Written by Peggy Bell Hendrickson, Transcript Research
In November 2015, the Yükseköğretim Kurulu / YOK (Council of Higher Education) has created a new Higher Education Graduate Certificate Inquiry and Verification System in an effort to prevent diploma fraud. The Ministry of National Education and the Council of Higher Education are cooperating in this joint effort and have already removed numerous teachers and government officials from their positions once it was determined that they had provided fraudulent academic credentials. Based on recent news articles, most degrees awarded since 2005 have been uploaded to this database while previous diplomas are being added on an ongoing basis. Nearly 8 million diplomas have been added at this time. Turkish universities did not being using the T.C Kimlik (Turkish identity number) on the educational records until 2003-2004, so there have been some challenges having these earlier records added systematically. Nearly 1.2 million records in the system belong to those who have graduated before 2005. In addition, the oldest graduation year in the database goes back to 1963.
Newer credentials are added to the verification system upon graduation. The universities provide all of the information from the diplomas of their graduated students to the Council of Higher Education. Those students who have graduated in the last dozen years can log in to the e-government portal to electronically retrieve the barcode for their documents.
Students who graduated prior to 2005 or whose credentials are not already in the verification system can request that their documents be added via the e-government website under the higher education section. The student will then verify their identity using the appropriate government-issued, at which point they will be able to request their educational records be verified with their institution and added to the verification system.
Accessing the database to verify someone’s information is not complicated and does not require a login. You simply need the student’s Turkish identity number and the bar code generated from the database. A sample of the verification record being verified online appears below.
Students can register and log in to the e-government portal to request their barcoded diploma here: https://www.turkiye.gov.tr/yuksekogretim-kurulu-baskanligi
You can verify barcoded information here: https://www.turkiye.gov.tr/belge-dogrulama
The barcoded verification report includes the student’s name, Turkish identity number, date of birth, university, faculty, graduation date, major field of study, diploma number, graduation date, and grade point average.
See more from this Edition:
President’s Message: July 2017 Edition
Turkish Higher Education: July 2017 Edition
Evaluating Credentials with a Global Mindset: July 2017 Edition
Building a Resource Library, Part II: July 2017 Edition
TAICEP News and Updates: July 2017 Edition
Sample Russian Credentials: July 2017 Edition
Add to your Library: July 2017 Edition
Opinion: Theological Schools / Bible Colleges July 2017 Edition
Industry Information, News Articles and Journals and Publications: July 2017 Edition
Foreign High School Credentials – A Very Basic Overview: July 2017 Edition
In Memoriam: Drew Feder July 2017 Edition