The Marketization of "Quality"

Academic Capitalism and the Contradictions of Accreditation in Turkish Higher Education

Abstract

This study critically examines how accreditation in Turkish higher education system functions as a  tool of marketization and commodification within the framework of academic capitalism. Under the influence of neoliberal policies, accreditation carried out within the discourse of "quality assurance" restructure universities as entrepreneurial institutions open to global competition, leading to the commercialization of knowledge and the commodification of academic labor. Findings specific to Türkiye reveal concrete manifestations of these processes: (1) The accreditation process creates a competitive arena among universities where financial capital becomes the determining factor. (2) The standards imposed by national and international accreditation bodies subject universities to a continuous regime of surveillance and performance. (3) The overwhelming majority of accredited programs being in engineering fields reflects a "market-oriented higher education" model tied to industrial needs while simultaneously reinforcing interdisciplinary hierarchies. In conclusion, this study argues that accreditation processes, serve to deepen the marketization of higher education and reproduce social inequalities. As an alternative, it proposes the urgent development of an evaluation model centered on the principle of public responsibility, one that preserves academic autonomy and does not produce inequalities.