Law on Turkish President appointing rectors "misses opportunity to align with European standards" (EUA)

"The European University Association regrets the passing of a new Turkish law on 01/07 that consolidates the president of the country’s prerogative to appoint rectors of both public and foundation universities", declares the European University Association (EUA) on 31/07/2025.

The organisation refers to the new Turkish law, granting sole competence to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish President, to appoint university rectors.

While Erdoğan has been President of Turkey since 2014, it's a 2018 decree that granted him the power to appoint university rectors, while removing the university community from the process.

In 2024, the Turkish Constitutional Court nullified several provisions of the 2018 decree and gave public authorities one year to enact new legislation. At the time, EUA called on the authorities to reconsider the process and to more closely align it with European standards of university autonomy, the association reminds.

"While the new law stipulates that the Board of Trustees of foundation universities make a recommendation towards the appointment decision, in the case of…