Turkish universities hit record high, welcoming 340,000 foreign students

Türkiye’s Council of Higher Education announced that the numbers of internationals in Turkish universities reached 340,000, up from 301,000 registered in 2023.

According to the “University Monitoring and Evaluation General Report – 2024” there are currently 340 thousand foreign students from 198 countries across 200 Turkish universities. There were only 16,000 foreign students studying in Türkiye in 2002.

The top 5 recipients of international students were Altinbas University (Istanbul), OSTIM Technical University (Ankara), Ibn Haldun University (Istanbul), Karabuk University (Black Sea), and Istanbul Esenyurt University.

Altinbas University rector Prof. Cagrı Erhan stated, “These students are our guests for four years, and then they remain our friends for life. They are becoming Türkiye’s soft power in the world. These young people, who are our volunteer ambassadors, hang the diploma they received from Türkiye in their pharmacy in Nigeria. When we see a minister or ambassador who has graduated from Türkiye during our foreign visits, we are very happy when he speaks Turkish to us. The presence of international students at a university or in a country shows the richness of the education system.”

Revenues from hosting foreign students increased to $3 billion from the $200 registered in the early 2010s.

Part of the internationally recognized Bologna educational accreditation system, Turkish universities offer a wide range of sought after degrees in engineering, medicine and social sciences. Proximity also attracts students as Turkish Airlines can fly students to nearly 100 countries in Asia, Europe or Africa in three hours.

Türkiye aims to increase the number of international students to 500 thousand and increase revenues from its educational services to $10 billion in 2030.