Student Mobility

Full time students at a formal education in higher education institutions can participate in mobility at Higher Education. Students attending to an open university or other programmes (distant education) cannot benefit from student mobility activities.

Student mobility is carried out in 2 ways:

• Student Mobility for Studies (SMS)
• Student Mobility for Placements (SMP)

A full time student refers to a student who has not completed the work depicted by the diploma/degree yet and who takes 30 ECTS credits of course load per semester. A full time Practicum refers to a full-day Practicum during the students’ program period.

Learning Mobility

Within the frame of the Erasmus+ programs, the learning mobility is that a student of a higher education institution carries on a part of his education the partner higher education institution abroad which is decided with a bilateral contract. It is carried out within the framework of the contracts between the institutions present in the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education and the higher education institution. The duration of activity could be a period between 3 and 12 months (1, 2 or 3 periods depending on the system of some countries) that could be completed in the same academic year acted separately for each training stage. Training stage is expressed as associate degree/undergraduate degree, master and doctorate levels. Students attending to the first year classes of associate and undergraduate programmes and graduate students cannot benefit from the student mobility.

It is mandatory that the participating students are full time students. Students are expected to follow a 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credits of course load per semester in line with their diploma/degree, and 60 ECTS credits for a year long exchange programs. Academic recognition and equivalence is provided upon the successful completion of the program, and unsuccessful credits are to be retaken in the home institution, as given in the regulation. http://bit.ly/2bKieQq

Erasmus started to be implemented in 2004 (Higher Education Program) covered by the Erasmus + period (2004-2013) Turkey's National Agency for the project carried out with 74 more than a thousand students study mobility order has been sent abroad, up to 29 thousand in the same period the students arrived in our country in the same scope. In the Erasmus + period, higher education student learning mobility can be carried out country-based to European countries within the scope of KA103-Higher Education Mobility between Program Countries, and to many countries from all over the world with KA107-Partner Countries and Higher Education Student and Personnel Mobility activities.  In this framework, since 2014, more than 100 thousand of our students have moved to Program Countries in Europe and more than 500 of our students have moved to other countries in the world. In the same period, more than 30 thousand students from Europe and 2 thousand students from partner countries came to our country for educational purposes. (July 2021, Turkish National Agency).

Between the years 2004 – 2015, more than 100.000 students were sent abroad within the context of Erasmus in the European Union Education and Youth Programmes and around 40.000 students came to our country (March 2019, Data by Turkish National Agency). 

Erasmus started to be implemented in 2004 (Higher Education Program) covered until today Turkey with projects carried out by the National Agency were sent abroad for more than 130,000 students learning mobility, more than 50,000 students have come to our country in the same context (March 2019) (Turkey National Agency).



Turkey in 2016, which calls for complete mobility, the more students sender received in the rankings among the countries France, Germany, Spain, after Italy was the country most higher education students that perform mobility.

Turkey was in the countries sending most students between the years 2015 – 2016 and the mobility was made by the countries Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Poland and England the most and then came Turkey, as stated by the CoHE.

The Law Regarding the Students Sent Abroad numbered 1416 and Regulation of Turkish Students Sent Abroad for Education numbered 29137 and published on official newspaper on 2 October 2014 state that the students mobility is to be carried out in order to compensate for qualified personnel required by the higher education institutions and other state bodies. Students completing their undergraduate education in Turkey or abroad on condition that they have a diploma equivalency could be sent abroad as post graduate students with a scholarship and on condition that they have the qualifications given in the law, in line with the contingencies determined by taking the ideas of the universities working under YOK (Council of Higher Education) and of other institutions.The necessary information of the candidates is published on the webpage of the MoNE. The affairs of secretary are carried out by the Ministry of National Education, General Directorate of Higher Education and Foreign Education. The General Directorate of Higher Education and Overseas Education is located on the web page and all the works and transactions in this subject are carried out by the relevant general directorate.

The scholarship mentioned above is a non-refundable grant. According to the law, it is a must that two fold of the duration that is spent for the purpose of post graduate education abroad must be compensated as an education service. This service is a period of service that could be made as an academic personnel at the university on behalf of which the education is completed or another task likely to be given in the mentioned institution.

The bursars to be sent abroad within the context of the law must meet the condition of having a certain score at the written exam (ALES (The Exam For Academic Post Graduate Education) and a certain graduation score. Depending on the total contingency determined to be sent abroad, the candidates, three fold of the original number, are invited to the interview with their ALES scores starting from the highest one and with the arithmetical mean of other scores and as a result of the interview, the candidates have the right to go abroad.

The amounts paid to the scholars vary according to the local conditions of the country of education. For current scholarship amounts, you can visit http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2017/06/20170605-7.htm. As of March 2019, the total number of students with official scholarships is 4270. 865 students selected for 2018 are also being sent abroad (MEB YYEGM). For current scholarship amounts, visit the official site. As of February 2022, the total number of students with official scholarships is 4160 (MEB YYEGM). 

Mevlana Exchange Program is a mobility program that enables exchange of students and teachers in both local and international higher education programs. A modification on Mevlana Exchange Program was published on 23 August 2011 issue of the official newspaper and Council of Higher Education carries out certain provisions for this program. The objective of the regulation concerned is to frame and run the rules and principles of student and academic staff exchange among higher education institutions in both homeland and abroad. Different from all other exchange programs, this mobility program is categorized under the exchange programs without and geographical definition and thus applies to all exchange programs internationally.

Student Mobility for Placement

Within the Erasmus+ programs run by the Turkish National Agency, students enrolled to a higher education program in Turkey are provided with a practicum opportunity in an EU higher education program. This process is defined as an experience accumulation one in a work place or organization about the vocational education or work experience. In student mobility for placement provisions, the sending institution is to be a ECHE possessor higher education institution. The host institution can be a state or a private one specialized in work force areas or education.

The practicum activities are not expected to be compulsory in students’ diploma program. However, the practicum to be experienced should be relevant to students’ vocational education program.

The period of activity is between 2 and 12 months, valid separately for each training level. The students at each stage in their educational period and the ones at their last year of the academic programme could carry out their placement activity in the 12 months after their graduation. Please visit the link. As of the 2018 call year, internship activities can be realized not only with Program Countries but also with eri partner countries 201.

International student mobility in Turkey is mostly carried out at higher education level. Turkish students who would like to have an education abroad prefer USA and European countries (in particular Germany, France and England) the most; whereas the mobility towards Turkey from other countries is mostly from neighbour countries (Turkmenistan; Iran, Azerbaijan and Greece). As for EU countries, it is clear that relatively fewer students prefer Turkish universities, as data indicates.

According to the academic year of 2016-2017, 71 thousand 854 males, 36 thousand 222 females total 108076 foreign students continued their education. The highest number of international students among the universities was in Istanbul (7671), Anatolia (4770), Marmara (2638), Uludağ (3202), Ankara (2518), Bahçeşehir (2053) Gazi (1999), Hacettepe (1844), Aegean, as provided by CoHE.

Turkish citizens are provided some sources by the state as well as people and private institutions in order that they can pursue their education with a scholarship. 

By the call year 2018, practicum and internship activities will be carried out with the partner countries as well, in addition to regular Program Countries. Calls will be made for the internships by 2022 (February 2022, Erasmus+ Program Guideline, Turkish National Agency)

Academic Staff Mobility

Academic Staff Mobility could be realized in two ways:

• Staff Mobility for Teaching Assignments (STA)
• Staff Mobility for Staff Training (STT)

Staff Mobility for Teaching Assignments

Staff mobility for teaching assignment is a field of activity which allows a teacher to carry out joint/educational activities with the partner institution where personnel having an assignment of teaching at a higher education institution having ECHE in Turkey could teach students at a university having ECHE in one of the programme countries.

Within the context of staff mobility for teaching assignment, it is also possible that personnel are invited to teach students at a higher education institution having ECHE in Turkey at a localized institution. It is necessary that the personnel to be invited be employed at a business, an education centre, a research centre or any other institution suitable for the definition of a business.

The activity period for the staff mobility for teaching assignment is 2 working days the least excluding travel and 2 months the most. Besides that, it is necessary that 8 hours should be taught at least in order that the activity could be regarded as a valid one. In the cases where the activity is longer than 1 week, the course hours should be increased at a parallel proportion to the compulsory course (As an example, as it is compulsory to teach 8 hours in an activity that will last for 1 week, it should be 16 hours if the duration is 2 weeks). Please click for the details..

Between 2004 and 2013, more than 16 thousand academic staff were sent abroad for teaching purposes within the scope of Erasmus (Higher Education Program), one of the European Union Education and Youth Programs, and more than 10 thousand academic staff came to our country. Within the framework of the Erasmus+ period, more than 7 thousand staff went to Program countries in Europe and 934 staff went to partner countries in the rest of the world for teaching purposes. In the same context, more than 5 thousand personnel came to our country from Europe and 831 personnel from partner countries. (July 2021, Turkish National Agency

In 2004, the Erasmus from today to the European Union Education and Youth Programs (Higher Education Program) covered a total of over 22,000 academic staff has been sent abroad courses aimed at about 15,000 academic staff have come to our country (in March 2019, Turkey's National Agency).

Mevlana Exchange Program is a mobility program that enables exchange of students and teachers in both local and international higher education programs. A modification on Mevlana Exchange Program was published on 23 August 2011 issue of the official newspaper and Council of Higher Education carries out certain provisions for this program. The objective of the regulation concerned is to frame and run the rules and principles of student and academic staff exchange among higher education institutions in both homeland and abroad. Different from all other exchange programs, this mobility program is categorized under the exchange programs without and geographical definition and thus applies to all exchange programs internationally, as stated by the CoHE. February 2022, Erasmus+ Program Guideline, Turkish National Agency)

Staff Mobility for Staff Training

Staff mobility for staff training is a field of activity which allows personnel to have an assignment of teaching at a higher education institution having ECHE in Turkey to learn in one of the programme countries. Within the context of this activity, it is also possible that the person could have some training (training at work, observation processes etc.) in order to improve their skills they have with regard to the related issues. Conference participations are not supported within the context of the activity.

In our country, the staff training mobility within the framework of the Erasmus program started in 2007. Between 2007 and 2013, a total of 6500 academic staff were sent abroad for education within the scope of Erasmus (Higher Education Program) from the European Union Education and Youth Programs, and more than 3 thousand academic staff came to our country. Within the framework of the Erasmus + period, nearly 7 thousand personnel have gone to Program countries in Europe, and approximately 800 personnel have gone to partner countries in the rest of the world for training. In the same context, more than 3 thousand personnel came from Europe, and nearly a thousand personnel came from partner countries. (May 2, 2020, the Erasmus + Dashboard data, Turkey's National Unit., February 2022, Erasmus+ Program Guideline, Turkish National Agency)

In our country, staff training mobility within the framework of the Erasmus program started in 2007. Between 2007 and 2013, approximately 6500 academic staff were sent abroad to receive education within the scope of Erasmus (Higher Education Program), one of the European Union Education and Youth Programs, and more than 3 thousand academic staff came to our country. Within the framework of the Erasmus+ period, approximately 7 thousand personnel have gone to the Program countries in Europe, and approximately 900 personnel have gone to partner countries in the rest of the world for training purposes. In the same context, nearly 3500 personnel came to our country from Europe and about a thousand personnel from partner countries. (July 2021, Turkish National Agency).

Poland ranked first among the countries where Turkey had the highest number of higher education personnel mobility during the Erasmus+ period. Germany, Italy and Spain followed Poland in the number of outgoing personnel.

On the other hand, instructors are appointed to the universities abroad based on the demand of the Turcology programs and foreign language teaching programs by coordination of Inter-ministerial Cooperation Commission. Currently, 58 instructors work in 28 different countries as Turkish instructors (MEBabdigm, 2018).