A Phenomenological Examination of Turkish Academicians’ Experiences Regarding the Preparatory for Associate Professorship Exam

The aim of this research is to determine the opinions of academicians about the experiences in the process of promotion to associate professorship. the research was carried out based on the phenomenology pattern, which is one of the qualitative research methods. in this context, while determining the work group, maximum diversity sampling method was used and 12 academicians working in 4 different universities from educational sciences, science, social sciences, architecture, city and planning, dentistry, mathematics teaching, science teaching fields participated to the study. semi-structured interview form was used by the researchers to collect data. the data were analyzed using content analysis and descriptive analysis. findings are presented under 5 main themes: “preparation experiences for associate professorship before the associate professorship exams, expectations and experiences after the work evaluation application, oral exam experiences for associate professorship, factors affecting the associate professor career process and suggestions for the associate professorship system”. the findings revealed that all evaluations, including the work evaluation stage, the oral exam stage, and the criteria of associate professorship, have to be carried out objectively. besides, most of the participants mentioned that the process of associate professorship is difficult due to factors such as stress, excitement and anxiety. it is hoped that this research, which includes experiences in the process of associate professor, will contribute to future studies.