Turkey's Entrance to International Education: The Case of Turkish Maarif Foundation.

• Author: Akgun, Birol
• Position: COMMENTARY - Case study

Introduction

Since 2010, Turkey has increasingly been one of the centers of international education. Turkish scholarships, Diyanet Foundation scholarships and increasing internationalization of Turkish universities has not only moved Turkey forward as a new hub for education but has also brought new challenges. Internationalization has brought complex issues to be tackled, new problems and most importantly adaptation of thousands of new students into Turkish academia. As the Turkish education system has internationalized, an institution to manage education on behalf of Turkey abroad has come to the fore as a necessity.

While internationally Turkey was advancing in the field of education, internationalization of Turkey-centric education was lacking. Turkish Maarif (1) Foundation (TMF) was founded in June 2016 by the Turkish Grand National Assembly with the positive support of all political parties, including the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) as a national foundation. TMF was tasked to open schools, universities, dormitories and all activities related to education outside of Turkey working closely with Turkish embassies and other Turkish institutions to promote Turkish education abroad.

Turkey's entrance into the field of international education is a culmination of two developments. Firstly, Turkey's own domestic transformation since 2002 at political, social, and economic levels has widened the arena, necessity and urgency of re-constructing Ankara's soft power policies, including in the field of education. Secondly, the rise of the non-western world, not only in global politics but also in transforming international education through scholarships, student mobilization and competition so providing new hubs for education, has created new opportunities for Turkey.

Coupled with these two developments, was the attempted military coup of July 15, 2016, by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), (2) whose internationalization was mostly based on opening so-called Turkish schools all over the world. This event urged Turkey to re-claim its own domain, mostly controlled by FETO, in international education and so in this context the Turkish Maarif Foundation was established. This article aims to contextualize TMF as a new but strong soft power element of Turkish foreign policy and its meaning for Turkey's entrance to international education and beyond.

Transformation of International Education

Internationally recognized degrees or diplomas in the non-western world have always been a prestige both for students and families. Such an education not only meant that graduates stood out in the community, but also opened new horizons for their work and careers. This has created an increasing demand for international education in many parts of the world (3), creating a growth market for organizations, countries and actors involved in educational goods and services.

According to the International School Research report, in 2013,

International schools cater for the richest 5% of the non-English speaking world. A typical international school teaches wholly or partly in English, is independent and is located in a non-English speaking country. Roughly 20% of students in international schools are from expatriate families but the biggest group, and the most rapidly expanding, comes from the wealthy local population. The demand for English-medium schools (British, American, International and bilingual) is increasing dramatically in many parts of the world. (4) International education is no longer a movement from south to north, as was the case several decades ago. In the past, most of the south-south movement of students used to be between the Soviet Union and its allies during the cold war; however, this had not substantially challenged the perceptional superiority of western education in terms of attracting the best brains to Europe and the United States.

Since the mid-2000s, China has entered the field of international education as an important actor both sending students abroad and receiving them with full scholarship from all over the world. In the last decade, Brazil, India, South Africa, South Korea, and many other pivotal middle powers joined this development. In 2016, China sent abroad 801,000 students, and received 440,000 students. (5) Similarly India received 45,424 students in 20 1 6 (6) and sent 752,725 students abroad, mostly to the U.S.

Transformation of international education of course was not only at university level. Many countries from the non-western world have also supported opening high schools in different parts of the world. The easy movement of teachers and academics from west to non-western countries, either for economic or other reasons, has increased the capacity of those high schools and university to compete with existing ones in the west. Now this is going further with more non-western countries, including Turkey, also entering the field of international education.

Ankara has opened and administered schools outside of Turkey through the Ministry of Education since the 1980s, however, they were very limited embassy schools, serving the needs of Turkish citizens. Opened over a period of time, a total of 62 schools are...