Syrian University Students’ Perceptions of the Future: The Case of Konya

Author/s: Elif Nur Yeniçeri

Year: 2020 Vol: 2 Number: 2

Abstract

In today’s world where education has gained an international form with great speed, Turkey hosts students from different geographies and has become the center for attracting international students. In addition to the thousands of international students who come each year to Turkey of their own means, approximately 4,000 students also come to Turkey under the scope of Türkiye Scholarships for the purpose of receiving undergraduate and postgraduate education. As of 2017, of the approximately 7.2 million university students in Turkey, the total number of foreign students was 108,076. Students from Syrian come in first place at 15,042 students. When taking into account that, of the 3,400,195 Syrians residing in Turkey, 1,608,806 are under 18 years of age, Syrian university students will be seen subject to much research in the period ahead, as well as studies on Syrian university students having an important place in the literature. When viewed from this angle, Konya is located within the top ten provinces with the largest Syrian population, aside from coming at the top of the provinces that foreign students also heavily prefer. In the three universities located in Konya, two being public universities and one being a foundation university, 278 Syrian university students are found continuing their education. With respect to this, 29 Syrian university students are enrolled in the Konya Chamber of Commerce Karatay University, which is the foundation university, 145 are at Selçuk University and 104 are at Necmettin Erbakan University. In this context, our research is on revealing the future expectations Syrian university students studying at universities in Konya have on education, profession, and employment. The qualitative research method has been preferred in the research. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted in the data collection stage with a total of nine people (4 from Selçuk University, 2 from Necmettin Erbakan University, and 3 from Konya Chamber of Commerce Karatay University) in their 3rd or 4th year of study in various departments. Sampling has been achieved using the stratified sampling technique, a probability sampling method. The data obtained as a result of the research has been classified and interpreted from an analytical perspective by sorting them with respect to problem areas.

Keywords
international students, Syrian university students, education, future expectations