Spotlight on Türkiye: student recruitment to the UK, subject demand and the state of the economy

For centuries Türkiye has played a central role on the global stage. Situated between Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Türkiye serves as a crossroads of cultures, economies and politics. It also happens to be one of the most visited countries in the world, thanks to its boundless natural beauty, historical treasures, rich culture, and delicious cuisine.   

Despite facing significant challenges over the last decade, Türkiye remains a highly attractive student market for international recruiters. According to ICEF Monitor, currently there are around 12,000 Turkish students studying in Germany, 8,000 in the US and 4000 in the UK. Within IDP alone, the UK is the most popular study destination among Turkish prospective students.   

With a large and well-educated population of over 86 million people - of whom nearly half are under the age of 30 - Türkiye should remain a top priority for UK universities.   

Cited by the World Bank, Türkiye is the 17th largest economy in the world and a member of the OECD and the G20. Between 2006 and 2017, the country enjoyed high growth rates with economic output more than quadrupling and big investments made in new industry, education and international trade. During these years, Türkiye was elevated to upper-middle-income status and poverty was greatly reduced from above 20% in 2007 to 7.6% in 2021.  

Significant problems, however, have plagued the Turkish economy since 2017, including high inflation, low productivity growth, low labour force participation, and employment levels, and weakening foreign direct investment.  

In early 2023 the southern parts of Türkiye were struck by multiple earthquakes with magnitudes of up to 7.8. The impact was devastating with 50 000 casualties reported, 3.3 million people displaced, and 1.9 million housing units destroyed. The cost of recovery and reconstruction associated with the earthquakes are estimated to be around $81.5 billion, adding ongoing pressure on the economy.   

Despite immense obstacles, there may be reason to be hopeful. According to a country overview by the World Bank, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s economic team launched a comprehensive policy set in 2023 to address past macroeconomic imbalances, especially high inflation. Since then, Türkiye has been moving to normalizing its macroeconomic strategies. The country experienced a robust economic expansion of 4.5% in 2023. However, this growth rate is expected to decrease to 3.0% in 2024, before picking up again in subsequent years on a stronger basis.  

For international recruiters, it’s important to keep an eye on Türkiye’s economic successes and woes. These are intricately linked to where Turkish students choose to study, what their motivations are and what their priorities are when studying abroad. A tumultuous economic outlook is likely to elevate demand for post-study work opportunities, as well as scholarships, in study destinations abroad.  In the following sections, we explore this further.    

Industry has also always had a direct influence on the study decisions that students make. In Türkiye some of the leading and most lucrative industries include technology, manufacturing, renewable energy, agriculture, construction and infrastructure, health and biotechnology (including medical tourism), tourism and hospitality, e-commerce and retail, defence and aerospace, and financial technology.  

Interestingly, besides being an important international student market for recruiters in the UK and beyond, Türkiye has also become a popular educational destination for international students who choose to study at Turkish universities.  

According to The Pie, more than 300,000 international students enrolled at Turkish universities in the 2022/23 academic year. The dominant student markets for Türkiye are Syria (58,213 students), Azerbaijan (34,247), Iran (22,632), Turkmenistan (18,250) and Iraq (16,172).  

The substantial demand for studying in Türkiye by international students may be contributing to increasingly high tuition fees at private, high-ranking Turkish universities.   

Caglayan Imirzalioglu, IDP’s Office Manager in Ankara, Türkiye, says that such prohibitively high tuition fees are driving local students to look for more affordable, high-quality education options abroad. Public universities in Türkiye on the other hand are free but are no longer perceived as offering favourable graduation outcomes, says Caglayan. These combined factors, among others, are driving demand by local Turkish students to study abroad.  

Using our IQ data subscription tools - collectively tracking 100m annual visits to our global student websites - we’re able to analyse in real-time what destinations, subject areas and sub-disciplines prospective Turkish students are researching.   

Looking at the last 12 months from September 2023 to September 2024, our data shows that the highest number of researchers looking at Undergraduate courses in the UK come from Indonesia with 10.39% of overall share. The second largest group of researchers, also looking at undergraduate courses in the UK, is Türkiye (7.49%).   

For Postgraduate studies in the UK, the highest demand comes from Indonesia, followed by India and then Türkiye at 9.33% of overall demand.  

Looking at the last 12 months (beginning of October 2023) with demand from Türkiye only, London is overwhelmingly the most researched city in the UK with 34% of overall share. Thereafter its Glasgow (8.6%), Birmingham (7.91%) and Oxford (6.37%). The majority of Turkish people who live in the UK reside in London, which would almost certainly be influencing high demand for London. Turkish students find comfort in being near established Turkish communities.   

Casting the net a bit wider to look at global demand from Türkiye only, demand for London is still number one, albeit with only 15% of overall share. The second-most in-demand city for Turkish students using IDP sites is New York with 6.48% of share, followed by Boston, Toronto and Dublin.   

Looking at the last 12 months, the subject area that was most researched by Turkish students looking to study in the UK was Health and Medicine with 24.47% of overall share. This was followed by Engineering and Technology (12.29%), Applied and Pure Sciences (11.99%), and Social Studies and Communications (10.46%).   

Breaking this down further, the most researched sub-disciplines (using the same filters as above) were Psychology, Computer Science, Medicine, Dentistry, Biology and International Law. Interestingly, looking at our data, the most researched sub-discipline under the subject area Engineering and Technology was Aerospace Engineering. In relation to Türkiye’s economy, this trend is noteworthy as Türkiye has one of the fastest developing defence and aerospace industries in the world, which could be fuelling demand for study Aerospace Engineering.   

Understanding industrial drivers, as well as what subject areas are most in demand by prospective Turkish students are important signals to university marketing teams. These indicators should be used to tailor marketing campaigns for this market.  

Get in touch with us to learn more about our data subscriptions, including detailed insights into competitor benchmarking, source and destination demand trends, and subject area and subdiscipline demand trends related to prospective Turkish students.  

Our expert teams are here to help UK universities and have a strong presence in Türkiye with six dedicated and trusted student counsellors supporting prospective students to study in the UK.