Either you are a family thinking of registering your kid(s) in one of the many Turkish schools or a student looking for an University to study in Turkey, having a better understanding of the Turkish education system can of a great help for the guidance you may need to take your decision.
Turkish Education system is ruled by the Ministry of National Education which stated that education is free and mandatory for children from ages 6 to 14 in states schools. The academic year in Turkey is usually beginning around mid-September/early October and finishes in May or early June. In February, the schools are closing for a two-week winter break.
An Education System divided in 4 main levels:
Pre-School Education: Kindergarten education for kids up to 6 years old and therefore optional according to Turkish Education System.
Primary Education: It is an 8 years free basic education split into 5 years elementary and 3 years secondary for which every kids from 6 to 14 years old must attend to.
Secondary Education: Mostly owned by the government, High schools ("Lise" in Turkish) mainly provide a 4 years free education for pupils from 15 to 17/18 years old. Some high schools might require one more year of attendance of language study.
Higher Education:
- Bachelor's degree : 4 years of University or 2 years at Higher Vocational Schools. Some schools have an additional year of language study.
- Master's degree : 2 years
- PhD : 3-5 years
Grading
In High Schools
Even though the grading system in High Schools used to be on a scale of 0 - 10, with 10 being the best grade possible, it now became a system graded on a scale of 0 - 5 for which 5 represents the highest grade. This is why every examination, homework, assignment and project are now graded on a five-point level scale.
|
Numeric |
Letter |
Description |
|
5 4 3 2 1 |
A B C D E |
Very Good Good Average Passing Failure |
At Universities
Some universities use a scale of 0-100, "100" being the highest, whereas others use the typical American A-F scale where GPA is calculated on a scale of 4.00. The letter grades, coefficients and percentage equivalents are given below.
|
Percentage |
Course Grade |
Coefficient |
|
90 -100 85 - 89 80 - 84 75 - 79 70 - 74 65 - 69 60 - 64 50 - 59 49 and below |
AA BA BB CB CC DC DD FD FF |
4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 |
Masters degrees
The academic year for universities is divided into two semesters: fall and spring. It runs from September until June and there are typically two types of Masters degree courses available from Turkish universities: one which includes a thesis; and one without. The former consists of a minimum of seven courses, a seminar and thesis, while non-thesis programs involve 10 courses plus a semester project. The thesis qualification will normally be completed within two years of study with the non-thesis taking one-and-a-half years to complete.
Entry requirements are determined by the postgraduate course you wish to study, and the university offering the program. These can vary drastically between institutions and departments, although a recognized Bachelors degree in a relevant field is usually required. You will also need to provide a letter of acceptance from a Turkish university in order to obtain a student visa.