Within the scope of Mevlana Exchange Programme, the students registered in formal education  programmes at Associate Degree, B.A, M.A and PhD levels of the higher education institutions in Turkey (on condition that the higher education institutions signed a bilateral Mevlana Exchange Protocol) may benefit from Mevlana Exchange Programme.

Additionally, all the academic staff working at a national or foreign higher education institution (excluding Turkish nationals working as academic staff at universities abroad) may benefit from Mevlana Exchange Programme on condition that the higher education institutions signed a bilateral Mevlana Exchange Protocol.

To be a Mevlana Exchange Programme student:

• The student is required to be studying at associate degree, bachelor degree, master degree or PhD degree of higher education programmes,
• The grade point average (GPA) of associate degree and undergraduate students is to be at least 2,5 on a four-point scale.
• The grade point average (GPA) of graduate students (MA, PhD) is to be at least 3.00 on a four-point scale.
• 50% language score + 50% GPA

• The students studying in their first year at the associate or bachelor degree and the students of the preparation programmes of graduate degrees are not eligible for this programme at their first semester.

To be a Mevlana Exchange Programme Academic Staff:

 

• All the academic staff working at a national or foreign higher education institution, on condition that the higher education institutions signed a bilateral Mevlana Exchange Protocol, may benefit from Mevlana Exchange Programme.
• Priority is given to special issues such as education language of the host higher-education institution, the language to be used in the lectures and his/her proficiency of the language to be used at the host institution.
• Priority is given to the academic staff who has not benefited from any kind of mobility activities before.

Considering the amount of grant transferred by the Council of Higher Education Executive Board, the institution determines the number and distribution of incoming and outgoing students within the scope of the bilateral agreements. The Higher Education Institutions cannot select any students for Mevlana Exchange Programme before signing the Mevlana Exchange Programme Protocol. In the assessment process, 50% of the applying students’ GPA (Grade Point Average) and 50% of the language test score to be used at host institution are taken into account and depending on their average sum, students are selected from the ranking list.

The result of a bilaterally agreed language test is requested from the applying students by the signatory institutions to be used in the selection process.

Assessment results are published on the web pages of signatory higher education institutions.

The rules of this item are to be followed in the assessment and selection process of incoming students, as well. However, incoming students’ assessment and selection procedures are implemented within the knowledge of the domestic higher education institution.

Students may apply to the Mevlana Exchange Programme Institutional Coordinating Office of their institutions by filling the necessary documents that can also be obtained from https://mevlana.yok.gov.tr.

Academic staff working at a signatory higher education institution may also apply to the Mevlana Exchange Programme Institutional Coordinating Offices of their institutions.

Since the courses to be taken at the host university and their equivalents at home university are clearly defined within the Learning Protocol, the student who participates in the Mevlana Exchange Programme for one or two semesters will not repeat the semester(s) at home institution on condition that s/he achieves the required credits.

Students can benefit from Mevlana Exchange Programme for at least one semester and at most two semesters. As the semester duration may differ according to the education system of universities, the total duration of mobility can not exceed one academic year.

Students may be granted by Mevlana Exchange Programme only once during their whole educational life at any stage of higher education. A student may benefit from the programme at any stage of higher education for a second time without receiving grant.

 Academic staff may benefit from Mevlana Exchange Programme only once during an academic year and the duration may be between two weeks (at least) and three months (at most).

The academic activities of academic staff cannot be less than six hours a week. Lectures given by the staff are taken into account while calculating the activities as hours. If  the lectures are not sufficient to fulfill six hours of academic activities, seminars, panels, conferences or such activities can be considered within the academic activities. Any kind of academic staff mobility plan without teaching activities should not be assessed and accepted for the programme.

One of the main criteria of selection for students is language score. However, there is not a standard language test or document defined by legislation to be accepted. The institutions may demand a national/international language test score or they can measure the language level with an exam developed by their institution. The language proficiency of applicants is one of the core elements affecting the quality and success of the programme and student. Higher education institutions are supposed to be sensitive in this issue in the selection process of applicants.

Call for application at higher education institutions	30 March-17 April 2015
Receiving applications for exchange	20 April-27 April 2015
Assessment of applications	28 April-4 May 2015
Sending the selection results to The Council of Higher Education	8 May 2015
Announcing the selection results	29 May 2015

*The dates may change for each academic year.

Students do not pay any tuition fees to the host institution during the programme, but they continue to pay the obligatory tuition fees to their home institutions. They do not pay any extra fee to the host institution within the scope of the exchange programme.

	Scholarship	Daily Wage	Transportation Cost	Health Insurance
Outgoing Student from Turkey	√
Incoming Student to Turkey	√
Outgoing Academic Staff from Turkey*		√	√
Incoming Academic Staff to Turkey		√	√

* Mevlana Outgoing Academic Staff Mobility has been stopped through a decision by CoHE (YÖK) and this decision will be valid unless it is changed by a second decision.

Higher education institutions should define the departments and fields of exchange as well as the number of students and academic staff within the protocol.

In order to start Mevlana Exchange Programme, an institution has to sign a Mevlana Exchange Protocol with a partner university recognized by the Council of Higher Education. Any kind of other agreements signed with a partner university cannot be included in Mevlana Exchange Programme. To be able to start exchange, signing Mevlana Exchange Protocol is a must.

There is not a restriction to signing a Mevlana Exchange Protocol with a public or private university abroad.

According to the 2nd item of the 28th article in Mevlana Exchange Programme Regulation which was published in The Official Journal with the number  28034 and  the date 23rd August 2011:

Within the scope of this program private/foundation universities and private/foundation vocational schools can exchange students and academic staff with foreign higher educational institutions. However, no fund transfer or payment is done by the Council of Higher Education to these institutions within this programme. Except financial provisions, private/foundation universities and vocational schools are subject to these Regulation items to execute Mevlana Exchange programme and they are obliged to inform the Council of Higher Education.

The status of the partner university abroad (public/foundation/private) does not inhibit the grant to be funded by the Council of Higher Education.

The signatory higher education institutions are recommended to make an additional protocol including the issues such as accommodation, food, health insurance, etc. and if the institutions have different grading and credit systems, these additional protocols help institutions agree on a common system. There is not a standard form of additional protocol, and its content is a text which will be determined in cooperation with the higher education institutions with which to make an agreement

There is neither a standard form of the additional protocol nor a restriction in its content. However, the items of additional protocol should not be incompatible with the Regulation and Principles of Mevlana Exchange Programme.

In the absence of the rector at the institution, the deputy of rector is the only authority to sign the protocol. For the partner institutions abroad, the protocol is to be signed by the top authorities (this position may change according to the country, institution, etc).

The signed protocol should be sent to the Council of Higher Education both as soft copy and hard copy. The original of the Protocol should be archived in the signatory higher education institution.

For 2015-2016 academic year:

• The outgoing students, who study in a country in which national income for a person is more than 10.000 $, are paid 950 TL

• The outgoing students, who study in a country in which national income for a person is between 5000 and 10.000 $, are paid 850 TL

• The outgoing students, who study in a country in which national income for a person is less than 5000 $, are paid 750 TL;

• Incoming Mevlana Exchange Programme students to Turkey are paid 750 TL.

For details and the scholarship amounts for each country, please visit mevlana.yok.gov.tr.

Mevlana Exchange students cannot take a smaller number of credits at their host institution than they are required to take at their home institutions in the same semester. During the exchange, the number of credits is taken into account rather than the number of courses taken. The signatory higher education institutions can use a common credit system agreed by both institutions after declaring it in a written agreement form or they may use European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).

In order to prevent course repetitions due to the courses students take at their home institutions, the recognition of courses to be taken  at host  institution and to prevent any kind of repetition of courses, credits, semester or year, the signatory higher education institutions should take necessary precautions. For this reason, courses from different years can be taken to complete the necessary number of credits and to prevent repetitions.

Within the Learning Protocol, the credits of courses and the courses to be counted should be clearly defined before the educational semester starts.

While counting the courses taken and passed at the host institution, the grading system of the host institution is considered and recorded. The students who plan to study at a university with a different grading system are to be informed before the exchange. The students who sign the learning agreement are automatically declared and informed about this issue.

Recognized courses are approved by the board of the academic department concerned. The courses passed in Mevlana Exchange Programme should be stated in the transcript of records at the home institution.

Research assistants (if registered in a postgraduate programme) can benefit from the programme as a student. Since research assistants are not formally paid lecturers, they cannot benefit from this programme as an academic staff.

There is no yearly quota for each higher education institution. In the second page of Mevlana Exchange Protocol, signatory institutions define the departments, duration and number of students/staff to be exchanged. A copy of these protocols is sent to the Council of Higher Education and the Executive Board of the Council assess the demands of institutions and may revise these demands in order to execute the programme and use the financial sources more effectively.

MA and PhD students at thesis stage (after fulfilling the courses) may benefit from Mevlana Exchange Programme if they have the requirements in the regulation. Whether the student should take a course or not and have thesis research should be decided by department heads and coordinators. The Council of Higher Education leaves this decision to the departments. However, the student should have measurable educational activities during his/her study. This is needed in order to check the quality of exchange (whether the student fully participated in the activities or not), the payment and for the student not to repeat any semesters.

According to the decision taken in 2013-2014 academic year, Medicine students (intern) cannot benefit from Mevlana Exchange Programme.

If the students, who come to Turkey after obtaining student visa from their countries, submit a document indicating that they are Mevlana Exchange students (signed by Mevlana Institutional Coordinators), and show the starting and ending dates of mobility with the university they will study in, a free-of-charge residence permit is given on condition that they apply within the first month of their entrance into Turkey.

• From Mevlana Exchange Programme Coordination offices of your institution,
• From https://mevlana.yok.gov.tr/ web page,
• Or you can get information and necessary documents from The Council of Higher Education and Mevlana Exchange Programme Coordinatorship.