable information were generated and interpreted. A number of predictions were made for the year of 2020. In both public and private universities, both the number of programs and quotas show increases in the last five year period. Total number of program vs. year and total number of quota vs. year data can be represented by linear curves with positive slopes. The number of students placed in state universities is increasing rapidly and continuously. The increase in the number of students placed in private universities is slower and has a tendency to decrease in the year of 2014. However, the total number of students placed tends to increase and this data can be fitted to a linear curve with a positive slope. The occupancy rate changes from 88% to 80% while it is 100% for public universities independent of years. The occupancy rate in private universities tends to decrease over the years. Considering the 2014 data, quotas provided by most public universities are quite higher than the ones provided by private universities. These high quotas in public universities are provided with secondary education services. The majority of the quotas in private universities are provided for 50% scholarships. The highest quota is provided in Istanbul by private universities. Another city where private universities provide all quotas is Ankara. In Izmir, two halves of the quota are provided by private and state universities. All of the quotas in other cities are provided by public universities. Predictions made for the year of 2020 show that the total quota of biomedical engineering will be 2554, the number of students to be placed will be 2055 and the number of programs will be 43. Private universities are estimated to have 34% occupancy rate. It should be noted that during calculation of this ratio, a 100% of average occupancy rate for the public universities have been considered.