Sema Alpaytac has worked in the education industry in Turkey for over 15 years. With Kare Education, she is involved both in counselling Turkish clients about outbound opportunities and helping Turkey market itself as an international education destination, which the government is now backing as an agenda.
The PIE: Can you explain your job?
SA: We are private education consultancy company, Kare Education, based in Istanbul, mainly operating in two areas: we enrol students to study in institutes of higher education around the world and also we consult countries and institutions trying to enter the Turkish market.
The PIE: Tell me a little bit about how you worked with Estonia to promote the country to Turkish students [discussed in an EAIE session].
SA: In 2009, Estonia approached us to make a presentation to the international officers of all their universities in Estonia. So I flew to Tallinn and briefed them about education in Turkey, Turkey as a country, numbers, student numbers and gave them facts and figures about the country. And they were all excited about the possibilities their institutes would have coming in to the market themselves.
With Erasmus students and with short summer courses the number of Turks in Estonia reaches several hundreds
As of 2009 we signed an agreement with Archimedes Foundation of Estonia and there is a Study in Estonia scheme whereby we were appointed as their official consultants in Turkey to help them market their HEIs in different event and activities in Turkey via different channels.
The PIE: And how many Turkish students have gone to Estonia now?
SA: Before we started, in 2008, it was only like four students and now this number has reached 3 digit figures, which is already a good thing because Estonia is a small country with 1.3 million population. And I’m only talking about the fee-paying degree students or postgraduate students. With Erasmus students and with short summer courses the number reaches several hundreds.
The PIE: And what is it about Estonia that appeals to Turkish students do you think that you’ve managed to tap into?
SA: It’s not too far to start with. With a direct flight it must be only a three and a half-hour flight. Also the people who come in the market, the institutes, are quite young and dynamic and their marketing tools are very nice and they appeal to Turkish students.
Estonian HEIs somehow creates such colourful and attractive giveaways that students are attracted to their stands and in Turkey, it’s a cultural thing: you cannot take something from someone without giving something in return.
The PIE: So have you seen changes in recent years with the political unrest and the country feeling like it’s shaping its future; has it impacted the study abroad plans of Turkish students?
SA: For Turkish students, Erasmus programmes have given them the vision that they can study abroad – it’s a good thing and it’s affordable to them. Now they know, thanks to Erasmus, that they can go study abroad. Still it’s an expensive thing, not everybody can afford it.
“If the student is not placed yet can afford to study abroad, we give them some options”
When you think we have almost two million people applying for the central exam and only one-third placed where they want to go, then we have a problem. If the student is not placed yet can afford to study abroad, we give them some options: like ‘why don’t you consider so-and-so country, why don’t you consider the other?’ and that helps them to decide. We place students in 22 different countries.
The PIE: And which are these countries most likely to be?
SA: US, UK, Canada are the most popular and Europe is picking up… The UK has always been the most popular though.
The PIE: And any problems placing students in the UK?
SA: We’ve been in business long enough and we know what it takes them to get a visa, we prepare perfect application files for a student to apply for a visa but still might have no luck.
We recently had a case when a student was accepted by St George’s Medical School in University of London – that’s a big thing for a Turkish student and a success story in a way – but last week she was refused the visa though she had perfect financial stability.
The PIE: Tell me briefly about Turkey as a study destination – you said there’s no central government policy at the moment but universities are mobilising themselves? [more>]
SA: Yes, the universities are doing a really good job. They have their own introductory videos, on Youtube for instance. You can see videos of many Turkish universities introducing themselves to students abroad, they attend many fairs. What is good is Turkish fair organisers are going to different destinations and they hold fairs in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and they are attending all the big events like ICEF, NAFSA, StudyWorld and similar.
The PIE: So these commercial organisations are helping create opportunity for Turkey as a study destination?
SA: Yes and that’s a good thing. And also now the government realised the importance of having a central policy and they are looking into it. Recently we were called for a meeting, all the educational consultancies in the country. Government officials told us ‘look, we value your efforts enrolling students outside Turkey to different destinations but we want to use your expertise for enrolling students for Turkey now”. They said if we go abroad and open representative offices, or go to fairs representing Turkey as a study destination, they would be willing to partly finance our effort.
“The government said they would be willing to partly finance our effort”
The PIE News: And how many agencies are likely to be promoting Turkey abroad?
SA: Currently a few of them are doing that already.
The PIE: They are doing that on behalf of institutions?
SA: Yes. What they do is they bring the students on a commission basis to the universities here in Turkey. But when you compare how much commission an agent would make sending a student to study in the States, paying US$30,000 a year, or a student paying UK£10-15,000 on a postgraduate course in UK, where the universities pay up to 10-12% commission… In comparison to bringing a student here to Turkey where the fees are comparably low then the agent won’t be making as much.
The PIE: What are the range of the fees in Turkey?
SA: It’s a broad range. It would vary from a few thousand dollars to US$20,000 for the private/foundation universities, or even up to US$30,000 on certain programmes.
The PIE: And which countries do you think will become important source markets for Turkey?
SA: African countries to start with because there was a four-fold increase in the number of students from Africa in recent years – 1552 students from African countries; Azerbaijan for example, 4200 students in an academic year 2011-2012, followed by Turkmenistan 4410, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus – 3800.
“There was a four-fold increase in the number of students from Africa in the recent years”
The PIE: And do you know which African countries are the most important among the 44?
SA: I wouldn’t be able to tell you which countries on the spot but we know that many come from Nigeria and Kenya.
The PIE News: And what would they be studying, in English medium?
SA: Yes. The number offering this is increasing. And Europe, both Germany and Greece are sending more then 1300 students. But in Germany you know we have a background link with their Turkish community.
The PIE News: So how do you see the market in 10 years time?
SA: Definitely inbound would get as important, it will show a remarkable increase. I’m confident that would be the case because if our government is determined to achieve a goal, they make sure it happens, and I’ve seen it in their eyes when they’ve called us for the meeting. And imagine 33 embassies or consulates, which opened in a few years only, in Africa, means a lot.
“If our government is determined to achieve a goal, they make sure it happens”
The PIE: Finally What do you think about the crowded agency association sector in Turkey? YEDAD recently launched.. Are agencies typically members of more than one?
SA: Unfortunately, the industry has witnessed unpleasant ‘conflicts of interest’ among several agents which actually is the main cause of the crowd in the association sector in Turkey.
I personally find this so very unnecessary and hope that unity will be achieved some day soon. Unless there is one code of conduct that is approved and implemented by the local authorities we are not willing to be under the roof of any of these associations.
