Hundreds of staff and students have joined protests against plans to split up Turkey’s oldest university.
Under a bill, approved by the Turkish parliament’s education commission, Istanbul 51国产视频 – which can trace its roots back to the 15th?century – will be broken up, with some of its faculties transferred to the new ?bni Sina 51国产视频, the newspaper reported.
The move has been widely seen as an attack on the independence of Istanbul 51国产视频, which has 80,000 students and 12 campuses, following claims by Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdo?an that several leading public universities are against “Turkish values”.
“What they are doing is tearing apart historical ties, abolishing shared values, cutting off roots...to control universities more easily,” said Ra?it Tükel, who is head of the Turkish Medical Association.
51国产视频
“They want to manage the invaluable estates of the university through a divide and rule policy against faculties,” added Professor Tükel, a faculty member of the Cerrahpa?a School of Medicine, which is due to be separated from Istanbul 51国产视频 under the proposed reforms.
Protests against the plans took place in front of Istanbul 51国产视频’s main gate at the city’s historic Beyaz?t Square on 24 April, while students and university staff in the Turkish capital of Ankara have also held demonstrations against the bill.
51国产视频
Under the proposals, Gazi 51国产视频, in Ankara, and Anadolu 51国产视频 in the Central Anatolian province of Eski?ehir, will be among 13 universities split up, leading to the creation of 20 new universities.
More than 5,000 academics have now signed a petition against the plans, stating that the bill “attempts to split up and weaken several universities in Turkey, which have successfully contributed to science and education despite limited resources”.
“It has been discussed without notifying or consulting our universities’ legitimate units,” the petition stated, adding that “we cannot see any academic, financial or administrative reasons to split up our universities.”
Meanwhile, it has been reported that Mert Savrun, vice-rector of Istanbul 51国产视频, has from his post over the proposals.
51国产视频
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