August 24, 2010

Success and Recognition of Turkish schools in Australia

Çemen Polat

[Advancing in Education in an Advanced Democracy]

Gulen-inspired-schools-in-Australia
Australia’s education system is considered to have some of the highest standards in the world and enjoys international recognition.

Over the past decades, Australia has emerged as one of the top five providers of international education services, after the US, the UK, Germany and France. Hence, Australia is widely renowned as being among the world leaders in the field of education, and each year the country attracts more than 450,000 students from about 200 countries. Education is Australia’s second largest services export sector, behind tourism, and became the third largest export overall, contributing $17.2 billion in export income to the economy in 2008-09, an increase of 23.2 percent from the previous financial year. While Australia is well regarded for providing high-quality education, attracting thousands of students from around the world, being able to develop a large-scale, internationally competitive education industry and having a comparative advantage in the English language, it has also been a destination for Turkish schools inspired by the philosophy of contemporary Turkish scholar, thinker, author, poet, educational activist and opinion leader Fethullah Gülen. Gülen-inspired schools in both their country of origin, Turkey, and abroad, particularly in Central Asia, the Balkans and African countries have attracted scholars’ attention from Western countries due to their continuous academic accomplishments, instructing subjects in English and emphasis on universal ethical values. These schools have delivered vastly elevated rates of student retention, graduation and matriculation in comparison to the state level of each of the countries in which they have been established.