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(Last updated: 13 Jul 2007)
Trends and opportunities
The market
Each year, an estimated 40,000 Turkish students travel abroad for higher education. Favoured destinations are the USA, the UK, Europe and increasingly Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
From a demographical perspective, the potential for Australia to provide educational services to Turkey is significant. Turkey has a young population with about 50 per cent under the age of 30.
Competition for university admission in Turkey is fierce – over 1.5 million Turkish students sit for less than 300,000 university places; only an average of one in five was successful.
There are only 177,026 Bachelor programs available, and a student must score at least 120 points in a national examination to be able to apply for their choice of Bachelor’s degree.
There are 53 state universities that cater for approximately 135,000 four-year degree courses and 103,000 two-year diploma courses. The 22 private (foundation) universities – of varying standards –provide 18,500 four-year degree courses, and 5000 two-year diploma courses. On average, private university tuition fees are approximately A$11,000-A$13,000 per annum.
Australian student visas are issued in Ankara and Istanbul. Australia’s Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) has placed Turkey in the Assessment Level 3 category. Assessment Level 1 represents the lowest assessment level and Assessment Level 5 the highest in terms of the perceived risk that student visa holders from that country may breach visa conditions. To mitigate the risk, students in higher Assessment Levels are required to meet (increasingly) stringent conditions (especially financial) to demonstrate their bona fides. Passport holders of countries placed in Assessment Levels 2, 3, 4 and 5, must make their first student visa application while outside Australia.
Opportunities
Opportunities exist for the recruitment of Turkish students to Australia in the following areas:
- English Language Intensive Course for Overseas Students (ELICOS)
- Commercial colleges
- Technical and Further Education (TAFE)
- Undergraduate studies
- Postgraduate studies
- Distance learning
The sectors of most interest to Turkish students include:
- business
- banking
- finance
- information technology
- media-related courses
Most students require English language programs training in Australia prior to commencing other courses. There is an increasing market for postgraduates from Turkish institutions and young professionals wanting to improve their English for career advancement.
Distance learning is relatively poorly understood by the Turkish market. Students are familiar with Turkey’s own form of distance education, which is of poor quality and with very few students who graduate.
Given the huge gap between the number of students that qualify to enter tertiary institutions and the number that actually enter (due to the limited number of places), distance learning has great potential in Turkey.
In distance learning, there are opportunities for ELICOS learning and a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, particularly in commerce, business, IT, and tourism. It would suit a wide range of student including professionals wanting to further refine their qualifications.
The profile of distance learning must be raised to begin to attract quality students and Austrade has already done some work in this area including articles written for student magazines.
Competitive environment
The academic year in Turkey runs from mid-September (universities commence early-October) to mid-June. University entrance examination results are announced mid-July and university enrolments take place mid-September.
Prime student-recruitment periods are April, May, September and October. The majority of students come from Istanbul – Turkey's largest and richest city.
The favoured destinations for Turkish students studying overseas are the USA, the EU (especially Germany, France and the UK, and increasingly Canada, New Zealand and Australia). Germany accounts 53 per cent of Turkish students undertaking higher education abroad (and France 8 per cent); however, most of these students are drawn from the resident population of Turkish citizens in those countries.
Australia is a relatively new entrant to the Turkish education market and it is therefore important to highlight the advantages of studying in Australia including: the tuition and living costs; and the exchange rate advantages – while emphasising the quality of the education delivered.
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