Turkish students are rethinking on their educational priorities as the current trend reflects a rising preference of choosing feasible and affordable German universities over the existing options of the United States of America.

The IEFT International Education and Career Fair, which included about 200 educational institutions from 30 countries, recently took place in Istanbul. The fair attracted over 15,000 visitors and marked a substantial shift in student choices, with Europe, notably Germany, gaining traction over the United States.

Selime Tokoğlu, the director of IEFT Fairs, highlighted the trend, identifying, “While there has always been demand for the U.K., Canada and the U.S., European countries have been increasingly favored in recent years. This is due to more affordable tuition fees in Europe and the higher rankings of European universities globally. Germany, in particular, has witnessed a surge in interest, attributed to its strategic location and the presence of tuition-free public universities.”

According to Tokoğlu, engineering, business, computer science, and medicine are the most popular educational fields in Germany and other European countries. Asian countries including China, Japan, and Korea also attended the show, reflecting a growing interest in excellent education and scholarship opportunities in these regions.

The Council of Higher Education (YÖK) now requires Turkish students seeking admission to overseas universities to take the Higher Education Institutions Examination (YKS) to gain educational equivalency abroad after graduation, effective this year.