Study in Turkey

Posted byspelaylaPosted inIstanbul, Novice, scholarship, Study in Turkey, Turkey, Turkiye burslari, Turščina, Turčija

Scholarship of the Republic of Turkey

 UPDATE (FEBRUARY 2016)

THE APPLICATIONS FOR 2016/2017 WILL START AT THE END OF FEBRUARY.

In last years I benefited from different types of scholarship offered by Republic of Turkey. The Republic of Turkey every year offers different possibilities to obtain scholarship. All scholarship information can be obtained from the oficial page of Turkish scholarship, called Türkiye bursları. 

Every year there are some changes related to application period or type of scholarships in the scope of Turkiye Burslari. One of the most important changes this year (2015) is the Araştırma burs programı (Research Scholarship Programme) and the Sanat ve Spor Burs Programi (Art and Sport scholarship programme). The application for the Research Scholarships is opened all over the year. The requirements are a bit different than for other scholarships, for example the candidate must find and be accepted at an university in Turkey, where he/she wants to conduct a research.

DON’T MISS ALSO STUDY IN TURKEY #2 and STUDY IN TURKEY #3
You are welcome to comment and sharte the posts!

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I have experience with scholarship which covers summer course of Turkish (part of so called Yunus Emre Turkish Language Scholarship Programme) and graduate scholarship programme in the scope of Ibni Haldun Social Sciences Graduate Scholarship (for MA and phD. Apart from the mentioned programms, they offer also undergraduate scholarships, short term scholarships and research scholarship. You can get most informations and the important OFFICAL DATES and OFFICIAL APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS on the official page of Türkiye Scholarship /Burslari. Also there exists useful (official) Facebook page of Türkiye burslari.

In this post I will present following scholarships:
  • Turkish language summer course scholarship (Yunus Emre Programme)

  • Graduate Scholarship programme (Ali Kuşçu Science and Technology and Ibni Haldun Social Sciences Programme)

  • Undergraduate Scholarship programme (divides in 7 subgrups – depending on the region of applicant)

  • Support Scholarship (Destek Bursu)

  • Success Scholarship programme (Başarı Burs Programı) 
  • Research Scholarship programme (Araştırma Burs Programı) – NEW!
  • Other scholarship opportunities
Before you continue reading, please don’t forget that this blog is NOT an OFFICIAL page of Türkiye burslari, it’s only sharing experience and advices for obtaining scholarship and what happens after arrival in Turkey. For official DATES; APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS  and APPLICATIONS, please check the official page of Türkiye burslari.
If anyone had different experience or find some information incorrect, feel free to post a comment under a blog post. If you have any questions, please do not send me private message, but post a comment under a blog post, so that everyone can see it. Thank you 🙂 Now, let’s start:
*Note:* The application for most scholarship programmes is via the official web page of Türkiye burslari. The application dates for different kind od scholarship are different. In 2013 the important months were:
  • MARCH (for Master and PhD Scholarship)
  • MAY (for undergraduate scholarship)
  • MAY (for Turkish language summer school)
On the official page of Turkiye burslari, the beginning ofapplication period for 2014 is announced:
  • 3 March for postgraduate scholarships
  • Mid April- Mid May for undergraduate scholarships
Applications for the Research Scholarship are open all year around.

Some informations about scholarships are also published in the web pages of Turkish embassies.

Some other important rules:

  • These are government scholarships and not university scholarships: you don’t apply to desired university first and than ask for scholarship. When you will fill in the application form for scholarship, there will also be a part where you need to choose desired university and departement
  • applicant must not hold turkish citizenship
  • age (depends on level of studies)
  • average grade (Undergraduate: 70%; Postgraduate: 75%, Medicine students: 90%)
  • number of applicants depend from country to country
  • in case that you win scholarship and you don’t know Turkish (you need to have level C1), you will go to Turkish language course for 1 year (or less, depending on your level) and than you can start your university education
In recent years the number of applicants for each scholarship is high, so I advice you to be PATIENT 🙂 The results for scholarship might come very late, especiall for summer scholarship- even less than 2 weeks before the beginning of the course, so you must be prepeared to travel at any time 🙂

Turkish language summer school

Since 2013 language school is opened for students which has at least basic knowledge of Turkish language. School lasts approximately 2 months (July & August). Classes are every week day – 4 hours per day. Scholarship covers Turkish language education, student dormitory and you get some pocket money (in 2013 it was 500tl per month). Student must pay flight ticket or a transportation fee from their country to Turkey, books for course and other expenses (f.e.: fees you need to pay to get student certificate from your school, etc.)
When I received this scholarship, we could choose the city, where we want to learn Turkish (they offered us around 6 cities), on the official page of 2013 scholarship I haven’t seen this option, but it might have been in the application page (it’s closed now, so I can’t check).

The application process is quite easy. In some countries Turkish embassies also invite you to an interview.

Please note that for 2014 applications dates might be different.

Graduate scholarship (MA, phD)

The application for this scholarship is little more complicated, it actually takes some hours. I advice you that you scan all of the documents you need (if I recall correctly, they only accept scanned document in .jpg or .doc format). The application has also a part where you need to write your motivation for scholarship. Recommendation letters are not necessery but can be an advantage.

At the postgraduate level you can choose maximum 12 universities and minimum 3 universities and departements. So before you apply for the scholarship, check web pages of more universities and their programmes, because, as it’s written on the official page of Turkiye burslari ”selecting more cities might increase your chance to get scholarship”.

The application for the scholarship opens online (on the official page). Before you do it, read instructions carefully. Don’t wait until last day, because last year there were some techincal problems on the page, and in that case you might not be able to send your application. If you have some problems when applying, you can get assistance from Turkiye burslari.
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After applying (which was in 2013 in March), we waited almost 2 months for the ressults of first assesement. If your application is good enough, the Turkish Embassy from your country will call you for an interview. The interview dates depend from country to country. Mine was at the end of May. After interview there comes again waiting period. The final results were released at the end of June, however, at that time we only got to know, if we received scholarship. The news about university we won came in the late July/ early August.

After the results we had to bring original papers (the one we already attached with our application in March) to the Turkish Embassy in our country. To be able to sign a contract I needed the copy of passport, graduaton paper (it doesn’t need to be original), health report and the paper that Türkiye burslari sent me, which prooved that I won scholarship. The Türkiye burslari group also send a scholarship contract to our embassy. We had about 2 weeks to go to embassy, bring all papers (in English or Turkish) and sign the contract. At the same time also the procedure for student visa started.

Some embassies don’t have many experience with scholarship, so my advice is, to read the rules (sent to you by Türkiye burslari comitee) carefully and also take one copy with you to the embassy. Sometimes they receive the scholarship contract little late, so be patient. If you won scholarship, probably you will visit the embassy few times, before you will arrange everything.

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After this step, again come waiting and patience. Now you only need to wait, that scholarship team sends you flight ticket. For us it was kind od surprise, because nobody really knew, when will we travel to Turkey. Finally, we travelled to Turkey in second half of September and some even in first half of October. The scholarship team bought us ticket from the closes aiport (where Turkish airlines flies). Some students had to buy conecting flights in case that Turkish airlines doesn’t fly to their country. They had to buy it on their own, but latter they reimbursed this money to them (this latter means few months later, so don’t rely on getting that money soon).

For more information about the selection and interview process check Study in Turkey#2.

Undergraduate scholarship

The application and assesement process is similar to the one described above. The important difference is the time for application, which was in 2013 in May, however, check the official page of Türkiye burslari for the application dates in 2014.

Other important difference is, that undergraduate students to be must choose 12 different universities where they want to study and olny 6 of this universities can be located in Istanbul, Ankara or Izmir. This means, if you will win a scholarship maybe you will not be placed in one of the big cities.

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If you have any questions please ask it in a comment under this post.
If you have an experience with this scholarship programme which you would like to share with others, you are welcome to do so in a comment part.
If you find any mistake, please let me know.

For more information about the selection and interview process check Study in Turkey#2.

Support and Success Scholarship programme

This two scholarship programmes are a bit different than others. The aim of this two programmes is to support the foreign students which are already studying in Turkey, but on their own expenses. The scholarship programmes are opened to candidates from all countries and for all levels of study.

Research Scholarship Programme

This is a new programme. The main difference is that the applications are opened all year around and the scholarship is significantly higher. You can apply only if you are a PhD student or a PhD holder. You have to present them your research project. There are some suggested research fields for 2016/2017 applicants. You can see the details here.

Other Scholarship opportunities

Every year more and more students apply for Turkiye burslari, that’s why it’s getting harder and harder to win a scholarship. Don’t worry, there are other opportunities too!

One of them is TÜBITAK.

Tübitak is currently not accepting any new (foreign) applicants. In any case, check their page for more recent news.

If you have chosen your university, than check if the university itself also offers scholarship for its students. Many universities do offer scholarship. Sometimes sholarship doesnt cover 100% of tuition fee.

Also check if your home country is offering a scholarship for studying abroad.

Good luck!

And please share this post, if you think that it’s helpful 🙂 Thank you!

For more information about scholarship and application process, please check also:
Study in Turkey#2,

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Study in Turkey #3: How to get student residence permit? 

Study in Turkey #4: Are you sure???

Study in Turkey #2.1: Interview

And don’t forget to check my new post about other study and shcolarship opportunities in Turkey, Study in Turkey #5

Published by spelayla

Welcome! My name is Špela. I love to travel, read and learn. And of course, share all these experiences.

207 thoughts on “Study in Turkey”

  3. Hi Spelayla I am undergraduate 2016 applicant.I would like to ask you if I can choose 12 different departments and universities in burslari scholarship. Also can I include my preferances different programs such as engineering and social science. Is it a problem to choose the same university twice but in different departments.
    Thanks bro gor this blog.

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  4. Hı!
    I think you should choose 12 different universities, also you can choose different departments, but I think it can be bad for winning scholarship, becase it will show that you really don't know what to study.
    It is important not to choose only universities from big cities (Istanbul, Ankara).
    BTW, hasn't application already finished??

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  7. But they are related bro
    1. Mechatronic engineering
    2.Agricultural economics
    3.Economics
    4.Economics and finance
    5.International relations
    6.political science and international relations
    7.Puplic adminstration and international relations.
    8.Management information system
    9.Journalism
    10.International trade.
    11.Agricultural bio technology
    12 patroleum engineering.
    What about these bro.

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  12. Hello there Spelayla G.! Great insights.

    I know that recommendation letter is an advantage but I'm writing it anyways. Do you know to whom shall my letter be addressed to?

    Thank you.

    M. Suhaib
    Malaysia

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  14. Thank you! Please, feel free to share it. It is very difficult to change your department after you've been selected. I would suggest you to mention this at the interview and maybe they might change it before the final assesment.

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  15. Hello there,

    thank you for your article. I just have one question. I am currently applying to different places, and I was wondering, what if I get the scholarship reply late or after recieving a better offer, can I reject it?
    Thanks in advance.

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  21. Hi,
    Thank you for the information following up with this year scholarship intake. It has been helpful to me.
    I got some questions that i would like to have your help on. I very much appreciate it. Here it goes:
    – I did apply to the scholarship for undergraduate student. But i think i made one mistake during filling out the address information. I should have ticked on the box indicating that my permanent address is different rom my making address since i am studying abroad but i did not do so. After submitting the application, there was no other way to modify or even delete the pervious application to submit another one. So, i want to ask whether or not it will affect the scholarship assessment in overall? Btw, They also asked me to answer where i would like to have the interview. Does this information determine the location of city/country i would attend the interview if accepted?

    – The second is that i did choose all of the 12 universities/department preference in Istanbul, Akarnar and Izmir, except for a program on another city but i can recall the name. Will it negate my application assessment and result? They had the information in the system that i SHOULD not choose more than half of the choices in those big cities. But they used the word “should” so that i only thought of it as an advice only. And for this year system, if there was something that did not comply with the condition/requirement, they usually did let me get through that stage to continue proceeding unless it was fixed but i was able to get through to the next step in the application filling, which made me think it of being acceptable. Please, could you advice me on this?

    – Finally, do you have any hindsights on when the applicants can expect the result email of the first section round? Because there has seemed to be nothing so far, which has been getting me nervous and worried. Btw, in the worst instance that i was not selected for the second round of interview, will they also send an email to inform of such?

    I am so sorry fir such lengthy comment asking so many questions like this but please bear with me. Thank you so much in advance. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

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  22. Hi!

    Thank you! You are most welcomed to share this blog with your friends.

    1) I think it will not influence on the possibility of winning scholarship. If you study abroad, it might be problem when they call you for interveiw, because they will call you from your home country. In this case they might offer you a Skype interview.

    2- I don't know the answer. In case you will have interview, they might ask you to change your preferences (if this will be a problem). Since the system let you do it like this, I think that it should not be a big problem. Ask them at the interview anyway.

    3- You have to be very patient right now. At this post I've shared the scholarship calendar, as you will see there is no exact date. However it is still quite early.
    http://istanbulkonstantinopel.blogspot.com.tr/2016/04/study-in-turkey-21-interview.html

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  23. Thank you so much for you info.
    But during the application fill-out, they did ask me about where i would like to have my interview, i answered the city i am staying at the moment in the country i am studying college. and i did just fill in my address in the foreign country instead of one in my home country in the mailing address section. So, do you think if it is possible for me to have an interview in the foreign country instead of being in my home country if i was selected? Cuz it would be inconvenient for me to go back my home country for one day the return here for school….

    I am looking forward to hearing from you soon
    Thank you so much for you help.

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  25. Thanks for your reply to my comment. I very appreciate it. Btw, I want to ask one more thing. I hope that you can help me out.

    I heard from some of the applicants this year that their referees got the email from Turkish Government Scholarship Board to confirm about the reference letters. But here is the thing: I uploaded the reference letters sent to me by my referees because i asked them to write for me their recommendation letters way before the start of the scholarship application receiving period. Afterwards, i asked my referees to check their email inbox to see if there was any kind of emails from the scholarship board, they told me none.

    So, it got me concerned that it is because i uploaded their reference letters during filling out the application form before submitting it so that my referees did not get any kinds of emails concerning about that matter any more. Am i right? Or is it that the referees had to get the emails to confirm about the reference letters or that is just for applicants who did not upload their reference letters while filling out the application form so their referees would get another email for the reference letter? Or is there something else? I really don't understand this point at all.

    I am looking forward to hearing from you soon
    Thank you so much for your time and help

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  26. Hey!
    I think you are worrying too much. It's impossible for them to check all the references. If I understood correctly, you've uploaded references to application form, right? In thi case, everything is ok.

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  29. Good day. During the application I uploaded a signed reference letter in an institution headed envelop provided by my referee but till date he has not received a link to confirm. what is wrong? also on the letter of intent i mentioned that after completion of my studied i will come back home to work. is this a negative point for an application?

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  37. Hello, thank your for information. My friend got interview and now waiting for results. Someone said “You won scholarship just waiting for which uni” is true ? Sorry for bad English and thank you again.

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  39. hello there, thank you for your initial reply. right now i got an interview offer and i am thinking on taking it but i have a question: i already have my applications some where else too and i was wondering would it be alright to reject the scholarship after i get it? also, do you know how long it takes for the interview results to come out?
    thanks in advance and have a good day 🙂

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  40. Hey!
    I think you can reject scholarship, but I don't know if they will reward other person with it, in case you do so.
    We got the results at the end of June and she university placements in July/August.

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  42. hey there. thanks for replying again. i was just wondering, do you have any tips for the interview? I'm kinda worried i might mess up or say the wrong thing. I've never been interviewed for university before.
    your help would be appreciated 🙂
    have a nice day.

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  46. What do they mean when say pending review…in my application status it's written so.thanks.and if my country embassy has already conducted the interviews and I was not called does it mean I did not fit in.

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  47. Hey!
    Probably end of this month/beginning of July. YOu will get university placements later.
    Could you plase share you interview experience by commenting Study in Turkey 2.1?

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  48. Hey!
    1. That depends on how hard will you study and how close your native language is to Turkish. You will continue learning also after finishing course (by yourself).
    2. Not during the first year, at least not legally.

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  50. Hey there,

    thanks for the blog and your helpful comments..

    I took the interview about a month ago and waiting for positive response.

    I have applied to all 12 programs in English but have not submitted my English proficiency test.

    -So, if I got accepted for the scholarship; can a University accept me without my English proficiency score?

    – How is the security for international student there?

    – i have also been accepted by German university (so I don't need to pay for the University, only for dorms, which I could pay by working there.) What would you do if you were at my place (e-mail me if you do not want to public your opinion)?

    sincerely..

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    Reply

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