Over 20,000 Syrians study at Turkish universities

SANLIURFA, Turkey

More than 20,000 Syrian refugees are studying in Turkish universities, said a senior official on Wednesday.

“Today over 20,000 Syrian students are receiving higher education in our country. We can say that all of these students are on scholarships,” said Mehmet Nedim Aslan, Middle East coordinator at the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB).

Aslan’s remarks came during a workshop on advance Turkish teaching for Syrian and Iraqi students in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa.

He said the YTB has been providing Turkish classes to refugees since 2013 and most students who took these classes enrolled in universities.

According to the YTB data, a total of 16,000 students from 160 countries are studying on a full scholarship provided by Turkey.

Turkey, as the largest refugee-hosting country in the world, hosts more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees.

Reporting by Halil Fidan; Writing by Handan Kazanci