Public Administration Education in Universities in Turkey: Representative of the New or Safeguard of the Old Administration?

The aim of the study is to introduce the degree of adaptation of the departments of public administration in Turkey and with an institutionalist approach to identify the possible factors that affects this ability to reflect the New Public Governance approach dominance in the field. For this end, the article asserts that indicators such as governance and actor pluralism serve as potent manifestations of the significant shifts occurring within the field of public administration. It then proceeds to evaluate the extent of the reflection of these terms in the curricula of Political Science and Public Administration and Public Administration departments in Turkish universities. Subsequently, it examines the levels of institutionalization within these departments and scrutinizes the power and willingness of academic staff as factors influencing the degree of curriculum adaptation. Based on data collected from the websites of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration and Public Administration in universities, the study constructs two sets of independent variables to test hypotheses and employs independent sample t-tests to assess the magnitude and significance of the impact of each independent variable on the curriculum. Consequently, the findings suggest that institutional power within universities and the power and willingness of actors emerge as fundamental determinants in shaping curriculum alterations within departmental contexts.