Educational Expansion of Turkey in Africa

Abstract

Nodar Mosaki, Ph.D. in History, senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation.  Email: nodarmossaki@gmail.com
Address: 12 Rozhdestvenka St., Moscow, 107031, Russian Federation.

The experience of opening national schools abroad has been studied through the example of Turkish schools opened in 140 countries. The study has analyzed activities of Turkish schools in Africa and their importance for promoting a positive image of Turkey on the Dark Continent. The study has also identified the factors of success and investigated into the composition of student population and into the specific features of educational programs.

Worldwide expansion of Turkish schools has become Turkey’s most successful foreign policy project in recent years. In spite of being part of a non-governmental project, private schools are strongly supported by authorities. Financing comes from tuition fees and business sponsorship. Creating a wide network of Turkish schools abroad owes the best part of its success to commitment and missionary attitude of pro-Muslim businessmen sponsoring these schools. The private nature of schools provides for control flexibility and helps prevent bureaucratization.

Turkish schools abroad are made even more attractive due to teaching in English. Being fluent in some other languages apart from English, including non-European ones, graduates have almost unlimited choices. An intense scientific and humanitarian program allows to select the most talented students, giving them chances to get higher education in the best universities of the world. Nonschool activities of teachers, who work closely with students’ families and are engaged in charity, advance reputation ratings of Turkish schools in local communities. Turkish schools have become the key channel of national influence, promoting the “Turkish-Islamic synthesis” across the African continent.