The Bologna Process started in 1999 with the contribution of 29 European countries. The main aim was creating collective European Higher Education Area (EHEA) (Reinalda,2008).Turkey became a signatory country of the Bologna Process in 2001 and the current study investigates what kinds of changes were occurred in Turkish higher education system consistent with this process.

One of the main issues in the Bologna Process is creating three cycle system which includes undergraduate, master and doctorate degrees in higher education.Although, three cycle system caused to serious problems in some European countries (Çelik,2012), it did not become a serious problem in Turkey since this system has been already implemented in Turkey (Korkut&Mızıkacı,2008).In addition to the three cycle system, implementation of diploma supplement and ECTS became obligatory in 2005 in all Turkish higher education institutions in order to create structural convergence (Bologna Process National Report,2006) and moreover, Lisbon Recognition Convention which aims to work for the recognition of foreign degrees came into force in Turkey (Yağcı,2010).

Another issue in the Bologna Process is improving the mobility among students and academic staff.Consistent with this purpose, the number of Turkish academic staff and students who participated into Erasmus has increased over years and mobility performance of Turkey is interpreted as satisfactory in Bologna Process Stocktaking Reports (Gümüş&Kurul,2011).However, there are some criticisms that the proportion of foreign students in Turkish higher education institutions is still low (Teichler,2012).Bologna Process Implementation Report (2012) also supports this view and shows that the proportion of outgoing students and academic staff is far more than incoming ones.Therefore, it is possible to conclude that there is a need for further implementations to attract students and academic staff to Turkish higher education institutions.

Bologna Process also aims to create quality assurance systems for higher education institutions.In line with this purpose, YÖDEK as an independent organization for quality assurance was established in 2005 (Bologna Process National Report,2006).Higher education institutions at institutional level or academic units might apply to YÖDEK in order to get Quality Certificate (Çelik,2010).Apart from national independent accreditation organizations, institutions might prefer international accreditation organizations for the Quality Certificate and 42 programs in Turkey were accredited in this way (Bologna Process National Report, 2008).As mentioned above, Turkey met with quality assurance systems in 2005 and according to Bologna Process Stocktaking Report (2005), the lowest score of Turkey in the Bologna Process was on the quality assurance systems.Although Turkey showed improvement in the quality assurance systems throughout the years, there is still a need for the further implementations to get the internationally accepted quality assurance system (Süngü&Bayrakcı,2010).

Lastly, the Bologna Process aims to facilitate lifelong learning activities and for this purpose, continuous education centers which offer seminars, conferences and refresher courses opened in almost every university in Turkey (Bologna Process National Report,2005).Furthermore, the project of ‘Second University’ has been carrying out since 2001 (Bologna Process National Report,2006).With this project, associate or bachelor's degree holders and also undergraduate students would enable to attend to distance education programs without taking national university entrance examination (Yağcı,2010).

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