Student Participation in Education in Law Faculties: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Legal education in Türkiye has experienced a rapid expansion in the last two decades. In this context, the long-standing critical observations on legal education have sharpened and the conviction that quantitative increase has triggered qualitative erosion has become widespread. However, it is difficult to say that field studies that penetrate the education and training processes in law faculties and analyse the subject empirically have been conducted. This study aims to examine the behaviours, attitudes and opinions of students, who are one of the stakeholders of legal education, during the education process, and in doing so, to discover the points of differentiation between faculties established before 2000 and faculties established after 2000. For this purpose, data on the actions, attitudes and opinions of 296 students were collected through a questionnaire. The analyses show that students in law faculties are mostly in a passive position; they do not have the opportunity to participate in the education and training processes in a way to develop the competencies and predispositions they will need after graduation. One of the important findings is that law students at the new public university established after 2000 can participate in education in a more active, versatile and qualified way than the students of the old faculties. Finally, the students' opinions contain common patterns that law faculties provide an exam-oriented and doctrinal education, that the practical and application dimension is weak, and that it does not adequately prepare them for professional life.