Turkey has 11 public university law faculties where the dean does not boast a law degree, news portal Duvar reported on October 29.

It’s a grim finding that demonstrates how much of the country’s higher education has been hollowed out during the Erdogan years.

In all, there are 44 law faculties at Turkish public universities. When private universities are included, there are 92 law faculties at universities across Turkey and Northern Cyprus.

The non-law law faculty deans include Emine Gumussoy, dean of the faculty of law at Eskisehir Osmangazi University, who has a degree in history, and Coskun Karaca, dean of the faculty of law at Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, who is a finance graduate.

Emin Asikkutli, dean of the faculty of law at Trabzon University, has a degree in theology while Huseyin Odabas, dean of the faculty of law at Cankiri Karatekin University, is an archival studies graduate.

In August, Duvar reported that 24% of departments at public universities in Turkey have no academic personnel at all with the title of professor.

Six law faculties at the Bogazici, Afyon Kocatepe, Cankiri Karatekin, Inonu, Izmir Demokrasi and Recep Tayyip Erdogan universities had no professors to speak of.

There was a time when Bogazici, one of the last of the few higher education institutions in the country not widely viewed by critics as entirely destroyed, was very much a globally respected university. Sadly, since 2020, those not enamoured of the Erdogan regime have noted officials giving Bogazici some particular unwanted attention that has wrecked its standing.

The Erdogan administration declared a policy of launching universities in every province and associated faculties in almost every town. It proved good for boosting construction spending and served to disguise the real situation when it comes to Turkey’s unending ranks of unemployed, as students are not counted as unemployed.

Student populations in small cities and towns also create economic benefits for small merchants and generate rich pickings for landlords and other economic actors.

The painful conclusion? Turkey’s education system is just one of multiple collapsed vital systems in the country where it is a struggle to find an institution that remains standing tall.