by Gülden Taner
It simply means that you are appointed as a research assistant to a university, in accordance with the provisions stated in Article 50 (Clause d) or Article 33 (Clause a) of Higher Education Law no:2547.
The first prerequisite of being a research assistant is to be a graduate student. You can apply for positions at the university you are studying at or another university in the same city. For example, when I started working at METU, I was doing my MA at Hacettepe. You have to have an ALES score of at least 70, and over 3.00 GPA. However, requirements may change; they are specified in the announcements published by YÖK on https://yoksis.yok.gov.tr/ilansayfa/
33a research assistants, with respect to the legal provisions, are recruited for a term of three years and their contracts can be renewed (subject to approval of dean and president of the university) at the end of each term of service. Therefore, there’s no time or age limit for those appointed as per 33a, they work as research assistants as long as their university renews their contract (even after completing doctoral studies) and unless they resign. For this reason, 33a is known as a life-long recruitment.
50d research assistants, on the other hand, are employed under 1 year contracts and their contracts are renewed as long as they are registered to MA or PhD programs. However, unlike 33a, their contracts can be renewed up to a maximum of 6+1 years in total; specifically, 2 years for MA, 4 years for PhD, +1 year if requested by their department and approved by Dean’s and President’s Office.
If you fail to get accepted to a PhD program within 6 months upon completing your MA, or if you complete your PhD earlier than expected, your contract ends (in short, you are unemployed) regardless of the year of service you are in. If you cannot complete your degree in given time, you have to leave work at the end of 6+1 years; but good news is that you are still registered as a PhD student. This is the point OYP is superior to 50d: you work as an OYP research assistant until you are done with your studies, it can be up to 9 years.
You can apply for research assistant positions any time during your graduate studies, when starting your MA or while writing your MA thesis. However, the start of your term of service depends on your university regulations. This is for sure not a problem for 33a, but for 50d research assistants (since they have a time limit). At some universities, your term starts from the day you actually start working, while some universities might take your acceptance to MA program as the starting date. In this case, for instance, if you become a research assistant in the third year of your MA, it will mean that you can only work as a research assistant for the remaining 3+1 years.
Some departmental duties carried out by research assistants can be listed as such:
– Preparing departmental program and course schedule,
– Help maintenance and use of technical and technological equipment and Labs,
– Coordinating student exchange programs,
– Help in the organization of fairs and events,
– Organization of conferences and meetings,
– Assisting courses.
Research assistants cannot offer courses; it is not legal for them to teach whole term and give the final grades, they can only assist faculty members in their teaching. This regulation is the same for all universities but implementations might differ. As a research assistant, it is your duty to assist courses at the department. You work collaboratively with course instructors; you attend the classes to observe teaching, see how the course is scheduled, you learn about grading quizzes and assignments, and you have an opportunity to teach during some class hours. It is a good opportunity to learn about offering university-level courses.
As a 50d research assistant, I can say that it has both advantages and disadvantages. 50d research assistants do whatever other assistants do, there’s no discrimination in my case. What I would suggest is, just go ask the research assistants of the university you are applying to and get an idea as to what being a research assistant at that university is like. What you do and cannot do as a research assistant depends on the university (and the department) you are working at. Sometimes, 50d and OYP assistants working at the same department might have different duties and workloads.
An advantage of being a research assistant is that you work where you study (most of the time). Even when you work at a different institution, you have time allocated for your study because everyone knows you are a student:) It is a good chance for you to organize yourself. For me, it is very important that you are within easy-reach of people you study with, with other research assistants and instructors. When you have a problem, you have many people to ask for immediate help. You design course projects with the other assistants taking the same course, and you can get peer feedback. You can also design joint projects and join conferences together.
Another advantage is that if you are planning to become a faculty member, you are in the job before you start. You see how the classes are conducted, how conference organizations are handled and how research projects are scheduled. The only limitation I can list here is that we do not have very sound experience in teaching. Assisting a course does not always mean having a teaching experience; I guess it is similar to your experience in Practice Teaching courses. You help the evaluation, and you teach for some class hours; but at the end of the day the class is not yours. The real teacher is someone else; so, how can it be a real teaching experience?
Speaking of disadvantages, I can say that for research projects we do in our graduate courses, teachers and instructors are a little more advantaged. It is easier for them to collect data and do research than it is for us; since we do not have our own students and we have to take someone else’s course time to collect data. Most of the time it causes inconvenience for course instructors, and for students as well, as it is not planned beforehand.
The main problem with being a 50d research assistant is that you worry constantly about your time of study. There is a date by which you have to finish writing your dissertation; a spring of stress 
And in your last year (just like in your senior year at university), you begin to worry about where to work, what to do, about the period you will be unemployed. There’s no need I guess to tell how it feels, since you already know what I’m talking about. In this respect, OYP is better; there is a place you will work for after you graduate and you can go start working there anytime you like. Other side of the coin, however, is brighter. As a 50d person you have the chance to choose the city or university you will go on with your academic life, you do not have any job security but you do not have obligation, either – a feeling of freedom that OYP assistants long for.
Long years of compulsory service or fear of being unemployed, job security or freedom to choose where to work; choice is yours.
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