Abstract:

Theology Faculties are the basic institutions to maintain the highest religious education in Turkey. In fact, these institutions are the pioneer of formal and non-formal religious education activities carried out in Turkey. These institutions make an important contribution to the proper understanding of religion and Islam with the religious knowledge it produces, and also play an important role in the religious life in Turkey. Although they have become significant changes in many areas such as their number, program, student diversity and employment conditions since the day they were established, the qualification of the individual and the training processes taking place in these institutions have not been examined adequately in the scientific researches. However, without revealing the human model that an educational institution envisages to train, it is not possible to conduct programs such as curriculum development, selection of teaching staff and organizing the training space. Since the day they were founded, the imaginations, the expectations, and the critics of the different groups of the society were raised about theology faculties. Investigation of these can contribute to the discussion of this human model and to make new decisions. Within this framework, opinions and evaluations can be taken from the lecturers, students and the stakeholders who receive services from this institution. It is, of course, impossible to address all of these works within the framework of an article. In this study the views of students at the theology faculty in a state university were examined. Hence, it is investigated that what a student of theology faculty think about the requirements that a student of theology faculty must have and that how these requirements relate to the education of theology. The research which is conducted by using the general screening model is limited to the statements of the students. In this context, a total of 141 students were selected from each class (26-30) from preparatory class of 4th grade. With a data collection tool consisting of open-ended questions asked the students to rank the basic characteristics in order of importance. Then students were asked to justify their thoughts and they were asked ‘what do you think about the education in the theology faculty contributes to the features you have listed above?’ They were then asked to explain their reasons. As a result of the research, it was seen that students highlighted various personal, mental, educational, religious/moral sensitivities related to the ideal theology student. Finally, it is understood that these characteristics are based on student qualification, instructional quality and social expectations.

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