Successful international students who choose OMU are awarded scholarships through the Cultural Representatives Project (KEP).

International students from OMU become certified representatives of our country and our culture with the special education they will receive in the KEP program, which evaluates their success.

The KEP communication feast, where representatives of the Turkish culture, arts and science's world and our international students from OMU will come together, is starting.

OMÜ-KEP brings together knowledge and friendship, art and future, Turkish culture and world view.

The OMÜ-KEP program offers all international students the opportunity to meet the Anatolian enlightenment that makes a cup of coffee will be remembered by forty years.

A new scholarship project called Cultural Envoys Training Program designed for international students which will include both undergraduate education and master’s and PhD levels will be carried out in our university. Cultural Envoys Program is specifically targeted for international students currently studying at our university or those who will start studying at OMU. The main purpose of the project is to provide scholarship to these students who will be selected according to grade point average (GPA) scale on the basis of three main levels and make them obtain the Certificate of Cultural Envoy by the end of the two-year training program. The students trained within this program will also become competent and well-equipped representatives in their countries. Thus, this program will help us to create an incentive factor among international students in terms of being involved in the project and benefiting from the scholarship opportunities in free competition market and we will also be able to strengthen our university’s brand value in the international arena. 
 

A Brief Summary of the Project
The process to be followed in the execution of the project is presented below. Major lines of the processes are shown in Figure 1. 
 

- Firstly, quotas (60 people in total) to be determined for three different scholarship levels will be allocated. In the allocation of the quotas, among the foreign nationals who are currently OMU students with a GPA 3.00 and above and those who have scored 90 and above in OMU-YÖS Exam, the first 10 candidates selected for the project through the interview will be granted scholarship within the scope of the project and also monthly support will be provided. For the other 30 candidates to be considered in the third level, only monthly support (8) will be provided. 

- Support scholarships will be determined according to three levels. 

- At the end of the application period, among the selected students, those coming to our university as new students through OMU-YÖS Exam will be registered as a Cultural Envoys Project grantee and they will be placed directly into Turkish Courses within OMÜ-TÖMER. Then, the first stage of the training will get started.  

- One-year tuition fee and the scholarship for eight months will be awarded for those who are still studying and selected for the project through the interview. 

- The grantees selected every year among all the students including the new ones must participate in the project from the beginning. 

- New enrolled students who have participated in the project through YÖS Exam or GPA or already studying ones shall be deemed to have accepted the options of receiving or losing scholarship support fully or partially based on their GPA for the coming year. However, getting tuition scholarship will not be considered as a requirement in order to continue with the project and obtain the certificate at the end of the project. 

- Within the scope of the project, our university can limit the quotas on international student admission for the project provided that they achieve a certain GPA. 

- The scholarship interview is also crucial and a determining factor to select the grant recipients as well as GPA. 

- Qualified students who are deemed suitable for the project such as International Students Representatives or Student Assistants at the International Relations Office can be granted monthly scholarships upon the advice of the Unit. 

- Project follow-up and execution unit will be established under the International Student Coordinatorship for the purpose of the participation of students in the project, monitoring of the scholarship processes, the planning and carrying out the project courses and activities.

- In conjunction with the undergraduate education, sociocultural lessons, advanced level Turkish education, supportive education and practical applications will also be given within the scope of the project and the success of the students will be evaluated according to the students’ attendance and performance.    

- During the undergraduate education, if the participants of the Program request for it, supportive education using the applied teaching methods will be provided within the body of International Relations Department as part of the Project. 

- The students who have successfully completed the Project and received their certificates will be encouraged to continue their graduate studies through scholarships. 

- The overall training of all the students who have completed the program and how the students have utilized their certificates will be followed and communication will be continued. 

Course of Education

In addition to the sociocultural activities determined in accordance with the aims and objectives of the project, advanced level Turkish and various other courses that emphasize scientific education will be provided at every term. These activities will begin with the inclusion of the student in the project and will continue for a total of four terms. The program that will be followed within the course of the Project is given at Table 1.    

Table 1: Education plan and program content for each term.
 

Supportive Educational Activities Will Also be Provided 
 

Starting from the 3rd Term, academic educational support and advanced level academic English training in the form of additional courses will be included to the program as part of the options that will be provided to the participants.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the Project education process will start in virtual environment on 02.01.2021 Saturday at 20.00 with the opening course entitled “The Concept, Aims, and Mission of Cultural Envoys” which will be given by the Rector of OMU, Prof. Dr. Yavuz Ünal, followed by the introduction of the Project program.