Özel Bilkent Schools

The Özel Bilkent Schools (Özel Bilkent Okulları) are part of the private education system in Turkey, which relies heavily on such schools for a large portion of its quality education. The word ‘private’ when applied to schools covers those institutions which are foundation schools, as well as schools owned by individual proprietors. The Özel Bilkent Schools are a not-for-profit organisation governed by a School Board which sets the policy and budget. The founder of the schools, Professor İhsan Doğramacı, an eminent medical doctor, benefactor, and former Director of the Ministry of Higher Education (YÖK), was also the founder of Bilkent University, the first foundation university in Turkey. The Chairperson of the Board is the Rector of Bilkent University, which allows the schools to be integrated into, and benefit from, this symbiotic relationship with the University. The inverse is also true as approximately 20% of the families that send their children to the school are connected to Bilkent University in some capacity or other, for example, as lecturers or administrators.

The Özel Bilkent Schools, despite the epithet ‘private’, are an integral part of the National education system, governed by a separate Ministry of Education department, the Private Schools Directorate, which regulates the functioning of such establishments. The schools are inspected regularly by Ministry of Education inspectors, with separate teams for both the Primary and High Schools, who ensure that the respect of regulations and teaching norms corresponds to the national requirements. The schools need to follow Ministry of Education regulations for hiring teachers, which require teaching certification and, in the main, university undergraduate qualifications in the area in which the teacher will be teaching.

The school invites, from time to time, external consultants and experts to examine the quality of the education delivered and benchmark the school’s standards against recognised international standards of education.

The length of the school year, assessment and examination requirements, staffing policies, financial operations, and student recruitment are all subject to regulation. A school, at its foundation, establishes an official charter, called Yönetmelik, which regulates the functioning of a particular school and which allows special curricula to be run, for example, the International Baccalaureate Organisation’s Diploma, once permission from the Ministry of Education has been obtained. Any change in the ongoing status of the school requires the charter be resubmitted and updated, subject to official approval.

The Özel Bilkent Schools do not resemble traditional international schools with a multi-ethnic population. They have mainly Turkish nationality students, with a relatively small number of children from other backgrounds. However, although they work within the Turkish national education system’s framework, they are fully committed to international minded-ness and to broadening students’ understanding and commitment to a multi-cultural perspective. The schools emphasise the need to learn other languages, hence their commitment to at least twenty five percent of the curriculum in English, as well as offering a third language. Their commitment to these principles is also clear in their offering the International Baccalaureate Organisation’s PYP and Diploma programs, and in their aspiring to mirror these principles across all their programs.

Both schools are associate members of the Council for International Schools (CIS), with the High School also a member of the European Council for International Schools (ECIS).