An Examination of the Faculty of Theology Senior Students' Perceptions about the Faculty of Theology Program through Metaphor Analysis

It is a known fact that numerous academic studies have been carried out on higher religious education institutions in Turkey for long years. In these studies, these institutions have been discussed from different aspects such objectives, programs, employment areas and basic problems. In this article, it is aimed to examine perceptions of the students about the faculty program through metaphors. The study group of the research consists of 73 senior students studying at the Faculty of Theology at Trabzon University in the academic year 2018-2019. Phenomenology, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. For data collection "Metaphoric Perception Form for Faculty of Theology" prepared by the researcher was used and for data analysis, content analysis technique was used. Metaphors in 65 accepted forms are classified into seven categories in terms of their common characteristics. The highest percentage of the participants' perceptions about Faculty of Theology Program was found to be the functionality (29.23%) of the program and the breadth/depth of the content and scope of the program (23.08%). In the findings title, perceptions in each category were examined with background reasons and participant statements.