The Turkish Education System is a state run system to provide children and young adults with the best possible level of education. Under the system it states that those aged 7-14 receive 8 years of primary education and 14-18 year olds three or more years of high school education. Although around 95% of students will go to a public school it is not uncommon for some to seek a private education. In 2001 there were approximately 1,273 higher learning institutions. In order to attend university students will be required to pass a national examination and only once they have passed this will they be assigned a position at University.
Within the Turkish
education system, high school will generally last for 4 years but may be longer
if preparatory classes in a foreign language are required. There are a number
of different types of high school available under the system and these are standard Public High Schools, Anatolian High
Schools offering special foreign language classes, Anatolian Imam-Hatip High
Schools with more religious based lessons, Science High Schools, Vocational bi
Schools, which focus on a certain type of profession, Imam-Hatip High Schools,
different type of general high school with lessons about religion and Private
High Schools established by private companies.
Once the necessary exams have been passed students may opt to attend University. This will usually be for either two or four years of education for undergraduates and an additional two years for graduate studies. There are around 820 higher education institutions including 118 universities which are either public or private. The main universities are located in Istanbul and Ankara. Public universities are more accessible for most since the fees are generally quite low in comparison to private institutions. As with many, the quality of education can vary but many are just as good as some of the more well know universities around the world. The majority of these Turkish education universities keenly participate in the Socrates Erasmus program provided by the European Commission. This aims to help to increase the number of students and academics mobility within the European Union, the European Economic Area countries, and other EU candidate states. For this reason more and more students now opt to carry out some degree of their studies abroad at a foreign university to help broaden their studies. There are also a great number of students from other countries travelling to Turkish universities to do the same.
