As an YTB Scholarship student you get the opportunity to study in your chosen university in Turkey with a full ride scholarship. After receiving the scholarship, some students later want to change their language medium to English as they want to return to their own countries or migrate to another country after finishing their degrees. So they want to change their language mediums from Turkish to English. But as an YTB Scholarship student the process becomes very difficult as the universities and YTB generally want students to pursue their degree in Turkish Language. That’s why in the YTB scholarship contract there is a clause stating that the students should not want to change their subjects after accepting the scholarship.
However if the university allows it, changing the language medium is possible but very difficult. Firstly the university must allow you to change your department/language medium/faculty. After that the transfer must be made by submitting an application. The university will have to inform YTB regarding the transfer to the new course. You must keep in mind that it depends on the university on whether the transfer is possible or not. For Gazi University YTB Medical Students it is possible. But it may not be possible in other universities or subjects in Turkey.
When should I apply for the transfer?
It is best to apply for the transfer after you finish your Turkish C1 proficiency test and before your course orientation. After the Turkish language exam you should request for your C1 proficiency certificate or a equivalent document. The C1 Turkish Proficiency Test and Academic Turkish classes end usually in July before summer vacation. That means you have around 2-3 months to apply and get the result of the application before your course starts. Again Turkish Language course lengths may differ from university to university
In this blog you’ll see a step by step process on how to apply for a transfer to an English medium course from a Turkish medium course.
Required Documents:
- Photocopy of your C1 Turkish Proficiency Certificate
After you pass the C1Turkish Certificate Exam it takes time for the university to issue the official certificate (about 1 month) in this case you can receive an official document from the university TOMER Student office saying that you have successfully passed the C1 exam. This document is acceptable too.
- Application form for request of transfer,
- Photocopy of an English Proficiency Test( University English Proficiency Exam, TOEFL, IELTS etc. depending on what the university accepts)
Process of Application:
1. Research if an English medium course is available in your university
Check if your university has an English version of your course. I’m studying Medicine at Gazi University. Luckily, in my case, there was an English Medicine Department at Gazi University. So I transferred from the Medicine (Turkish) Department to the Medicine( English) Department After you confirm there is an English version of your subject in a different department/ faculty you will need to go the Rector’s Office. After explaining that you are an YTB Scholarship student who wants to change the language or the respective department with valid cause. They will explain whether if it’s possible or not and what the process to transfer is.
For Gazi University students:
Location: Gazi Üniversitesi Rektörlüğü 06560 Emniyet Mahallesi Bandırma Caddesi No:6/1 Yenimahalle – ANKARA
Phone Number: +905417409966
Email Address: internationalstudent@gazi.edu.tr
In case of Gazi University they require you to finish your Turkish Language course first and show them the C1 Turkish proficiency Certificate. As you are Turkey Burslari student learning Turkish is a condition to the scholarship so universities require you to receive the C1 Certificate before applying. After you have your C1 Certificate you need to submit an application for the transfer and an English Proficiency Certificate too. Each university has their own rules and accepts specific English Proficiency Tests.
Gazi University accepts both TOEFLS and IELTS certificates. Try to keep the test scored as high as possible for a higher chance for your application to be accepted. I had 8.0 out of 9.0 bands in my IELTS exam. For Gazi University Students: Minimum accepted scores
TOEFL IBT: 79 CAE/CPE: C PTE ACADEMIC: 58 IELTS ACADEMIC: 6.5 (Collected from their website)
The application is in Turkish and contains information like your student number ID, student name, contact information etc. The application looks something like this. Keep in mind that you need to write the application according to your university and situation. Also remember to make a signature below your Full Name.
2. Submit an application and the necessary documents
After getting the above mentioned documents ready, you have to submit these to the Rectors office and they will file an online application with your documents to YTB and then to the Senator of the University. The university will first send a document to YTB stating that the student will not miss a semester/year because of the transfer and asking the president of YTB’s opinion on the matter. The document is something like this:
The university will send this document, your English proficiency certificate, your application for the transfer and C1 Turkish certificate in one pdf to YTB. This document will be sent by the official document sending system called EBYS system. After that YTB will review the application and the presidency of YTB will approve the transfer and send an approval letter to the university rector. After getting that letter the university will send the documents to the Senator of the university and they will give permission to make the transfer.
After the Senator gives it’s decision then there will be an official document approving the transfer and your transfer will be made official.
NOTE: If you are an ISDB Joint Scholarship Student you must mention it to the teacher who is responsible to sending the documents to YTB. So the teacher can send it to the correct YTB officer by the EBYS system. Because the officers from YTB who will review the documents for the Normal Turkiye Burslari and the officer reviewing ISDB Joint Scholarship students are different. If they are sent to the same officer your scholarship will be temporarily stopped until the documents are received by the specific officer. That’s why it is necessary to mention this to the person responsible for your transfer process so while sending the documents he or she mentions that the student is of the ISDB Joint Scholarship Program.
3. Wait for the application result and inform YTB by TBBS
After that you need to wait for the results of the application. Keep in contact with the Rector’s office by their email address or phone number. My application took around 2 months to evaluate. So, start the process as soon as you can before your course orientation starts. It’s also possible to apply for a transfer during the beginning of your course but I don’t recommend it.
If the result of your application is positive you’ll officially be transferred to the English Course of your Faculty. Your TBBS portal will be updated to show the new department your studying in. After that all you need to do is go to the Students Information Desk of your University department and collect your new Student ID and get access to your university portal. After that you’ll need to upload the above documents you get from the university to YTB stating that you are studying in transferred course. You need to upload the documents (1,2,3 or any document that the university gives you) in the YTB TBBS portal in a form of a request. https://tbbs.turkiyeburslari.gov.tr/. From the create request page select academic subject option and upload the document with an appropriate title and description.
After sending the request wait for YTB to reply to your request. In some cases it takes time for them to process it and update your information. But hopefully after they review your request the process is finally complete.
Good luck in orientations!