With the appointment of Yusuf Ziya Özcan as the new president of Turkey’s Higher Education Board (YÖK), there is renewed hope for the future of the Turkish university system. For too long Turkish universities have performed way below acceptable international standards. Nor have they catered to the increasing needs of Turkish society. Instead of improving the standards of higher education in Turkey, YÖK has acted like an academic police controlling everything in the universities.

YÖK was established after the 1980 military coup and the generals gave it one mission: control of universities. The extremely central and hierarchical structure of YÖK left very little space for universities to be independent and creative. For the last 25 years YÖK’s primary mission has been the political control of universities rather than leading them in the new era of globalization.

Turkish universities are far from doing cutting-edge research, competing with world universities, attracting foreign students or playing a leading role in innovation. At a time when the quest for quality education has increased in our region, the number of foreign students in Turkish universities has significantly dropped. Every year, more than a million high school graduates are denied access to university education. The rate of job placement after graduation is alarming. There is a wall between universities and the business world. The heavy control mechanism has blocked independent and creative thinking in both natural and social sciences. The number of Turkish academics publishing in internationally indexed journals is below the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) standards.

The list of problems goes on. Can the new YÖK president change the course? In his first press conference YÖK’s new president, Özcan, gave two messages: academic freedom and scientific production. Academic freedom is essential for the primary mission of the university. Universities are where new ideas are created, discussed, tested and contested. Universities are not a tool for social engineering and political streamlining. Without freedom, there can be no scholarly output, no concerned scholarship, no intellectual contribution. Özcan, hailing from the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ), is known for his liberal and independent thinking. His academic credentials are impeccable. He is among the handful of Turkish scholars who knows what is happening in the world of new ideas and cutting-edge research. His position as an advisor to the president of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) must have given Özcan a new perspective on the alarming state of scientific research and innovation in Turkey.

Despite his good intentions of staying away from politics, Özcan will have to confront the politically charged and polarized world of Turkish academia. It will not be easy to shift the focus from decades of ideological machinations to academic freedom, scientific research and independent thinking. The headscarf issue is not for the new YÖK president to solve but his position will be crucial for expanding the field of freedoms in universities. His good fortune is that the university system is in such a bad shape that even small steps will make a huge difference.

Besides freedom and academic excellence, however, Turkish universities need significant improvement in what they offer to academic faculty and students. Academic promotion, decentralized management, better salaries, job security, a better entry system into universities and a more efficient distribution of resources are among the pressing issues for state and private universities in Turkey.

Universities should play a leading role in Turkey’s struggle to be a regional power and global player in the 21st century. While the ideologues of the “old Turkey” continue to be lost in their dogmatic sleep, YÖK President Özcan will have a chance to co