Turkish exam watchdog earns record 1.2 billion liras in 2023’s first half from public exams

Turkey's Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM) earned 1.2 billion Turkish Liras ($44.4M) from mostly public exam fees in the first half of 2023. Nine percent of Turkey's population took at least one central exam during the same period.

Wednesday August 09 2023 04:00 pm

Duvar English

Turkey's Student Selection and Placement Center’s (ÖSYM) financial statements for the January-June period of 2023 showed that the institution earned 1.2 billion Turkish Liras ($44.4M) in the first six months, mostly from exam entrance fees.

The revenue earned in 2023 from the central exams, which millions of citizens take to be appointed as public servants or placed in universities, almost caught up with the 1.49 billion liras earned in the entire 2022, according to the reporting of daily BirGün.

ÖSYM announced that approximately 7.8 million citizens took central exams. While the number of examinees constituted nine percent of Turkey's population, the institute reported that the exam with the highest number of candidates was the first session of Higher Education Entrance Exams (YKS) with 3.5 million participants.

The center also received 326 million liras from the Treasury during the same period while its expenditures amounted to 864 million liras.

ÖSYM's revenues have displayed a remarkable growth trajectory over the past years as it was only 528.3 million liras in 2018.

The central university exam YKS consists of three different sessions and fee for one session was 115 liras, 230 liras for two sessions, and 345 liras for three sessions. The different sessions of the Public Personnel Selection Exam (KPSS) exam vary between 100 and 150 liras.

In return, everyone who takes the exams receives a stationery box with pencils, erasers, napkins, and sweets, along the test paper.