The Educational System of Turkey

1
The Educational System of Turkey

• NAFSA Region I Conference
• October 18-21, 2006
• Boise, ID
• LesLee Stedman
• Northwest Regional Director
• AACRAO International Education Services
• STEDMANL_at_AACRAO.ORG

2
Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti)

• Location Southeastern Europe and southwestern
  Asia (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosporus
  is geographically part of Europe), bordering the
  Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and
  bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean
  Sea, between Greece and Syria
• Background Present-day Turkey was created in
  1923 from the Turkish remnants of the Ottoman
  Empire. Soon thereafter, the country instituted
  secular laws to replace traditional religious
  fiats and is now a parliamentary democracy. In
  1945 Turkey joined the UN, and in 1952 it became
  a member of NATO. Turkey intervened militarily on
  Cyprus in 1974 to protect Turkish Cypriots and
  prevent a Greek takeover of the island the
  northern 37 percent of the island remains under
  Turkish Cypriot control. However, relations
  between Turkey and Greece have improved greatly
  over the past few years
• Population 68,893,918 (July 2004 est.)
• Religions Muslim 99.8 (mostly Sunni), other
  0.2 (mostly Christians and Jews)
• Languages Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic,
  Armenian, Greek
• Education
• Primary Education Eight years ages 6-14.
  Compulsory for all male and female citizens.
• Secondary Education Consists of general and
  vocational-technical high schools that offer at
  least three years of education.
• Higher Education Includes all educational
  institutions where an educational program of at
  least two years beyond secondary education is
  implemented. Admission to higher education is
  centralized and based on a nation-wide
  single-stage examination administered by the
  Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM)
  every year.
• Institutions of higher education offer programs
  of study at associate's, bachelor's, master's or
  doctorate degree levels. The system consists of
  state and private (foundation) universities and
  non-university institutions of higher education
  (police and military academies and colleges).
  Private universities come under the supervision
  of the Council of Higher Education and their
  programs must be regularly accredited.
• Primary and secondary education is free of charge
  in public schools. State higher education
  institutions charge a minimal tuition fee, while
  private higher education institutions charge
  tuition of varying rates.

3
(No Transcript)
4
(No Transcript)
5
(No Transcript)
6
Turkey Resources

• Electronic
• Governments on the World Wide Web Turkey
  www.gksoft.com/govt/en/tr.html.
• Republic of Turkey Ministry of National
  Education www.meb.gov.tr/.
• Turkish Council of Higher Education (YÖK)
  www.yok.gov.tr/.
• Turkish Embassy, Washington, DC
  www.turkishembassy.org/.
• Print
• Turkey, AACRAO World Education Series, 1972.
• The Educational System of Turkey, ECE Presents,
  1992.
• Turkey Update on Education 1997 - 2004, ECE
  Insights, 2004.
• Turkey A Comparative Study, NOOSR Country
  Education Profiles, 2nd ed., 1997.