Turkey Expands AI and Cybersecurity University Slots to Over 800,000 Seats

The Council of Higher Education (YÖK) announced that the 2026 university admission process will offer a total of 805,747 seats across undergraduate and associate degree programmes. Of these, 602,117 seats are allocated to public universities, 184,914 to private foundations, and 18,716 to institutions in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

The capacity plan emphasizes future‑oriented fields, adding 16 new programmes—including AI‑focused courses in open‑education—and markedly increasing slots in computing, biotechnology, and digital technologies. Notably, the cyber‑security training capacity was boosted by about 1,520 % (a sixteen‑fold increase). The YÖK president, Prof. Ömer Özvar, said the allocations are based on data‑driven, long‑term planning to align graduate supply with labour‑market needs.