Study in Turkey


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!





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:
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:
On the official page of Turkiye burslari, the beginning ofapplication period for 2014 is announced:

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:
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.

More info: Turkish language summer school, YTB and Türkiye burslari

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.




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.






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.






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,





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

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