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Turkey has been hosting the largest Syrian refugee migration in the world since 2011, which has necessitated a continuous change in state-level measures to cater for the deficiencies of a forced displacement ranging from economic to social and educational instruments. Despite constructive national policies and legislation of the Turkish government and financial support, refugee access and enrollment in higher education (HE) stand as an issue for a number of reasons. The chapter aims to highlight opportunities and challenges that Syrian refugee students (SRSs) have been experiencing since their immigration to Turkey and it examines HE policies in socio-economic, cultural and political contexts. The study, while making use of Bronfenbrenner’s (2001) bioecological theory of development, adapts it to the context of refugee students in HE. Discussions are supported by reports, laws and circulars to make note of the main principals of the HE policies of Turkey for SRSs as well as their implications in both Syrian and Turkish contexts. During this process, the international and comparative nature of the study is maintained by referring to similar policies for refugees in other host countries and implications for the international arena.

Although there has been considerable growth in the higher education systems of Turkey and China in about the last two decades, there is still a room for development in enabling equity in all regions, increasing opportunities and resources regardless of socio-economic status or gender differences. Students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds do not have enough tools to change their fate for the better due to the accumulated barriers they face. Given this background, the chapter discusses how the barriers to equitable HE admissions relate to each other and which one has a greater negative impact over the Accumulated Conversion Barriers Modal we propose defined by personal, discriminatory, institutional, and geographical barriers. The perspectives of Turkish and Chinese HE stakeholders were examined through 21 in-depth interviews that were subjected to content analysis and interpreted in a comparative style using the lens of Capabilities Approach of Sen. We also offer policy suggestions to increase students’ conversion capacities for better outcomes to serve both the national and the international educational contexts owing to the adaptable nature of our modal to other countries experiencing similar issues in their higher education systems.

This study aims to discover the general trends, the structural characteristics of the knowledge base, and developments in the field of internationalization of higher education (IHE) in Turkey. In this respect, the studies published in journals indexed by SSCI, SCI-Expanded, ESCI, and AHCI in Web of Science (WoS) between January 1, 1975, and November 20, 2021, were analyzed. The dataset included 260 articles. We administered descriptive analysis reflecting the topographical features and the dynamics of the related literature through Excel and the WoS analysis tools. We conducted bibliometric analyses to shed light on the current view of the literature and reveal the intellectual structure of the knowledge base and topical foci. The volume of the research in the field of IHE in Turkey and their yearly distribution suggests that this area of research is still in its infancy; however, there has been a rapid growth in the number of publications recently. Author co-citation analysis reveals four distinct schools of thought labeled as “Higher Education Policy Studies in EU,” “Global Socio-politics and Economics of IHE,” “Socio-cultural and Psychological Dimensions of Internationalization” and “Language Studies.” Finally, topical foci in the knowledge base emerged as “International Student Mobility,” “Psychological and Cultural Adaptation of International Students,” “Higher Education Policy Reforms,” “International Staff Mobility” and “Migration Related Issues.” The results are discussed with related review studies and suggestions for future research are provided.

Despite high aspirations to pursue personal development, self-sustaining employment, socio-economic integration, and stable futures in their host, origin, or resettlement countries through higher education, intersecting legal, economic, linguistic, and sociocultural barriers severely constrain refugees’ options. There is limited research on how refugee students overcome these barriers to access higher education, particularly in displacement settings like Turkey, which perpetuates a deficit view of these learners. This chapter seeks to address this gap and challenge deficit ideologies through an asset-focused perspective on the stories of 10 Syrian young adults accessing higher education during forced displacement in Turkey using a composite narrative portrait crafted based on common experiences running across the participants’ individual narratives. The narrative illustrates the importance of equitable policies, quality language instruction, inclusive pedagogies, and supportive interpersonal relationships for young people aspiring to invest in their futures during displacement as well as the resourceful and dynamic strategies they devise.

Higher education institutions around the world compete with one another in the internationalization zone. One of the biggest competitions centers on the mobility of students fighting for the share from the student market pie. The Turkish higher education system, as an emerging competitor, also participates in this competition. While many studies focus on international students in Turkish higher education institutions, the literature lacks information about why Turkish institutions participate in this game, and what tools and strategies they use in this endeavor. This study examined the rationales and strategies of higher education institutions using a semistructured online survey data collected from international offices at participating institutions. Findings revealed that Turkish higher education institutions attract international students to create a multicultural environment by increasing diversity at the campus and to increase the quality of the institution. In contrast to the findings in the literature, seeing international students as institutional revenue source was not among the rationales mentioned by the participant institutions. Besides the rationales, findings also revealed the strategies institutions use for their international student recruitment. Paralleling with the trending mechanisms used worldwide, Turkish institutions use similar strategies such as participating in fairs and events, advertisement through technology, web and social media, and using agents; however, there are also unique mechanisms created by Turkish institutions including visiting parents of current international students, high school visits, and summer camps as effective strategies. Additional research, with broader scope and depth is needed to better understand the internationalization of Turkish higher education.

Academic freedom is of central importance in all kinds of activities of academics and students. Considering this, many reforms were made to secure and improve academic freedom in Turkey. The most important reforms and changes were made in 1933, 1946, 1960, 1973 and 1981, and they all coincided with significant social and political periods. But, the history of Turkey’s academic freedom is not bright. The past university policies pertaining to academic freedom had occasionally positive, but often restrictive, results in expanding academic freedom. Despite policies and reforms, illegal dismissals of faculty members, disciplinary inspections and penalties were experienced. Moreover, the restrictions also affected freedom of expression in the forms of censorship and self-censorship; freedom to learn, teach and conduct researches had limitations. On the other hand, the removal of headscarf ban and the abolishment of coefficient policy which disadvantaged some students in the university entrance examinations can be given as examples of improvement in academic freedom of students, both of which improved students’ access to higher education. When compared with other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, the rankings and various indicators present Turkey at lower end in terms of academic freedom. This shows that further steps are to be taken to improve academic freedom in Turkey.

This chapter presents findings of an ongoing project on the social construction of ethnic identity among young Kurdish immigrants living in Turkey. The chapter begins with information on Kurdish culture. The second part overviews the difficult relations between the Turkish state and Kurds since establishment of the Republic in 1923. The third section describes the education system in the country and in Istanbul specifically. Historical ties between the Istanbul and Kurdish culture are also mentioned. The chapter closes with research that focuses on problems of Kurdish educational experiences in Turkey and preservation of their cultural identity in Istanbul. The study shows that on the one hand public education is perceived by the Kurds in Turkey as a discriminatory entity but on the other hand nonpublic educational opportunities in Istanbul help Kurdish migrants preserve and practice their cultural identity.

Turkey has been an active member of the Bologna Process (BP) since 2001. This chapter focuses on the impact of the BP on higher education (HE) in Turkey by outlining the reforms that were carried out and the narratives surrounding the changes. The focus of the chapter will be on how the BP has been accommodated, negotiated debated or rejected in Turkey and the societal and political tensions surrounding the process. The chapter is based on the findings of semi-structured interviews conducted with the Bologna experts and the officials of universities in Turkey, who were responsible for the reforms between 2009 and 2016, as well as a review of updated data and the analysis of secondary literature and official texts, such as the National Reports of the BP and the relevant policy documents in Turkey. After a very intense reform process, the policy transfer in Turkey slowed down, and Turkey's discussions, specifically about the BP both at the policy and the university level, became close to non-existent. The chapter aims to analyse the reasons behind the loss of interest in the BP in Turkey by focusing on the critical voices and discussions surrounding the neoliberalisation of HE. The chapter will also refer to how Euroscepticism in Turkey impacted the reform process in HE.

As the number of international students increases globally, non-traditional destinations have emerged in the global higher education arena, despite the long-lasting dominance of traditional destinations, such as the United States, the UK, Australia, France, or Germany. In search of the causes of the change in the number of international students favoring non-traditional destinations, this study focuses on the Turkish case and identifies the macro-level efforts to increase the enrollment of international students in Turkish higher education institutions by utilizing the theory of new institutionalism and theories regarding the college choices of international students. As an upper-middle-income, developing country and an emerging non-traditional destination, constituting a regional hub for international students in the last decade at the crossroads of Africa, Asia, and Europe, the case of Turkey would give unique examples of macro-level strategies for increasing the enrollment of international students in other higher education systems.