National Report of TURKEY
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Ref. Ares(2017)3739922 - 25/07/2017 National Report of TURKEY on the implementation and the impact of Erasmus+ and Predecessor Programmes: Lifelong Learning, Youth in Action June 2017 National Report on Erasmus+Midterm Evaluation Table of Content Table of Content ........................................................................................................................ i List of Acronyms ...................................................................................................................... ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................... 1 Section I: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 2 1.1. Background: Erasmus+ in Turkey ............................................................................... 2 1.2. Midterm Evaluation Objectives .................................................................................... 3 1.3. Methodology .................................................................................................................. 3 Section II: EVALUATION FINDINGS ........................................................................................ 4 2.1. Effectiveness ................................................................................................................. 4 2.2. Efficiency ...................................................................................................................... 15 2.3. Relevance ..................................................................................................................... 21 2.4. Internal and External Coherence and Complementarity .......................................... 24 2.5. European Added Value and Sustainability ............................................................... 25 Section III: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................... 27 ANNEXES ................................................................................................................................ 33 i | P a g e National Report on Erasmus+Midterm Evaluation List of Acronyms ATO Ankara Chamber of Commerce AWP Annual Work Plan BO Business Objects CoHE Council of Higher Education DG EAC European Commission, Directorate General Education and Culture DSRIP Directorate of Social, Regional and Innovative Policies of MEU EC European Commission EACEA Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency ECAS European Commission Authentication Service ECHE Erasmus Charter for Higher Education ECTS European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System ECV Europass CV ECVET European Credit Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training EDS Education Diploma Supplement EHEA European Higher Education Area ELP Europass Language Passport ENIC European Network of Information Centres in the European Region EPALE Electronic Platform for Adult Education ET 2020 EU cooperation in Education and Training EU European Union EURYDICE Education Information Network in Europe EQAVET European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training EQF European Qualifications Framework EUD EU Delegation to Turkey EVS European Voluntary Service E&T Education and Training HEI Higher Education Institution HR Human Resources HRD OP Human Resources Development Operational Programme ICM International Credit Mobility ICT Information and Communication Technology IPA Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance IT Information Technologies KA1 Key Action 1 KA2 Key Action 2 KA3 Key Action 3 LLL Lifelong Learning LLP Lifelong Learning Programme (2007-2013) MEU Ministry for European Union Affairs MoD Ministry of Development MoLSS Ministry of Labour and Social Security MoNE Ministry of National Education MoYS Ministry of Youth and Sports ii | P a g e National Report on Erasmus+Midterm Evaluation NA National Agency NARIC National Academic Recognition Information Centre NAU National Authority NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NEET Not in Education, Employment, or Training NQF National Qualifications Framework NRCVG National Resource Centre for Vocational Guidance OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OEET On-line Expert Evaluation Tool OLS On-line Linguistic Support OMC Open Method of Cooperation PIC Participant Identification Code PISA Program for International Student Assessment SMC Sectoral Monitoring Committee SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (Software) TCA Transnational Cooperation Activities ToR Terms of Reference TQF Turkish Qualifications Framework TURKSTAT Turkish Statistical Institute URF Unique Registration Facility VET Vocational Education and Training VQA Vocational Qualifications Agency YiA Youth in Action (2007-2013) iii | P a g e Draft National Report – Midterm Evaluation Erasmus+ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Erasmus+ Programme with its integrated design was launched in 2014 building on its predecessor programmes of Lifelong Learning (LLP) and Youth in Action (YiA). The Erasmus+ Programme decentrally managed includes three key actions: KA1 for mobilities and KA2 for strategic partnerships under the Education and Training (E&T) and Youth fields, and KA3 for supporting dialogue with policy makers in the Youth field. The Programme covers the E&T and Youth fields within the fields of Higher Education (HE), Vocational Education and Training (VET), School Education (SE), Adult Education (AE) and Youth. Erasmus+ in Turkey is co-managed by the Centre for European Education and Youth Programmes (NA) who acts as the National Agency responsible for implementation, and the Ministry for EU Affairs (MEU) who acts as the Turkish National Authority (NAU) on behalf of the Minister, being in charge of monitoring and supervision. The main conclusions of this mid-term evaluation as per criterion are as follows: Effectiveness: Effectiveness of Erasmus+ implementation is very high in Turkey, contributing substantially to the achievement of its specific objectives as stated in the Erasmus+ Programme Guide, namely, (i) improvement of the skills and competences of the target groups, knowledge on the EU cultures, values, E&T and Youth organisations and systems, (ii) quality improvements, innovation of excellence and internationalisation in E&T and Youth fields, (iii) emergence and raised awareness of European Lifelong Learning (LLL) area to complement policy reforms, in addition to recognition of non-formal and informal learning, increasing the international dimension of E&T and youth activities, (iv) teaching and learning of languages, and (v) addressing disadvantaged groups with special needs and fewer opportunities. Furthermore, the contribution to the achievement of the general objectives of Erasmus+ through its implementation in Turkey is assessed to be significant, which particularly benefits from the coherent objectives of the strategy and policy documents of the EC and Turkey with reference to ET 2020 and Europe 2020. As an accession country, Turkey is not included in the ET 2020 monitoring process. Still, the influence of Erasmus+ and its predecessor programmes has been highly visible in all fields of E&T and Youth. Positive aspects of the integration of programmes with Erasmus+ include continuity of the high prestige and ownership, a more structured feature with the institutional approach and wider target groups as well as the focus on innovation and creativity for high competitiveness. On the other hand, as the Programme does not allow for national priorities specific to the country needs only, a few negative aspects mainly include limited differentiated approach to access different disadvantaged groups, to implement small-scale Youth actions at local level and limited language support specific to different beneficiaries of different actions. The activities implemented under the three KAs demonstrate positive complementarity throughout a spectrum of effects at individual, institutional and system levels, while dissemination and exploitation of results could be further facilitated to improve effectiveness. Efficiency: Erasmus+ is managed efficiently in Turkey, yet there is still need for improvement at Programme level to reduce the administrative burden on the applicants and the beneficiaries, most of whom find the application forms, implementation procedures and reporting rather complicated and lengthy. Even though the IT tools have enhanced efficiency, its design needs to be further improved to become more user-friendly, avoid inconsistencies, to allow for data sharing and to reduce difficulties of PIC usage and its security. The increased budget of Erasmus+ has been successfully managed having a special emphasis on cost- effectiveness in Turkey. Distribution of funds among KA1, KA2 and KA3 to date is considered as balanced, proportionate and appropriate, in general. However, the distribution of KA1 funds among its projects is not well balanced due to the lack of upper limits for individual projects. High ownership and capacity of the beneficiaries play important roles in the successful management of the projects, while various difficulties related to visa procedures continue to hinder efficiency. Several striking good project practices exist delivering high quality outputs under all KAs. However, the level of utilisation of the Turkish beneficiaries from the centrally managed programmes, particularly for Sport, remains to be low. Access to grassroots level target groups could be efficiently and effectively managed should the Sport