Undergraduate and graduate enrollment has increased spectacularly at Turkey's universities in recent years. And while the infrastructure has kept pace, the same can't be said of the quality of education.

The number of students and academic capacity has grown tenfold in just the past decade. Going back further, in 1979 there were only 12 universities in Turkey. There are now 203. In 1980, out of 467,000 students who participated in university entrance exams, only 42,000 (9%) were able to enter, whereas in 2018, of 1.7 million students who took the exams, 710,000 (40%) made it.

According to 2018 data, there were 455,000 undergraduate and 95,000 graduate students in Turkey. In 2018, 25,000 professors, 15,000 associate professors and 37,520 assistant professors taught in Turkish universities. When instructors and research assistants are added to these figures, some 160,000 academics are actively teaching in Turkish universities.

Yet, in 2018, of 86,000 available positions for adjunct faculty in private universities, only 62,000 (72%) were filled. Two years before, these schools were able to fill 90% of the positions.