Market intelligence for international student recruitment from ICEF
20th Mar 2012

Second ICEF Education Fund initiative focuses on Turkey

In a small departure from our normal news and market intelligence feed, the ICEF Education Fund is proud to announce another new project – providing full scholarships to three girls in rural Turkey. The ICEF Education Fund is an initiative in which we support educational projects in places where education funding is hard to come by or non-existent. By championing selected causes, ICEF hopes to give children and young people around the world access to education. Education_Fund_CYDD On 8 March, Women's Day 2012 brought together people around the globe to recognise the contribution that women make to all of our lives, and to raise awareness about the disadvantages that many women continue to suffer due to their gender – disadvantages that affect everyone. In Turkey, for example, 34% of girls do not attend high school, and about 13% of females are illiterate – twice as many as there are illiterate males. One of the main reasons why these girls do not receive the education they need and deserve is poverty: many underprivileged Turkish girls simply cannot afford to go to school, and are expected to stay at home and contribute to the family income. This is where the non-governmental organisation Cagdas Yasami Destekleme Dernegi (CYDD) comes in. Education_Fund_CYDD Over the last 20 years, CYDD has enlisted the support of donors to provide scholarships to over 50,000 girls. These scholarships allow girls to cover the costs of their education and to compensate their family for their absence and lack of earnings. The CYDD project aims to enable Turkish girls to complete High School, giving them a better chance to find jobs and become independent. For girls like Remziye Kaya, this project is a significant, concrete step towards equal opportunity: “First I want to be a successful dentist. Then I will help other girls to get educated. Women can be as successful as men.” For ICEF, the location of this project underlines its importance. The contribution of Turkey to the field of international education is unmistakable: Turkey takes a leading position in sending students abroad, and a significant number of Turkish institutions have opened up to the international market. But although this country already produces large numbers of highly motivated and capable students, many of which go on to study abroad successfully, projects such as CYDD remind us that Turkey still harbours millions of disadvantaged young people, particularly girls, who desire and deserve an education – a massive untapped potential and a global responsibility. Education_Fund_CYDD

Most Recent

  • US institutions bracing for a challenging enrolment outlook for 2025/26 Read More
  • How the UK’s Agent Quality Framework will shape the future of agent training Read More
  • Dutch government walks back controversial measures to constrain English-taught degrees Read More

Most Popular

  • Which countries will contribute the most to global student mobility in 2030? Read More
  • Research shows link between study abroad and poverty alleviation  Read More
  • Beyond the Big Four: How demand for study abroad is shifting to destinations in Asia and Europe Read More

Because you found this article interesting

US institutions bracing for a challenging enrolment outlook for 2025/26 The Institute of International Education’s (IIE) twice-yearly snapshot surveys are always required reading for international educators. That is...
Read more
How the UK’s Agent Quality Framework will shape the future of agent training This article was originally published in the ICEF Academy Knowledge Hub and is reproduced here with permission. International...
Read more
Dutch government walks back controversial measures to constrain English-taught degrees In a 3 July 2025 letter to the Dutch parliament, Education Minister Eppo Bruins explained that the government...
Read more
New Zealand announces strong foreign enrolment growth along with a new international education strategy Following a post-pandemic surge in 2023, Education New Zealand (ENZ) announced this week that the country’s international student...
Read more
US issues corrected student visa data showing growth for 2024 while current trends point to an enrolment decline for 2025/26 In April 2025, we reported that foreign enrolments in the US had declined by -11% between March 2024...
Read more
Survey finds US institutions expanding agency engagement and focusing on new student markets AIRC (The Association of International Enrollment Management) and BONARD have just released a second edition of the State...
Read more
Canada’s language sector buffeted by policy changes in 2024 Amid reports of mounting job losses and programme cuts across Canadian education, the country’s language education providers are...
Read more
Canada: List of non-degree college programmes linked to post-study work rights has changed The Canadian government is continuing its policy of linking eligibility for a post-study work permit (PGWP) – at...
Read more
What are you looking for?
Quick Links