Although it was forbidden by law to pay lower wages to faculty members working at foundation universities than faculty members working at state universities, the faculty members were trying to raise the issue of illegality in foundation universities. Council of Higher Education (YÖK) stated that the investigation initiated upon the complaints was completed and announced that it had detected a violation of the law.
It has been announced that 9 foundation universities have been examined by YÖK regarding salaries and dismissals and that the investigations have been completed. In the written statement made by YÖK, it was stated that the academic staff working at foundation universities and the media started to investigate the issues. It was pointed out that investigations were initiated regarding deficiencies in salary payments and dismissals, and as a result of this examination, it was determined that some foundation universities acted against the law.
CLEAR REGULATION IN THE LAW IS NOT IMPLEMENTED
Salary inequality and dismissals at foundation universities has been coming up for a while. YÖK, on the other hand, launched an investigation in April against these issues. A written statement about the investigation was published recently. According to the statement made by the Council of Higher Education, in the examinations carried out by the Higher Education Supervisory Board regarding 9 foundation universities, “Although there is a clear regulation in the law in some foundation universities, the wages paid to the teaching staff at state universities are not taken into account or the wage increase is based on the contract dates. It was understood that it was not done in the relevant periods”. After the results of the examination, YÖK announced that it will take the necessary actions regarding 9 foundation universities within the framework of the authority and responsibilities of the institution.
YÖK MUST ACT FASTER
The Foundation Universities Solidarity Council (VÜDAM), which made a statement to our newspaper on the subject, toting that the progress of the study has been slowing down, stated that the names of the universities examined should be announced and said, “The process is progressing very slowly and non-transparently. We have no information on the names of the universities or the possible sanctions. While the law is very clear and the inspection-sanctions mechanism could be operated much faster, we think that this delay was deliberate. We demand that YÖK take faster action.”
ALL UNIVERSITIES NEED TO BE AUDITED
Underlining that the lecturers working in foundation universities face problems in many universities, VÜDAM pointed out that the issue should not be limited to only 9 universities, and added, "Although it is a process that only operates through these 9 universities, we know that the law is not implemented in more than half of nearly 80 foundation universities. All universities need to be audited.”