Article 3(m)(2) of Higher Education Act No. 2547 defines an associate professor as a person holding the academic title of associate professorship conferred by the Interuniversity Board. Article 24 of the same Act, headed Associate Professorship and Appointment, sets out the conditions a candidate must satisfy in order to apply. Where a person who considers that they meet these conditions submits an application in accordance with the legislation, the Interuniversity Board (ÜAK) carries out the necessary examinations and assessments and either accepts or rejects the request. Provided the requisite conditions are present, a decision rejecting an associate professorship application, which constitutes an administrative act, may be made the subject of an action for annulment before the administrative courts.
Associate professorship is an academic title, and the application process leading to its acquisition is conducted by ÜAK. A candidate who, following the examinations and assessments carried out by the Board, is found to satisfy the conditions will have their request accepted. By contrast, an application is rejected where the candidate is unsuccessful in the associate professorship examination, where the jury assessments at the interview stage are unfavourable, or where their publications and works are considered insufficient for the field applied for.
Candidates whose applications are rejected are not obliged to accept that outcome. The candidate concerned has the right and the capacity to bring an action before the administrative courts against the Interuniversity Board, seeking annulment of the act rejecting the associate professorship application. In this note we examine the stages of the process and the legal remedies that may be pursued.
The Position of the Interuniversity Board
The Interuniversity Board is an academic body established under Article 11(b) of Higher Education Act No. 2547; its remit and the limits of its powers are likewise drawn directly by the Act. In associate professorship applications the Board constitutes juries in the relevant branch of science or art and assesses candidates’ works and publications within the framework of the procedures and principles determined by the Council of Higher Education. Where the assessment is favourable, the conferral of the title of associate professor on a candidate found to have sufficient publications and works is also among the Board’s duties.
Unless ÜAK determines a different timetable, applications are received in March and October each year through the Associate Professorship Information System (DBS). Matters such as the determination of the juries that will examine the file and the consideration and determination of objections are likewise conducted by the Board. For this reason, in administrative disputes arising from an associate professorship application and the subsequent stages, standing to be sued lies with the Interuniversity Board.
The Criteria Required for Associate Professorship
The associate professorship criteria may be summarised as follows within the framework of Higher Education Act No. 2547 and the Associate Professorship Regulation published in Official Gazette No. 30392 of 15.04.2018:
- Holding an undergraduate degree; and, in addition to a doctoral degree, having obtained a specialist title in the fields of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy or veterinary medicine, or having obtained proficiency in one of the branches of art determined by YÖK upon the proposal of ÜAK.
- Demonstrating sufficiency in terms of publications and works; in this context, having produced original scientific publications and works in the number and of the quality determined by YÖK in line with the opinion of ÜAK, regard being had to the particular characteristics of each scientific or artistic discipline.
- Satisfying the foreign language requirement; having obtained the score prescribed by the legislation in the central foreign language examination determined by YÖK, or an equivalent score in a foreign language examination whose international validity is recognised by YÖK. Where the candidate’s associate professorship field of science relates to a particular foreign language, the examination must be taken in another foreign language.
The Stages in the Assessment of an Application
An associate professorship application is dealt with in two stages: first the assessment of the minimum application requirements, and then the scientific examination. Each of these stages may become the subject of an independent dispute before the administrative courts.
Examination of the Minimum Application Requirements
The candidate who has applied is first considered in terms of whether they satisfy the minimum conditions. This examination is based on the Declaration Form confirming that the Minimum Application Requirements have been met, which contains the scoring criteria determined by the Presidency of the Interuniversity Board of the Republic of Türkiye. The assessment is carried out by at least two professors assigned to the task by ÜAK. Allegations that the candidate does not meet the minimum requirements are examined by the Associate Professorship Commission. Where it is concluded that the requirements have not been met, the candidate’s application is cancelled.
The scoring in respect of the minimum conditions is a review of a technical nature and must be conducted according to objective criteria. The second stage, namely the examination of works, cannot be reached before it has been determined whether the candidate satisfies these conditions; for where a decision is taken that the minimum requirements have not been met, the application is cancelled. That act of cancellation is likewise not beyond judicial review and may be reviewed by way of an action for annulment brought before the administrative courts.
The Scientific Examination Stage
Once the candidate is accepted as satisfying the minimum conditions, the file passes to the associate professorship examination jury. The full and substitute members of the jury examine the candidate’s academic works as a whole in terms of their quality and the contribution they make to the relevant field of science or art. At the end of the examination, each full and substitute member submits to ÜAK a detailed and reasoned report prepared individually. A candidate whose publications and works are found sufficient is granted the title of associate professor by the Board and an associate professorship certificate is issued. By contrast, where 3 of the 5 jury members find the candidate unsuccessful, the title cannot be obtained. Since the acts established at this stage also constitute administrative acts, an action for annulment may be brought against them before the administrative courts.
The Grounds for Rejection and Cancellation Decisions Most Frequently Encountered in Practice
The reasons that may lead to the rejection or cancellation of an application are considerably varied. The grounds most frequently encountered in practice are as follows:
- A decision by the Associate Professorship Commission that the candidate does not meet the minimum application requirements.
- Where, in the course of the examination of works, an allegation arises that the principles of scientific research and publication ethics have been infringed, a conclusion by the Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Commission within ÜAK that the candidate has committed an ethical violation.
- Where an allegation is raised, or the matter is established of the Commission’s own motion, that untrue information or documents were submitted during the application, a ruling by that same Commission that the candidate submitted misleading information and documents.
- A finding that the candidate’s file does not contain a single-authored article, or an article written together with postgraduate students whom the candidate has supervised.
- A view that the principal source works relating to the candidate’s core field have not been examined to a sufficient standard.
- An assessment that no research question has been put forward in the works, or that the questions present do not go beyond a descriptive level, and that the works examined make no contribution to the literature.
- A conclusion that the candidate’s research and publications lack the quality of original scientific research and publication.
The Objection Route and the Action for Annulment
The associate professorship application, the stages in its assessment and the process leading to acquisition of the title consist of a succession of independent administrative acts. That structure affords the candidate a separate legal avenue in respect of each act: the candidate may submit a letter of objection to the Interuniversity Board and, where the objection is upheld, may ensure that the assessment process continues from where it left off. Objecting to ÜAK is not mandatory; an action may also be brought directly, without recourse to this optional route.
Against the acts established and the decisions taken, recourse may be had before the administrative courts to an objection to administrative acts and an action for annulment, whether directly or following ÜAK’s rejection of the objection.
Examples from Judicial Decisions on the Associate Professorship Process
Three decisions concerning disputes arising from the associate professorship application process are summarised below on the basis of the fundamental principle each embodies.
- The acquisition of the title of associate professor and appointment to an associate professorship post are separate acts; the conditions to which each is subject also differ. (Council of State, 5th Chamber, Case No. 1986/1685, Decision No. 1987/405, 17.3.1987)
- A candidate who has completed their doctorate in the associate professorship field to which they seek appointment may, if they also satisfy the other conditions, sit the associate professorship examination in that field. It is unlawful to refuse to admit the candidate to the oral examination on the ground that their undergraduate education does not correspond to the associate professorship field applied for. (Council of State, Plenary Session of the Administrative Law Chambers, Case No. 2007/163, Decision No. 2011/5, 27.1.2011)
- The determination of the jury members is not a preparatory act but a final and enforceable act that may in itself be made the subject of an administrative action. An allegation that there is ill feeling between the candidate and a jury member may undermine the principles of impartial, scientific and objective assessment, and the act of selecting the jury may therefore infringe the claimant’s interest. As regards allegations of ill feeling and friction between the candidate and a jury member, it must be investigated whether the member’s field of expertise is connected with the subject of the associate professorship. (Council of State, 8th Chamber, Case No. 2005/1888, Decision No. 2005/3413, 05.07.2005)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is representation by a lawyer mandatory in an administrative action?
Under Turkish law the parties may defend and represent themselves in person before the courts; save for certain exceptions, retaining a lawyer is not mandatory. Nor is representation by a lawyer practising in the field of administrative law required before the administrative courts. However, the complex structure of the administrative law legislation, together with the short and strict time limits in the Administrative Procedure Act No. 2577, may lead to errors of procedure and of substance that are difficult to remedy where the process is conducted by persons who are not lawyers. In order to avoid any loss of rights in administrative proceedings, which contain detailed rules, it is advisable to obtain support from lawyers practising in the field of administrative law before any step is taken.
How many times a year may associate professorship applications be made?
Under the decision taken by the Presidency of the Interuniversity Board of the Republic of Türkiye, associate professorship applications, previously made twice a year, may be made 3 times a year, in the months of January, May and September.
How long do jury members have to prepare their reports?
Under the Associate Professorship Regulation, jury members are allowed a maximum period of one month in which to prepare the assessment report for each candidate. Where it considers it necessary, the Associate Professorship Commission may add up to a further month to that period.
Are acquisition of the title and appointment to a post the same act?
They are not. Appointment to an associate professorship post is expressly regulated in Article 21 of Higher Education Act No. 2547. The acquisition of the title and appointment to a post are two entirely different administrative acts; a separate administrative action must therefore be brought in respect of each.
Is it necessary to object to ÜAK before bringing an action?
It is not. An action for annulment may be brought directly before the administrative courts against a decision rejecting an associate professorship application, and it is equally possible to pursue the objection route first by submitting a petition to the Interuniversity Board. As the objection is an optional route, it need not be pursued.
Independent Legal Assessment
In associate professorship disputes, determining the litigation strategy begins with correctly identifying which act is to be made the subject of the action. Since the process consists not of a single decision but of a chain of acts extending from the review of the minimum requirements to the constitution of the jury and the examination of works, identifying the defective act affects the outcome as a whole. In particular, the fact that the scoring of the minimum requirements is a technical and objective review increases the amenability of the assessments made at that stage to judicial review.
For a candidate whose application has been rejected or cancelled, the following matters should be examined as a priority:
- Clarifying the stage at which the rejection took place, and whether it arises from the review of the minimum requirements or from the scientific examination
- Checking item by item whether the scoring on the declaration form was calculated in accordance with the criteria
- Assessing whether the constitution of the jury is defective in terms of impartiality and field of expertise
- Investigating whether the right of defence was duly afforded in respect of allegations of ethical violation or misleading documents
- Calculating from the outset the effect on the time limit for bringing an action if the objection route is to be pursued
- Bearing in mind that acts concerning the title and acts concerning the post must be made the subject of separate actions
Independent Legal provides advisory services on the review of acts relating to the associate professorship process and on the conduct of actions for annulment in disputes arising from academic staff law.