Turkey’s Target: 100,000 International Students by 2020

In order to attract tourists from all horizons, Turkey and Istanbul have been promoted as a country/city between two continents – where East meets West. Now Turkey's officials are looking forward to another campaign – how to optimize the benefits of  international students mobility, and maybe take their exports and marketing to another level.

According to the Turkish Student Selection and Placement Center (OSYM) latest statistics, there is a 59 % increase in the number of foreign full-degree students over a 5-year period – from 16,000 in 2006/07 to over 25,500 in 2011/12 (Today’s Zaman 2011). The overall growth is largely due to a 65 % increase in the number of students from Muslim countries – from 11,000 in 2000/01 to 18,000 in 2010/11(Uzum 2012). In times of rising Islamophobia, Turkey was perceived as a politically safe and economically stable country in the Muslim world. However, academics and students cited other reasons for the increase, among which positive experiences of former international students, Turkey's cultural and historical heritage, reputation for  good educational facilities and programs and increased promotion of universities at education fairs.