Looking Inside the Strategic Plans: Strengths and Weaknesses of Turkish Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

As strengths and weaknesses are regarded as internal features of an organization, the present study focused on strengths and weaknesses of Turkish public universities by analyzing the SWOTs (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) of twenty higher education institutions. By applying qualitative content analytical tools, we tried to make some comparisons, twenty universities, ten ranked at the top and ten at the bottom of the URAP list, were chosen to analyze the strengths and weaknesses. Findings show that all universities top or bottom ones have internal strengths and weaknesses on their own. The strengths of universities differ according to their size, field of service, structure, history and geographical locations. Top universities which are in big size, have a deeply rooted history and situated in a better geographical location can enjoy the strengths as qualified faculty members, organizational culture, internationalization process, infrastructure and good alumni relations. On the other hand, bottom universities which have not got those advantages deal with other strengths such as young faculty members, organizational support and internal communication. As for the weaknesses, top universities need more budget and acceptable rate of faculty member and student. Bottom ones need more qualified faculty members, students and staff. As they are located in disadvantageous regions, they are in need of some promotions to attract faculties, staff, national and international students. In addition, they also should be aware of the contributions of good alumni relations. ResumenEl presente estudio se centró canalizar las fortalezas y debilidades de las universidades públicas turcas mediante el análisis de los DAFO (debilidades, amenazas, fortalezas, oportunidades) de veinte instituciones de educación superior. Al aplicar herramientas analíticas de contenido cualitativo, tratamos de hacer algunas comparaciones. Veinte universidades, diez clasificadas en la parte superior y diez en la parte inferior de la lista URAP, fueron elegidas para analizar las fortalezas y debilidades. Los resultados muestran que todas las universidades superiores o inferiores tienen sus propias fortalezas y debilidades internas. Las fortalezas de las universidades difieren según su tamaño, campo de servicio, estructura, historia y ubicaciones geográficas. Las mejores universidades disfrutan de las fortalezas como miembros calificados de la facultad, cultura organizacional, proceso de internacionalización, infraestructura y buenas relaciones con ex alumnos. Por otro lado, las universidades inferiores que no tienen esas ventajas se ocupan de otras fortalezas, como los jóvenes docentes, el apoyo organizacional y la comunicación interna. En cuanto a las debilidades, las mejores universidades necesitan más presupuesto y una tasa aceptable de profesores y estudiantes. Los de abajo necesitan miembros de la facultad, estudiantes y personal más cualificado. Como se encuentran en regiones desfavorecidas, necesitan algunas promociones para atraer a fac...

SWOT Analysis in a Maritime Higher Education Institution: Strategic Planning Basis for Institutional Efficiency

“…Although these classrooms and laboratories are present, the respondents perceived that the quality can be enhanced through some of the recommendations of the cadets like repainting of classrooms and provision of better classroom facilities. Regarding the adequacy of classrooms and laboratories, with 2.71 mean score, which is one of the weaknesses of the Academy, it was stated in the study of Selvitopu and Kaya (2020) that one point of weaknesses is about infrastructure which most of Turkish universities stated in their SWOTs which, like in PMMA, includes the quality and inadequacy of classrooms and laboratories. The Academy has a laboratory but it is rarely being used by the cadets for it lacks apparatus and equipment.…”