Distinguished Members of Eurasian Universities Union,
As it was announced and shortly explained on EURAS.EXPRESS there is a new regulation out related to higher education in Turkey. The purpose we would like to review it more properly is that it carries out an exemplary way about the possessions and responsibilities of universities when it comes to affairs of international students and academicians.
To remind you about the new protocol we would like to mention that it was signed between Ministry of Interior and Council of Higher Education in Turkey. The agreement basically covers the authorization of universities about the residence permits of international students, academicians and of their families. It was consciously pointed out at the ceremony of agreement that the universities shall be entitled to directly manage the collection of the official documents that are needed by international students, academicians and their families for residence permits.
There is no doubt that this kind of attempts are very progressive and promising as they definitely help eases enable for internationalization at higher education. Considering that it will have a significant impact on more than 200.000 international students, academicians and their families it would be reasonably possible to claim that this sort of revision of legal regulation occurs great consequences in spite of the minor effort and costs they cause.
The prediction when the new protocol will be proceeded is possibly the 2nd semester of the 2016/17 academic year where the international offices will be eligible to access an integrated system mutually with Ministry of Interior in order to provide the international students and academicians with the official documents required for the permission of their settlements abroad. Obviously this will greatly help them avoid waste of time at the branches of Ministry of Interior, and allow them to pass over the formal, cultural and lingual barriers that they might be used to face.
Ultimately it is a must for us to declare once again that internationalization is currently a main core of higher education all across the globe. Every single step that benefits the improvement of internationalization within higher education is worth to follow up and review properly as it serves the advancement of higher education within Europe and Asia which is one of the primary goals of Eurasian Universities Union.
Your sincerely,
Eurasian Universities Union