Private spending allowed but not scholarships, says Hacettepe rector

Gamze Kolcu ANKARA

An Ankara University rector has criticized the current academic system that does not permit private budgets to be spent on student scholarships but does on personal expenditures.

Hacettepe University Rector Murat Tuncer said they were not able to give scholarships to students from their private budget due to a regulation but could spend the money on luxurious official cars.

“The regulation that forbids giving scholarships to students but permits the purchase of official cars worth millions of Turkish Liras is absolutely wrong; this is clearly color-blindness,” said Tuncer, adding that the regulation did not allow the budget to be used to students’ advantage.

Stating that around 10,000 of 43,000 Hacettepe University students had applied for financial aid, Tuncer said they could provide aid to only 2,000 of them. He added that almost half of the 200,000 students studying in Ankara had sought financial support.

“If we could give scholarship from our private budget, the number of students with higher financial possibilities would increase,” said Tuncer.

The rector said the state contribution needed to increase to prevent financial shortages from affecting the students.

“Our university’s yearly expenses are around 30 million liras. We operate at a loss of about 5 million liras. If the allowances are not raised, state universities will not go bankrupt but will be in a troublesome situation. The financial shortages will directly affect the students,” said Tuncer.

Tuncer added that despite the limited possibilities, state universities educated the highest level of scientists but that private and foundation universities subsequently attracted these scientists by offering higher s