Abstract for: Analysis of the Turkish Education System: A System Dynamics Approach on Dropouts and Deficiencies in Job Market

The education system has always been a controversial issue in the Turkish Republic history. Contrary to developed countries, educational institutions, teaching activities and high school and university entrance exams are regularly changed disruptively by the authorities. Despite many interventions with the purpose of improving the public education system, it was found that education policies do not meet expectations: dropouts are still high and students do not gain necessary knowledge and skills to meet the industry needs. This study focuses on modelling the education system and job market while generating policies to increase the quality of the education system and meeting industry expectations. Simulation results point out to the fact that the government should invest on the improvement of current universities rather than opening new universities. Moreover, industry support to vocational schools should be stimulated to increase number of vocational school students and create new job opportunities for them. Finally, the policies are tested under uncertain parameters and their robustness is verified.