THE EMERGENCE OF PUBLIC FINANCE DEPARTMENTS IN TÜRKİYE

Public Finance, as an interdisciplinary field, has a deep-rooted tradition in Türkiye. When examining the history of Public Finance departments, it is evident that their origins date back to 1878. The first higher education institution offering public finance education, Mekteb-i Fünûn-u Maliye, was established in 1878. The primary purpose of its establishment was to train competent and knowledgeable finance officers. It is known that courses on the financial systems, taxation, tax laws, financial institutions, general accounting laws, wealth, and economics of significant states were taught at the school. However, this institution was short-lived and was closed in 1881. Between 1909 and 1915, training programs were conducted under the name Maliye Mektebi (School of Public Finance) in the Ministry of Finance building in Beyazıt, Istanbul, to enhance finance officers' professional knowledge and education quality.

In 1913, a financial studies division named Kısm-ı Mali was established at Mülkiye School (now in Ankara). This division later became the foundation of modern Public Finance departments. With subsequent changes, the Mali Şube (Finance Division) was established in 1950, and in 1955, it was renamed the Economics-Finance Division.

In Istanbul, two academic chairs—General Economics and Finance Theory and Finance and Financial Law—were established at the Faculty of Economics in 1944-1945, forming the second institutional foundation of today’s Public Finance departments. In 1952, these chairs were restructured into the Institute of Public Finance at the Faculty of Political Sciences (SBF). The third institutional foundation of modern Public Finance departments was the Finance-Accounting Chair, established in 1959 under the Academy of Economic and Commercial Sciences.

The Faculty of Public Finance was founded under the Ankara Academy of Economic and Commercial Sciences in 1978 but closed four years later. With the university's restructuring in 1982, Public Finance was established as a separate department within the Faculties of Political Science (SBF) and Economics and Administrative Sciences (İİBF), and this structure has been maintained to the present day.

Public Finance as an undergraduate program is unique to Türkiye. It is offered only at the bachelor’s level in Türkiye and a few East Asian countries (such as China and Taiwan). In Western countries, no undergraduate program is named “Public Finance.” Instead, financial topics are typically studied within the discipline of Economics, primarily under Public Economics, at the graduate (master’s and PhD) levels. However, this traditional institutional framework in Türkiye has enabled the development of distinguished scholars in the field of Public Finance and has contributed to significant academic research. Moreover, finance scholars in Türkiye have played a crucial role across all areas of society, from economics to politics. The existence of an independent Public Finance discipline in Türkiye has facilitated the formation of a substantial body of financial literature and has made valuable contributions to global academic discourse.

While Public Finance is widely recognized as an independent scientific discipline, some scholars consider it a specific subfield of Economics. However, the legal dimension of Public Finance strengthens the argument that it should be regarded as a distinct and independent academic discipline.