MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

Department of Economics Seminar Series 

"The Impact of English as the Language of Instruction on Finding Job and Earnings"

by

Yılmaz Kılıçaslan

(Anadolu University)

Date: December 16, 2024 (Monday)

Time: 14:00

Place: F106, FEAS - Building A

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the impact of English as the medium of instruction in undergraduate study on finding job and earnings. This topic is not examined in this scope in Turkey before. Moreover, no research conducted on this topic in developed countries such as USA of UK because there is no such case in these countries. Therefore, we think that the contribution of the results produced in this research to the literature is quite significant. Our results based on the survey with more than 1300 graduates of economics and business departments of both Anadolu University, Eskisehir and Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir in the last 13 years show that the graduates of the departments where the language of instruction is English find their first job three months earlier on average and earn a salary 20-25% higher than the graduates of the departments where the medium of instruction is Turkish. Second, the individuals who had worked or completed an internship during their university education have significantly better chances to be employed after graduation. Finally, graduates with above GPA of 3 are more likely get their first job in a shorter time than the graduates with a GPA between 2 and 2.5.