Restructuring Graduate Education in Türkiye: Evaluating the Graduate Education Institute (LEE) Model in Global Perspective

Graduate education is a critical determinant of national innovative capacity, yet its governance models frequently struggle to balance administrative efficiency with academic autonomy. In Türkiye, despite significant horizontal massification in higher education, vertical academic specialization remains severely stunted. Recent macro-level data reveals a profound academic capacity crisis, characterized by unsustainable student-to-academic-staff ratios reaching up to 31:1, systemic diploma inflation, and historical fragmentation across discipline-specific institutes. To address these structural bottlenecks, the Graduate Education Institute (Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü, LEE) model was introduced, centralizing graduate programs under a unified governance framework. This study employs a qualitative single-case study design to conduct a document-based evaluation of the implementation and institutional outcomes of the LEE model, utilizing longitudinal data (2013–2025), quality assurance metrics, and multi-stakeholder surveys from Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University (BAİBU). Findings demonstrate that the LEE model successfully mitigates administrative bottlenecks through robust digital transformation—managing over 70,000 documents annually—and acts as a catalyst for internationalization, evidenced by a 42-fold increase in international graduates. The centralized structure effectively institutionalized the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, culminating in a 5-year national Full Accreditation. However, comparative analysis with global benchmarks uncovers persistent systemic risks, including the threat of rigid "digital bureaucracy," lack of structured industry-funded doctoral programs, and the absence of holistic career tracking mechanisms. Ultimately, this study concludes that while the LEE model modernizes the graduate ecosystem, its long-term sustainability requires evolving from a centralized administrative unit into a decentralized, financially autonomous, and participatory academic hub.