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Ankara

Türkiye · Middle East & Türkiye

Türkiye's capital and the home of its strongest technical universities, its defence and aerospace industry and its entire public sector.

Who this suits, and who it doesn’t

Suits you if you want a funded, English-taught technical degree close to home in a language family you already half know. Look elsewhere if you want a large private job market, which Istanbul has and Ankara doesn't, or a stable currency to plan against.

The catch, and the way in

The catch

A government town rather than a commercial one: quieter, more bureaucratic, and with a currency whose instability makes planning genuinely hard.

The way in

Türkiye Bursları covers tuition, a stipend, accommodation and a language year and is open to students from Central Asia and the Caucasus; the strongest universities also teach in English.

Living there

What living here is actually like

Planned, dry and high on a plateau, with real winters and a far more sober rhythm than Istanbul's. The big campuses are self-contained towns, so student life happens on them rather than around the city. Transport is straightforward and Istanbul is a short flight or a night bus away when you need noise.

How the money works

Living costs are low by European comparison and the state scholarship removes tuition entirely for those it takes, which is what makes this route realistic for a family with no savings. The complication is the currency: prices move quickly, so anything funded from outside the country has to be planned against inflation rather than against an exchange rate you saw last year.Described in shape rather than figures on purpose: rents and salaries move every year and we cannot keep numbers true, but what is expensive and what quietly eats income stays true for far longer.

The language you actually need

The best-known technical universities teach in English and run a preparatory year for students who need it, and the state scholarship includes a year of Turkish. Daily life, internships and most employment run in Turkish, a shorter climb from Kazakh or Uzbek than any European language on this map.

The work that clusters here

The kinds of work Ankara is a route into, each with what it actually involves, and what the catch is.

Who is named here

Not a ranking and not in order of merit. These are the places a subject is actually studied and taught at in this city, so you have something to search for.

  • Middle East Technical University

    • Engineering
    • Computer Science
    • Natural Sciences

    Degrees taught in English

  • Bilkent University

    • Engineering
    • Business & Economics
    • Humanities & Social Sciences
    • Arts & Design

    Degrees taught in English

Language of teaching moves within a cycle, so check it on the university’s own page for your own entry year.