Türkiye sees 20 pct surge in number of PhD graduates

The number of Ph.D. graduates in the country rose by 20 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, reaching the highest level in six years, Türkiye's top education body has revealed.

According to the Higher Education Council's (YÖK) annual report on university monitoring and assessment, the number of doctoral graduates in Türkiye increased from 11,290 in 2022 to 13,561 in 2023.

The figures also showed an increase in the annual average number of doctoral graduates, rising from 51.32 in 2020 to 81.69 in 2023.

Ankara University led as the educational institution with the highest number of Ph.D. graduates, with a total of 846 individuals successfully completing their doctoral thesis, followed by Istanbul University, Gazi University, Marmara University, and Hacettepe University.

YÖK head Erol Özvar expressed satisfaction with the significant rise in Ph.D. graduates, noting that Türkiye leads Europe in terms of the pace of growth in the number of Ph.D. graduates during the past decade.

Özvar also announced the launch of a new initiative on Ph.D. programs. "Currently, we aim for doctoral graduates to secure positions in a much broader range of fields beyond academia, contributing to the economic growth, scientific development, and technological advancement of our nation," he explained.

He noted that within this framework, they are developing a new curriculum for the Ph.D. degree and are also gathering feedback from industry and business representatives on the matter.