Statistical profile of the sociology discipline in turkish higher education system from a historical perspective

The extent to which academic disciplines are affected by the nationwide development and changes occurring at the level of higher education and what kind of quantitative changes this can potentially lead to in the relevant disciplines are significant. In this paper, the quantitative changes seen in the sociology discipline which we consider to have an important place in the social sciences category are provided on the basis of the developments made in the higher education sector in Turkey. The current profile of the discipline is discussed in comparison with historical data, as well. To this end, the study focuses on the historical development process of the sociology discipline and education in Turkey from a quantitative perspective. For this purpose, the historical changes of quantitative data on the available undergraduate and graduate programs in the field of sociology, on student demand for these programs and on academic staff are examined through various quantitative indicators. In addition, the distribution and change of the students and academic staff in the field of sociology are classified according to the geographic locations, the foundation years and the types of the universities. In this way, the current profile of the discipline of sociology is described and some inferences are made on its general trends, status and future projections in Turkish higher education system. In this respect, the findings presented in this article have a descriptive nature. In this study, quantitative data from the documents in the archives of the Student Selection and Placement Center of Turkey, Council of Turkish Higher Education and universities are utilized and the data pertaining to the discipline of sociology are analyzed and presented through some specific categorizations