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The Educational System of Turkey

NAFSA Region I ConferenceOctober 18-21, 2006

Boise, ID

LesLee StedmanNorthwest Regional Director

AACRAO International Education ServicesSTEDMANL@AACRAO.ORG

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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, GreekEducationPrimary 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.

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Gra

de L

evel

Age

26

25

19 24

18 23

17 22

16 21

15 20

14 19

13 18

12 17

11 16

10 15

9 14

8 13

7 12

6 11

5 10

4 9

3 8

2 7

Turkish Education System

General High School

Lise Diplomasi

Ilköğretim Diplomasi

Primary School

(3 years)

Doctoral Degree (Doktora Diplomasi)Specialization in Medicine

(7 y

ears

)

BA

SIC

ED

UC

ATI

ON

SE

CO

ND

AR

YH

IGH

ER

ED

UC

ATI

ON

ED

UC

ATI

ON

Lise Diplomasi

Vocational High School

Associate's Degree

Universities

(4 years)

Lisans Diplomasi

Önlisans DiplomasiVocational Schools

Önlisans Diplomasi

Med

icin

e

Bachelor's Degree

(4 years minimum)

(4 years)

Vete

rinar

y, D

entis

try

Universities

Mühendislik Diplomasi

Master's DegreeYüksek Lisans Diplomasi

(2 years)

UniversitiesSpecialist CertificateScience, Agriculture,Pharmacy (2 years)

(8 years)

Primary School Diploma

Technical High School

(2 years)

Associate Degree

(2 years)

Secondary School Diploma

(3 years)

Secondary School Diploma

(6 y

ears

)

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5

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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.