Öğrenciler İçin Üniversitenin Anlamı: “Bizim Düşlediğimiz Üniversite…” / The Meaning of University for Students: “The University, We Dream of”

University, roots of which reach back to Medieval Age in Europe, is facing numerous challenges as institution and as idea today both from state and also from market forces most of which are perpetrators of neoliberal capitalism. The concept autonomous university is subject to erosion by devaluation of basic concepts such as truth, critical knowledge and thinking and is also under pressure for collaboration with global and national market and competition within global higher education market. Academicians are being converted to workers serving for knowledge factories and proletarianized and turned into experts or technicians whose knowledge and popularity (through media) are transformed into marketable commodities with exchange values. The commodification of knowledge, probably present in natural sciences (fields of engineering and medicine, in particular) since the beginning, seems to become valid for social sciences and humanities. In this article, we look at how the university, struggling to defend its core values while witnessing dramatic regressions in its capacity of critical knowledge production and thinking, is being perceived, made sense of, and experienced by the university students (who are being converted into customers or consumers under neoliberal conditions) . In the article, we will first provide an overview addressing the siege of universities by neoliberalism within and out of Turkey through ideologies such as entrepreneurship, competitiveness and “quality”. We will then emphasize the historical and sociological meaning and value of youth and university youth in Turkey. Finally, we will discuss the data collected via semi-structured interviews with 20 students, enrolled universities located in Ankara.. The interview data demonstrate that majority of the students are in consensus that university plays an important role in creation of their political identity and consciousness. It is observed that the interviewees tend to link the concept “transformation”, which was sometimes referred to as self-development, independence from family or becoming a subject leading his or her own life, to the opportunities provided by the university environment. The students prioritizing the role of university in their career plans and socialization practices, on the other hand, were being a university student implies coinciding with different points of view, expressing themselves more freely and comfortably. Therefore despite the systematic problems of Turkish academia in terms of producing free knowledge for social development, according to the findings of this research, one could argue that the universities, at least those located in the major cities, have progressive potential and transforming influence on the semantic worlds of the students.Özet:Avrupa’da kökleri Ortaçağ’a kadar uzanan üniversite bugün, hem fikir hem de kurum olarak birçoğu neoliberal kapitalizmin failleri olan piyasa güçlerinden ve devletten gelen sayısız meydan okumayla karşı karşıyadır. Özgür üniversite anlayışı, bir yandan eleştirel bilgi, hakikat ve akıl gibi temel kavramları değersizleştirilerek, bir yandan da ulusal ve küresel piyasa ve toplumla bütünleşmeye zorlanarak aşındırılmaktadır. Akademisyenler giderek bilgi fabrikalarında çalışan işçilere dönüşerek proterleştirilmekte ve bilgisini ya da medya yoluyla popülaritesini piyasada paraya tahvil edebilecek uzmanlara ya da teknisyenlere dönüşmektedir. Doğa bilimlerinde (özellikle mühendislik ve tıp alanlarının aracılığıyla) belki kuruluşundan itibaren hâkim olan bilginin metalaşması, sosyal ve beşeri bilimler için de geçerli hale gelmiş görünmektedir. Bu makalede tüm sorunlar karşısında savunma halinde olan ve fikren küçülen üniversitenin, neoliberal koşullar altında müşteri ya da tüketicilere dönüştürülmeye çalışılan öğrencileri tarafından nasıl kavrandığı, anlamlandırıldığı ve deneyimlendiği incelenmeye çalışılmıştır. Makalede öncelikle üniversitenin dünyada ve Türkiye’de girişimcilik, rekabetçilik ve “kalite” gibi ideolojiler aracılığıyla neoliberalizm tarafından nasıl kuşatıldığı betimlenmiştir. Ardından gençliğin ve üniversiteli gençliğin Türkiye’de tarihsel ve sosyolojik anlamı ve değeri ele alınmıştır. Bu bölümleri Ankara’daki üniversitelerde öğrenimlerini sürdüren 20 öğrenciyle yürütülen yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmelerden elde edilen verilerin betimlenmesi ve analizi izlemektedir. Görüşmeci gençlerin büyük bölümünün, üniversitenin politik kimliğin ve bilincin oluşmasında önemli bir yeri olduğu konusunda hemfikir olduklarını söylenebilir. Kimi zaman “kendini geliştirmek” biçiminde tarif edilen, kimi zaman aileden bağımsızlaşıp hayatına yön veren bir özne olma imkânıyla ifadesini bulan, bazı görüşmelerde ise daha toplumsal ve politik anlamlarıyla öne çıkan bir “dönüşüm” vurgusunun üniversiteyle ilişkilendirildiği göze çarpmaktadır. Meslek edinme ya da sosyalleşme anlamlarının öncelikli olduğu görüşmeciler için de üniversite öğrenciliği süreci, farklı bakış açılarıyla karşılaşmak, kendini daha rahat ve özgür biçimde ifade edebilmek gibi dönüştürücü deneyimlerle birlikte anılmıştır. Dolayısıyla Türkiye akademisinin, toplumsal gelişme için özgür bilgi üretmek anlamındaki bütün sistematik sorunlarına rağmen, bu araştırmanın bulgularından hareketle en azından büyük kentlerdeki üniversitelerin, öğrencilerin anlam dünyalarında değiştirici, dönüştürücü bir vurguya sahip olduğunu belirtmek mümkündür.Abstract:University, roots of which reach back to Medieval Age in Europe, is facing numerous challenges as institution and as idea today both from state and also from market forces most of which are perpetrators of neoliberal capitalism. The concept autonomous university is subject to erosion by devaluation of basic concepts such as truth, critical knowledge and thinking and is also under pressure for collaboration with global and national market and competition within global higher education market. Academicians are being converted to workers serving for knowledge factories and proletarianized and turned into experts or technicians whose knowledge and popularity (through media) are transformed into marketable commodities with exchange values. The commodification of knowledge, probably present in natural sciences (fields of engineering and medicine, in particular) since the beginning, seems to become valid for social sciences and humanities. In this article, we look at how the university, struggling to defend its core values while witnessing dramatic regressions in its capacity of critical knowledge production and thinking, is being perceived, made sense of, and experienced by the university students (who are being converted into customers or consumers under neoliberal conditions) . In the article, we will first provide an overview addressing the siege of universities by neoliberalism within and out of Turkey through ideologies such as entrepreneurship, competitiveness and “quality”. We will then emphasize the historical and sociological meaning and value of youth and university youth in Turkey. Finally, we will discuss the data collected via semi-structured interviews with 20 students, enrolled universities located in Ankara.. The interview data demonstrate that majority of the students are in consensus that university plays an important role in creation of their political identity and consciousness. It is observed that the interviewees tend to link the concept “transformation”, which was sometimes referred to as self-development, independence from family or becoming a subject leading his or her own life, to the opportunities provided by the university environment. The students prioritizing the role of university in their career plans and socialization practices, on the other hand, were being a university student implies coinciding with different points of view, expressing themselves more freely and comfortably. Therefore despite the systematic problems of Turkish academia in terms of producing free knowledge for social development, according to the findings of this research, one could argue that the universities, at least those located in the major cities, have progressive potential and transforming influence on the semantic worlds of the students