UK ENIC meets key stakeholders in Turkey
Representatives from UK ENIC’s Research, Data and Insights team met with colleagues from a range of organisations in Turkey recently, as part of efforts to engage with key stakeholders in the country.
The visit to Ankara, Turkey’s capital and administrative centre, aimed to develop relationships with relevant bodies, gather information about Turkey’s education system and support understanding of UK qualifications in the country.
Axel Dessein (Research Operations Manager) and Samantha Broadbent (Senior International Education Analyst) attended meetings with Bilkent University, the British Council, Vocational Qualifications Authority (Mesleki Yeterlilik Kurumu – MYK) and the Council of Higher Education (Yükseköğretim Kurulu – YÖK), on behalf of UK ENIC.
Discussions with Bilkent University and the British Council explored the current landscape of transnational education and English language acquisition in Turkey, as well as international student trends in the country.
Axel said: “In our meeting with the MYK, we learned about their role in the recognition of prior learning, particularly within Turkey’s vocational and technical training sector.
“We also heard about the MYK’s responsibilities for the national qualifications framework, and how the team prepares technical documents for occupations in the country.”
Samantha added: “Our meeting with ENIC-NARIC staff at YÖK was particularly enlightening; we had extensive discussions about their recognition and evaluation processes, including those for applicants from refugee backgrounds.
“We were also able to provide information about key aspects of the UK education system and qualifications.”
Representatives from the Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (Yükseköğretim Kalite Kurulu – YÖKAK) were in attendance at the meeting. They presented details about the accreditation and quality assurance processes in place for Turkish universities, YÖKAK’s role in the recognition of national and international accreditors, and plans for the future.
Samantha continued: “The meeting enabled our organisations to share our experiences with credential evaluation and information-gathering, discuss best practice and principles, while further strengthening trusted relationships between UK ENIC and stakeholders in Turkey.”
Findings from the visit have improved UK ENIC’s understanding of Turkish qualifications and will be used to inform potential updates to the Turkey country files in the International and Vocational Comparisons databases in the coming months.