Turkey Scholarships (Türkiye Bursları): Who Can Apply

Türkiye Scholarships (Türkiye Bursları) is the Turkish state’s scholarship for students from other countries. It pays for a university place in Türkiye, from a two-year associate degree to a PhD, and it also covers housing, health insurance, a year of Turkish and a monthly stipend. The folder checks your age and grade average against the limits and makes a checklist for you to copy.

The application folder check your numbers, copy the checklist

Pick a level, type your age and grade average, and tick the papers you hold. The folder compares your two numbers with the limits and stamps the result. The checklist under it is ready to copy, and the stubs show the dates of the 2026 round. The stamp cannot tell who will be chosen: a selection committee decides.

The programme in a minute where it comes from, how big it is

Türkiye has given scholarships to students from abroad for many years. In 2012 the state put them under one name, Türkiye Scholarships, and the Presidency began to coordinate the work. Four more state bodies take part: the Council of Higher Education, the credit and dormitories agency (KYK), the migration agency and the foreign ministry.

Applications are judged on academic success, social activities and motivation for the chosen field.

Who can apply age, grade average and groups

Each level has an age limit and a minimum grade average. A candidate has to be within both. Being within them makes an applicant eligible, nothing more: a selection committee still chooses among the eligible applicants.

Three groups are eligible and two are not:

• Citizens of all countries.
• Graduates, and students who graduate at the end of the current academic year, before August.
• Researchers and academics, for the Research Scholarship.
• Turkish citizens and people who lost Turkish citizenship.
• People who are enrolled at that level in a Turkish university at the time of the application.

Each level covers its own fields:

Associate

Two-year technical and vocational programmes, which add professional knowledge and skills to a career.

Bachelor’s

Many departments in engineering, social sciences, health sciences and basic sciences.

Master’s and PhD

Social sciences, humanities, natural sciences and engineering. There are no graduate scholarships in health sciences.

Art

Performing arts, music and fine arts, at three universities.

A candidate chooses only among the universities and departments that the system offers for that candidate’s education so far. The programme search on the programme’s website filters programmes by field, city and level: 95 fields in 46 cities, at four levels. Before applying, check that the field is valid, and recognised as equivalent, in your own country.

What the award covers item by item

The award covers study and the first costs of living: a place at a university, the fees, a year of Turkish, a bed, health care, a flight and a monthly stipend. Amounts are in Turkish lira (TL).

Bachelor’s awardees live in a state dormitory (KYK) for their whole study. Students are placed in a dormitory as close to the university as possible. After arriving in the city, they go to the dormitory in person and register there.

Master’s and PhD awardees live in a dormitory in their first year. After that they can rent a home with a housing allowance of 6,000 TL a month in İstanbul and Ankara, or 5,000 TL in other cities. Private dormitories that belong to the dormitories agency are another choice. Someone who looks for a private place can rent a single room, or a whole flat through an agent or directly from a landlord.

A student in a state dormitory who wants to change it sends a request to the provincial office of the dormitories agency and tells the programme. For a private, university or foundation dormitory the request goes to the programme. After graduation, or after a scholarship ends, the programme can add up to 2 months of housing support. A student who gave up the dormitory place once, during the acceptance process, cannot ask for a dormitory place or housing support from the programme later.

Awardees can join the student clubs of their universities. The programme also runs the International Student Academy: seminars, specialisation programmes, culture and art programmes and online programmes. Every international student in higher education in Türkiye can take part, and the lessons are taught in Turkish. The programme also organises student congresses and art competitions. After graduation, awardees join the Türkiye Alumni Network: more than 150,000 members in 160 countries, with alumni associations that graduates started in many countries and an online alumni portal.

How long it lasts a Turkish year, then the degree

The scholarship starts when the agreement is signed. Payments start when the awardee enrols. A student who does not enrol in time loses the status. If the reason lies outside the student’s control, for example a programme that did not open at the university or a journey to Türkiye that was delayed, the programme looks at the case.

An awardee who already holds a C1 Turkish certificate starts the degree at once. A year of foreign-language preparation, or for master’s and PhD students a year of scientific preparation, can add up to one more year.

A student who cannot finish in time can ask for one more year, and for up to two more years in programmes graded pass–fail, such as Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy. The request needs proof that the student can graduate in that time: a bachelor’s student shows a letter from the university with the credits still missing, and a graduate student shows how the thesis is going, with the opinion of the thesis adviser.

The year, month by month the 2026 round

The 2026 round was announced on 29 December 2025, with posters and flyers in 22 languages. Applications run from 10 January to 20 February every year and cost nothing; the programme confirms the dates when it announces each round.

The other programmes keep their own calendars. The Success Scholarship takes applications in October–November, with results in November. The Research Scholarship has four periods a year: January–March, April–June, July–September and October–December. Its results come the month after each period closes. The dates of these programmes are announced on the programme’s website and social media.

Papers to upload what the online system asks for

Every applicant uploads the same set of papers in the online application system (tbbs.turkiyeburslari.gov.tr).

• A valid identity document: an ID card or a passport.
• A photo taken within the last year.
• National exam results, if any.
• A diploma or a temporary graduation certificate.
• A transcript.
• International exam results (GRE, GMAT, SAT and similar), if the chosen university or programme requires them.
• Language test results (TOEFL, DELF and similar), if the chosen university or programme requires them.
• PhD applications only: a research proposal and a written example of the research the applicant has done.

GRE, GMAT and SAT are international admission tests, and TOEFL and DELF are language tests. Many programmes at Turkish universities are taught in Turkish. Some universities teach in English or other languages. Those programmes ask for an internationally accepted language certificate, such as TOEFL, or an equivalent that the university accepts, and most of them ask for an international admission test as well. The application system shows the teaching language of each programme while the applicant chooses.

A bachelor’s applicant who holds an international qualification such as SAT or GCSE (a school qualification from the United Kingdom) instead of national exam scores needs the minimum result that is accepted as finishing secondary school in that exam. C1 is the fifth of six levels on the European language scale (A1 to C2). Every awardee without a C1 Turkish certificate, including those placed in English-taught or other foreign-language programmes, takes the one-year Turkish course and has to reach C1 by the end of that year.

How selection works five steps

Each application goes through five steps.

1. Preliminary check Every application is checked for the minimum grade average, the age limit of the level and the papers.
2. Expert review An expert committee looks at each eligible application: academic status, earlier qualifications, academic interests, career goals, the consistency of the choices, the letter of intent and social activities. It then sets the shortlist for the interviews.
3. Test Bachelor’s candidates take a 30-question test of mathematics, geometry and logic, 60 minutes long, on the day of the interview. It is set for health sciences, science and engineering, the fields with the most applications, and also for social sciences, where results are compared within the field. Some questions come with an explanation in Turkish and English, and some need no translation. The questions follow the curriculum of the candidate’s own country and the Turkish curriculum, so a candidate who plans to study in Türkiye should know the core of the Turkish one. Candidates for health, science and engineering programmes need enough English to follow the questions. Candidates from some countries take a longer test. A sample test and its answer key are public.
4. Interview Candidates from more than 100 countries reach this step. Committees of academics and experts hold the interview, which usually lasts 15–30 minutes: a welcome, a check of documents, the purpose of the application, academic knowledge and career goals, and a close with the candidate’s own questions. The test and the interview fall on the same day, in a morning or an afternoon session, and the invitation names the time. Candidates bring the original documents and certificates of the latest education they completed.
5. Final selection A selection committee evaluates the interview results and names the applicants who receive scholarships. At this step it also checks the general eligibility of each applicant.

After an award money, health, residence, Turkish and flights

The stipend is paid every month, after the month has ended: January’s payment arrives on 1 February, and so on. A month is paid when nothing blocks the scholarship for at least 20 days of it, except the first month and the month of graduation. If a student is paid too much, the programme takes it back at 25% of the scholarship each month, or faster when graduation is near. Awardees tell the programme about any change in their student status within 15 days: a suspension of enrolment, a transfer, a leave, a health report, a marriage, military service or a new address.

Health insurance

Residence permit

The Turkish year

The Turkish year takes place at the Turkish teaching centre of a university in the province of the awardee’s own university, and has 960 hours of Turkish and 140 hours of academic Turkish. A C1 certificate from the Yunus Emre Institute or from the Turkish teaching centre of a university ends the need for it. So does a certificate of graduation from a programme taught in Turkish, or a high-school diploma from a school that follows the curriculum of the Turkish Ministry of National Education. Someone who knows Turkish but holds no paper can take the exemption exam of the teaching centre, which is free; the acceptance letter names the centre. A student who then starts the degree at once tells the programme within 10 days.

Attendance matters in the Turkish year. A student who misses more than 20 hours in a month loses 25% of the scholarship for the next three months, and more than 100 lesson hours missed without an excuse or permission ends the scholarship. A student who earns the certificate starts the degree in the next academic year, or in the second semester if the first-semester course went well and the university agrees. A student who fails the year is paused, not ended: the scholarship stops until a certificate and proof of a started degree arrive, and the pause is not part of the length. Without a certificate by the end of the second year, the scholarship ends.

Flights

The programme provides a once-off ticket for the first arrival and another for the journey home after graduation, either by buying the ticket or by paying the cost in cash. A student who bought the first ticket hands in a copy of it and the receipt, to be repaid. For the return, the student shows proof of graduation, applies within 6 months after graduation and notifies the programme at least 15 days before the date.

Other tracks merit, art, research, short-term and joint

The Merit Scholarship is for students with outstanding results, and it pays twice the regular monthly stipend. An applicant needs a grade average of 90% and has to meet more conditions for the level. SAT, GRE and the IB (International Baccalaureate) are international exams. ALES is the Turkish entrance exam for graduate study. TOEFL iBT and IELTS test English.

The olympiads for the bachelor’s route are the international olympiads in mathematics, physics, science, informatics, and astronomy and astrophysics. The medal has to come from one of these.

The Art Scholarship offers bachelor’s, master’s and PhD places in performing arts, music and fine arts at Ankara Music and Fine Arts University, Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University and İstanbul Technical University. Applications come in the main window. It covers 16 departments: 13 in music and performing arts and 3 in fine arts.

Bachelor’s, music

Instrument education, voice training, music technology, music theory, musicology.

Master’s, music

Instrument education, music technologies, music theory, musicology, voice education, instrument and voice, music theory and composition.

PhD, music

Music sciences.

Bachelor’s, fine arts

Photography and video, painting, visual communication design.

The Success Scholarship has its own application period, October–November, with results in November. The Research Scholarship is for researchers and academics under 50, with four application periods a year. There are also short-term scholarships and joint scholarships with international institutions.

One joint programme is with the Islamic Development Bank; its 2026 application period was announced on 29 January 2026.

What can pause, cut or end a scholarship the rules, in plain words

• Pause Payments stop for a time.
• Cut The stipend is lower.
• Ends The scholarship ends.

Grades, associate

Ends Cut 25% Under 1.00 after the first year ends the scholarship. Under 2.00, or a repeated course or level, cuts the stipend by 25% in the next year.

Grades, bachelor’s

Cut 50% Ends Under 1.00 after the first year cuts the stipend by 50% in the next year. Under 1.00 in a later year ends the scholarship. Under 2.00 or a repeated year in a later year cuts it by 50% from the next year, and if the same thing happens again, the scholarship ends. The exception is a student in the last year of the normal study period who can graduate. When the problem is fixed and proved, the full stipend returns.

Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy

Cut 50% Ends Repeating a year for the second time cuts the stipend by 50%. A third repeat ends the scholarship.

Master’s and PhD

Ends Four semesters without the credit courses and seminars done, or without the minimum grade average of the university, end the scholarship. A PhD student has to sit the qualifying exam by the end of the fifth semester, may retake it once in the next semester, and loses the scholarship after a second failure.

Language and preparation years

Cut 25% Pause Ends More than 20 hours of absence in a month in the Turkish year cut the stipend by 25% for three months, and more than 100 lesson hours without an excuse end it. A failed Turkish or foreign-language year pauses it until a certificate arrives, and without one by the end of the second year it ends. A failed scientific preparation year ends it.

Absence

Ends More than two months of absence in a semester without a valid excuse, or skipped final and make-up exams without one, end the scholarship.

Enrolment

Pause Ends Not enrolling, or not renewing enrolment, ends the scholarship, except in language preparatory programmes. A suspension of enrolment pauses it for up to one academic year in total; longer ends it. Dismissal from the university ends it.

Study duties

Ends A compulsory internship not done in time without a valid excuse, skipped single-course and make-up exams, and courses delayed on purpose are treated as negligence and can end the scholarship.

Discipline

Pause A university suspension of one week to one month pauses the scholarship for a month. A suspension of one month to a semester pauses it for the length of the suspension. A longer one is assessed by the programme. Discipline in a dormitory is assessed by the programme too.

Work

Pause Cut Master’s and PhD students who finished their language or scientific preparation can work in a field linked to their studies, with the programme’s approval and a valid work permit. The stipend can be paused or reduced during the permit. Other support, except the health insurance premium, goes on.

Other reasons

Ends False information or papers at any stage; a threat to public order, public security or public health; Turkish citizenship, apart from approved exceptions; another scholarship from an international organisation or a public body in Türkiye; a sentence for any crime other than a negligent one. A student under administrative or judicial investigation is assessed case by case.

Leave

Pause Payments go on during school holidays and for leaves of under a month, and leaves add up to at most a month a year, with three exceptions. Sick leave or leave for other compelling reasons, such as military service, can last up to a year; the scholarship is paused if it lasts more than a month and is spent outside Türkiye. Master’s and PhD students can take up to 6 months of research leave abroad, with payments. An exchange can last up to a semester, and payments stop if it takes place at a university abroad.

Changes

A change of university, department or programme for compelling reasons can be requested until the end of the first semester, and it needs the approval of the programme and the Council of Higher Education. A lateral transfer is reported to the programme within a month.

After an ending

The programme informs the interior ministry, the Council of Higher Education, the credit and dormitories agency, the social security institution and the Turkish teaching centre.

Rules: Scholarship Procedures Guide, 2019 edition (the current edition on 22 October 2026).

Common questions short answers

Sources

A university and a selection committee decide each application; this page is not application advice.