Meeting with International YÖK Scholarship Holders at Marmara
University
April 29, 2022 / İstanbul
CoHE President Erol Özvar met with international YÖK Scholarship holders at
Marmara University for iftar dinner. He was accompanied by CoHE Deputy
Presidents, Prof. Rahmi Er and Prof. Safa Kapıcıoğlu, and CoHE Executive
Board Member Prof. Ömer Açıkgöz. Prof. Mustafa Kurt, Rector of Marmara
University, Prof. Nigar Demircan Çakar, Rector of Düzce University, Prof.
Erhan Tabakoğlu, Rector of Trakya University, Prof. Mümin Şahin, Rector of
Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, and Prof. Dr. Nuri Aydın, Rector of
Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa also attended the dinner.
Özvar made a speech at the dinner program attended by 80 students from 15
countries. He noted that they met around a table during the unifying month
of Ramadan in these days of war, and that they wanted to listen to the
opinions and suggestions of students. He said that each and every student
coming from different regions of the world was important and valuable for
them and added, “I want you, students, to know that, you are making
extremely important contributions and enriching the mosaic we are trying to
establish at Turkish universities with the culture, knowledge and
experience you bring from your own regions. These contributions are
priceless for higher education institutions that act with the claim of
universality and for us.”
“We consider our international students as ambassadors who enrich the
corporate culture”
Özvar noted that student mobility was expanding rapidly in the world and
that countries that saw this expansion as an opportunity based their
priorities and education policies on tuition and living wages they received
from international students. “However, our priorities are quite different
from these countries. In the Turkish higher education system, we consider
our international students as ambassadors who enrich the corporate culture.
The Türkiye Scholarships Project was launched for this purpose. We see the
same kindness from our international students who preferred Türkiye for
their studies.”
Özvar noted that a record level of 165 thousand students applied for
Türkiye Scholarships from 175 countries according to the statistics of
2021. He said that the scope of the scholarships had diversified
significantly and that the support continued through many channels such as
housing, health insurance, Turkish language education and transportation in
addition to the monthly scholarships of the students.
He added that the willingness and diversity in providing financial
opportunities to international students stood out when YÖK scholarships,
state scholarships and scholarships offered through different foundations
were taken into account.
“In this respect, unlike other countries, it is out of the question to
consider financial income as a source of motivation for our country to
become a center of attraction for international students. Thanks to these
initiatives, Turkish universities receive a great deal of attention from
international students in line with our expectations and the number of
international students is increasing day by day.”
- “The number of international students from 198 countries has reached
255 thousand in our country”
CoHE President Özvar noted that despite the pandemic conditions experienced
in the last two years, the number of international students in Turkey
continued to increase rapidly and said, “According to 2022 data, the number
of international students from 198 countries has reached 255 thousand in
our country. This should be seen as a sign that the Turkish higher
education system has become a center of attraction in the international
arena.”
He underlined that CoHE attached great importance to international students
as a way of increasing cooperation with all countries, especially
neighboring and brother countries and said, “We are making and are
determined to make all necessary arrangements so that our students can
receive the quality education they deserve.”
Özvar noted that there were approximately 2,500 languages in the world
according to the data of the UNESCO Atlas of World Languages. He said that
228 of them seemed to have disappeared completely and that around 1,700
languages were in the category of endangered languages at various stages.
He added that 592 languages were in danger of extinction. “The fact that
languages, religions and cultures are at risk of extinction in a structure
where religion, language and culture are connected to each other like a
trivet has made the facilitative view of the Turkish higher education
system towards international students even more meaningful,” he said.
Özvar chatted with the students after the iftar dinner and took pictures
with them.