Short Programs
About Short Programs
Turkish universities also have short-term programs open to international students who would like to study in Turkey for a semester or an entire year. These programs are normally conducted within the framework of pre-existing international university exchange agreements, thus allowing students to easily transfer credits earned in Turkey back to their home university. Please contact your university’s International Office to learn more about its student exchange agreements with various Turkish universities.
If your home university does not have an exchange agreement with a Turkish university, you still have the option of applying as a short-term student with a special status. Information about the various opportunities and requirements of this special status can be found on Turkish universities’ websites.
Such studies abroad might form part of your degree program in your home country, or you might just want to take a few undergraduate or graduate level courses at a particular university.
There have been many short-term programs created and designed by different countries with the intent of enhancing cooperation with Turkey. As a result, Turkish culture, society and politics form an important focus of study in many such programs. Furthermore, there are numerous joint programs between individual Turkish and foreign universities. These exchange programs aim to increase the level of cooperation between both universities and the two countries in a broader sense.
Special Student Status
Students from other universities, both international and domestic, are eligible to receive this special student status. Likewise, both students who have already obtained a degree or who are still studying for their first degree can equally apply for short-term admission to study during the academic year or for summer school.
If your university does not have an exchange agreement with a Turkish university, you will be treated as a special student. Sometimes an agreement of mutual recognition between the home and host universities is already in the process of being negotiated. However, students with special status are classified as non-degree students by their Turkish host university and usually study for a single semester.
In some case, student with special status may not have access to all the benefits or privileges bestowed on the host university’s regularly enrolled students.
If so requested, short-term students with special status receive academic transcripts indicating the courses attended, credits earned and grades awarded. Special students are obliged to pay tuition on a semester basis.
Application Procedure:
Applications are reviewed and acceptances granted by the Executive Councils of the Faculties concerned.
Documents required for application:
• Application form
• Personal letter (asking to study as a special student, adding the detail of which courses you want to take, their codes, names, which term they are given and so on...)
• Official Transcript in English
• Proof of English proficiency (The document certifying that the student has passed one of the national or international foreign language examinations at a level determined by the university or an official document indicating the program's education language prepared by the Student Affairs Office of the university in which the applicant is enrolled)
• 2 passport sized pictures
• Copy of your passport pages
In conditions when visa is needed, applications should have been completed a month before the semester starts.
Tuition and fees:
Tuition fees are revised annually by the boards of each individual university. Due to the inevitable rise in education costs from year to year, annual adjustments are to be expected.
For one academic year, university tuition can range anywhere between 1,200 TL and 43,000 TL, depending on whether the school is a public or private institution. Tuition fees generally cover tuition and registration and include the full use of the institution’s libraries, computer facilities and infirmary services.
