An Analysis of the Problem of Academic Structuring of Islamic Sciences Faculties in Turkey from the Darulfunun to the Present

Turkey’s higher religious education institutions were established for religious scientific research or vocational training. Higher religious education institutions have preserved their existence by transforming/diversifying under the influence of formal/informal elements in the historical context. In this context, the faculty’s quality, purpose, and institutionalization problems, the issues of employment and qualification of the faculty members and students, and the academic structuring problems of the faculties were also discussed. The discussion point of methodological issues related to higher religious education starts from the academic structuring form of faculties. Because the Islamic Sciences Faculties continue their education and their graduates are employed, the problems are thought to have been solved or not. In this framework, the issue of academic structuring of the Islamic Sciences Faculties stands out as a problem that remains off the agenda but does not lose its depth. In this context, the main problem of the study is the course of the academic structuring process of higher religious education throughout the history of the Republic. The sub-problems of the study are which factors come to the fore in creating departments and branches of Islamic Sciences Faculties, and for what process and purpose the departments in the faculty were established. In addition, whether the academic structuring form of higher religious education is compatible with the mission of producing scientific knowledge of the faculties has been accepted as a sub-problem. Also, it has been accepted as a problem how the departments can be structured in scientific knowledge production and employment around the problems above. The literature review method was used in this study, which deals with the academic structuring of higher religious education. As a result of scanning and interpreting the literature, new evaluations were tried to be reached. In this context, studies on Higher Religious Education have been scanned. The obtained studies were be described in the context of the history and problems of higher religious education. Among the studies on higher religious education, studies on the academic structuring of the faculty were tried to be interpreted based on document analysis. As a result of these evaluations, the department brought to the problem of academic structuring in Higher Religious Education from 1924 to the 2020s in Turkey were classified under the headings of Non-formal and Formal Religious Education. In the context of Non-Formal Religious Education, it has been determined that the departments of Ministery and Mufti, Religious Counseling and Guidance, Religious Social Work, Hafiz and Muezzin, Foreign Religious Services, Imam-Hatip and Preacher, World Religions Culture, Spiritual Counseling, and Guidance are recommended. In formal religious education, it has been determined that Imam Hatip Schools Vocational Courses Teaching, Secondary Education Religious Culture and Moral Education Teaching, Primary Education Religious Culture and Moral Education Departments are recommended. When the studies in the literature are examined, it is understood that legal arrangements should be made for an academic structure aimed at producing knowledge and training professional staff in higher religious education. In this context, the research is expected to contribute to studies on higher religious education in Turkey and shed light on higher religious education policies.