Investigation of higher education placement indicators of those who are placed in social studies tea

Universities are the cornerstone of higher education and play a key role in allowing members of society to have a profession. It is thought that sharing some information about universities with university candidates will significantly affect their career choices. Thus, this research aimed to examine the social studies teaching programs in public universities in Turkey and various characteristics of students who were placed in these programs in 2019 and 2020 based on the data in the Higher Education Program Atlas, which is sustained by the Council of Higher Education and better known as YOK Atlas. To this end, the research used descriptive content analysis to analyse the data on the social studies teaching programs offered by 62 public universities in Turkey. The research results showed that the majority of those who were placed in social studies teaching programs in 2019 and 2020 were women. The total of the mean correct answers of placed students in the Basic Proficiency Test (BPT) of the Higher Education Institutions Examination increased in 2020 compared to 2019, while the total of the mean correct answers of placed students in the Field Qualification Test (FQT) decreased in 2020. The highest mean correct answers in the total number of questions of the BPT were in Social Studies test in both years, while the highest mean correct answers in the total number of questions of the FQT were Geography-1 test in 2019 and Geography-2 test in 2020. It was also found that Turkish teaching was the second most commonly preferred program after social studies teaching in both years for those placed in social studies teaching.