Turkey

New initiatives and support programmes

International Support Programmes

Mevlana Exchange Programme

Mevlana Exchange Programme presents an opportunity both for international and Turkish university students to study abroad. The aim of the programme is to enable the exchange of students and academic staff between the Turkish higher education institutions and higher education institutions of the other countries. Without making any geographical discrimination, the Programme is open to all higher education institutions around the world.

The Programme is carried out in accordance with the Mevlana Exchange Programme Protocol signed between Turkish and international higher education institutions. 2000 protocols have been signed since 2013.

Students may study abroad for one (minimum) or two (maximum) semesters and the academic staff may give lectures abroad from two weeks up to three months.

Project-Based International Exchange Programme

“Project-Based International Exchange Programme” is another powerful step CoHE has taken towards the internationalisation of higher education. Higher education institutions develop mutual projects on the fields approved by the Executive Board of CoHE. Selected projects are carried out through the exchange of students/academic staff.

This Programme will support and promote cooperation between higher education institutions. There have been 114 projects between 50 Turkish state universities and various higher education institutions abroad since 2016 and some of these projects are completed.

Turkey-Pakistan Researchers’ Mobility Grant Programme

Turkey-Pakistan Researchers’ Mobility Grant Programme 2017 is a Turkish and Pakistani cooperation initiative that contributes to the internationalization of higher education. The objective of the programme is to develop new scientific and technological cooperation between the Turkish and Pakistani higher education institutions by supporting the mobility of graduate students and academic staff. In this respect, the Council of Higher Education has approved 11 projects from nine Turkish state universities for financial support for mobility.

Who Can Benefit from the Exchange Programme?

Associate Degree, B.A, M.A and PhD level students in Turkish higher education institutions (on the condition that the higher education institution has a bilateral Mevlana Exchange Protocol) may benefit from the Mevlana Exchange Programme.

Academic staff working in Turkish or international higher education institutions, with bilateral Mevlana Exchange Protocol, may benefit from Mevlana Exchange Programme.

Frequently Asked Questions on the Exchange Programmes

Do students have to pay any tuition fees when they participate in the Exchange Programmes?

Students do not pay any tuition fees to the host institutions during the programme, but they continue to pay the obligatory tuition fees to their home institutions. They do not pay any extra fees to the host institutions within the scope of the exchange programme.

Do the students participating in the programme repeat the courses/semesters taken at the host institution?

As the course(s) to be taken in the host institution are officially agreed to be counted in advance in line with the Learning Protocol, the students do not repeat any courses/semesters when they return.

What would be the status of the existing scholarships during the Exchange Programmes?

Exchange Programme students continue to take their existing scholarships and grants in their home countries and they have to complete their registration in their home institutions. They pay tuition fees to their home institution if they are obliged to and they do not need to pay any other tuition fee to the host institution.

The scholarship amount for the incoming and outgoing exchange students and academic staff may differ according to the life standards of the country of the host institution.

YÖK Scholarship for International Students

The scholarship programme was designed for the BA, MA and PhD level international students from the countries that have signed a protocol and/or Memorandum of Understanding with the Council of Higher Education. The international students, who were placed in Turkish programmes and who could not certify the proficiency in the Turkish language are offered language preparation for one year[1]. The monthly stipend is 1,000 TL for undergraduates, 1,650 TL for postgraduates and 2,750 TL for doctoral students. Since 2016, 256 students from 13 countries have been receiving YÖK Scholarship.

Currently, CoHE has been working on new partnership opportunities with other countries to add more international students to the programme.

Integration of Syrian Students into Turkish Higher Education System – International Cooperation

In March 2017, CoHE organized an international conference with the participation of key actors of Syrian response plan, high level officials as well as university rectors and Syrian students at Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay. The participants discussed the challenges and opportunities and came up with some resolutions for the future of Syrians in higher education. An MoU between CoHE and Dutch NGO SPARK was signed at the same conference. In accordance with the MoU, CoHE collaborated with SPARK for the selection and placement of 249 B.A. level Syrian scholarship students in Turkish universities for the 2017-2018 academic year. In another agreement with the Qatar-based NGO Al-Fakhoora and SPARK, CoHE selected 104 eligible Syrian TVET students for the scholarship for the same academic year.

In line with the partnership agreement with SPARK and Education Above All/Al – Fakhoora signed on November 15, 2017, CoHE will carry out the placement of 3,070 Syrian refugee students and Palestinian students in B.A. and Associate level programmes in Turkish universities until May 2021.

Higher Education. More information on Mevlana Exchange Programme is available at https://www.yok.gov.tr/web/mevlana. Top 10 countries participating in the Exchange Programme are the USA, South Korea, Malaysia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia, Jordan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan

[1] As of January 2019

Domestic Support Programmes

100/2000 CoHE Doctoral Scholarship

“100/2000 CoHE Doctoral Scholarship Project” was designed as a long-term project with a participatory approach to increase the number of PhD-level human resource in the prioritized fields. In this respect, CoHE announced a call for application to universities, offering scholarships to students in 100 thematic fields in the areas of “Basic Sciences and Engineering”, “Health Sciences”, “Social Sciences” and “Architecture and Design”.

The aim of the project is to create a competitive environment based on the fields of specialization at state universities, to produce knowledge in priority fields and to promote universities within the scope of this project. The first call for 100/2000 CoHE Doctoral Scholarship was in the spring term of the 2016-2017 academic year and there have been seven calls since then. Nearly 5 thousand students have received the scholarship so far and the programme increasingly attracts more students and universities. The eighth call for the scholarship is planned to be announced in June 2020.

Who can apply?

Turkish citizens who are under 35 years of age
Students holding a Master’s degree for a doctoral programme and a Bachelor’s degree for an integrated doctoral programme
Students who meet the application and admission requirements determined by the Regulation on Graduate Education and Training and the higher education institution they will apply for
PhD students who are doing their doctoral studies in a higher education institution and have not started to write their doctoral theses
Full time working students (excluding public service officers and academic staff) will be able to apply for the eighth call of the scholarship programme.

100/2000 CoHE Doctoral Scholarship supports students for four years. Starting from March 2020, the monthly stipend was determined as 2,450 TL for unemployed scholarship holders and 650 TL for employed scholarship holders.

CoHE Support Scholarship

The Council of Higher Education offers scholarships to students in prioritized areas determined in the strategic plan of Turkey’s socio-economic development and welfare. In this regard, students studying in Fundamental Sciences, Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Mining and Earth Sciences have been receiving scholarships from CoHE.

Since 2016, around 2,000 CoHE Support Scholarship holders from 103 state higher education institutions have been receiving 800 TL on a monthly basis[1].

CoHE TEBIP Scholarship

CoHE Basic Sciences Programme (YOK-TEBIP) is a unique initiative both in Turkey and around the world aiming to establish a distinguished class of students at İstanbul University. The students have been selected from the state universities according to their success in ranking (top three in the order of placement) in the placement for each basic sciences programme (Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics). The aim of CoHE TEBIP Scholarship programme is to train successful students as prospective scientists for the future of Turkey.

The language of instruction will be Turkish. Students are supported with foreign language courses offered by international and Turkish lecturers. Around 1/3 of the lecturers are selected from the faculty members of various higher education institutions.

A monthly stipend of 1,100 TL is offered to students for 12 months in the programme. 82 students (26 in Physics, 23 in Biology, 15 in Chemistry and 18 in Mathematics) are receiving education in honor classes in the 2020 academic year.

CoHE Türkology Scholarship Programme

CoHE Turkology Scholarship Programme is a scholarship programme that grants scholarship to undergraduate students of Turkish Language and Literature, Turkology and Turkish Language programmes at universities abroad. It will be determined by the Council of Higher Education, with priority for the other countries the Council of Higher Education is in collaboration with and/or signed a memorandum of understanding.

CoHE launched the programme with the slogan “Turkology Wants You” addressing to young people wishing to study at universities in countries where Turkology programmes are available. The programme aims to strengthen Turkology programmes in universities abroad and attract successful young people to these programmes. CoHE has initiated all these scholarship programmes as field-based programmes, targeting only successful students.

CoHE also aims the graduates of this department to do their doctoral studies in Turkey and become instructors in the Turkology departments of the universities they graduate from.

YOK Turkology Scholarship Programme is being carried out in coordination with the Embassies of the Republic of Turkey and will be extended in the upcoming period. It is expected for the program to strengthen Turkology programs at universities abroad, draw attention to these programmes, revive some programmes that are at risk of closing down and make Turkey more visible in the international arena.

Farabi Exchange Programme

Farabi Exchange Programme is a student exchange programme between higher education institutions that offer programmes at associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate levels within universities and institutes of higher technology.

Farabi Exchange Programme aims to enable students to continue their education and training activities in another higher education institution for one or two semesters.

Students who participate in Farabi Exchange Programme receive non-refundable scholarships.

YÖK-YUDAB Programme

The “Research Scholarship for Doctoral Studies Abroad for Research Assistants (YÖK-YUDAB)” was first launched in 2018 to raise the quality bar in Turkish higher education by improving the quality of people with doctorate degrees in Turkey.

In this context, academic staff, who are working as research assistants at state universities and writing their doctoral theses, can do research on their thesis subject at a prestigious university which is ranked in higher positions in the world university or subject rankings carried out by the Times Higher Education, Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai) and QS World Universities Rankings for a minimum of six months and a maximum of one year.

TURQUAS PROJECT

TURkish QUality ASsurance Project is the first Erasmus+ project of CoHE aiming to promote, facilitate and internalize the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) reforms.

The Implementation and Sustainability of EHEA Reforms in Turkish Higher Education System Project (TURQUAS), which is perceived as an important motivation tool used to fulfil the requirements of the “Regulation on Quality Assurance in Higher Education” and the “Regulation on the Procedures and Principles Regarding the Implementation of the “National Qualifications Framework for Higher Education in Turkey”, was completed in 2019.

Detailed information about the project which has the purpose of raising awareness for the quality assurance in Turkish higher education institutions, generalizing and internalizing quality culture, and generalizing the institutional external evaluation process in higher education institutions can be found on the website https://turquas.yok.gov.tr/