13 October 2021 09:28

Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer expressed his happiness to meet with postgraduate and doctorate students abroad financed by the Ministry and congratulated them for their success during the online meeting.

Stating that the Ministry has taken required steps in order to solve the problems that students with grants may face after their return to Turkey, Özer stressed that Turkey achieved an important progress in higher education in recent years.

Minister Özer went on to say:

"Number of universities which was approximately 70 in 2002 reached 200 today. This figure shows the schooling rate in higher education. Schooling rate in higher education, which was 14 percent in 2002, exceeded 44 percent. Access to higher education is easier today. This is important for increasing the quality of the labor force and development of our country and it will allow us to be independent as a prosperous and democratic country. Number of doctorate program graduates must be increased in order to maintain sustainable development. It is crucial not only for responding to the academic need of higher education institutions but also for carrying out R&D activities in the industry."

Stressing that the scholarship program which has been successfully carried out by the Ministry of National Education responded to the academic need of the country, Özer said, "Our students with grants made important contributions to bureaucracy and worked as academicians at universities. This program reveals that it has an important function in responding to the needs of qualified human resources of our country."

1400 students with grants studying in 50 different schools mentioned the problems they faced abroad, made suggestions and conveyed requests during the online meeting.

Pursuant to Law No. 1416, Pursuant to Law no 1416, the Ministry of National Education has been sending students abroad with scholarships since 1929 in order to respond to the needs of expert personnel at universities and public offices and agencies. 

Currently, 4 thousand and 312 students are studying in 50 different countries such as the United Kingdom, US, Germany, Holland, Russia, Jordan and Canada with Ministry of National Education Scholarships. Till now, more than 20 thousand students studied abroad with this scholarship.