OVERVIEW
Mission and Vision:
The Yunus Emre Institute is dedicated to promoting Turkey, its language, culture, and arts, and strengthening ties of cooperation and friendship with other countries through educational programs and cultural and artistic events. These activities aim to enhance cultural interaction, raise Turkey’s standing globally, and expand the circle of those interested in and connected with it.
Establishment:
This institute was established based on a cooperation protocol between the University of Bahrain and the Yunus Emre Institute, between the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Government of the Republic of Turkey, dated 25 August 2016, pursuant to the letter of the Acting Director of the Legal Department dated 28 August 2016.
Academic Aspect and Curricula:
The institute offers the Turkish Language 101 course (TL101), per Decision (386/2017) dated 9 September 2017.
Currently, the Turkish language textbook used is the one taught in all Yunus Emre Institutes at universities worldwide (approximately 55 institutes).
Extracurricular Activities:
Alongside the academic curriculum, the institute organizes a variety of cultural activities aimed at introducing students to authentic Turkish arts, such as Ebru art (painting on water and printing the design on paper), and the IRCICA Generation event, which features artworks inspired by Turkish heritage and Arabic calligraphy. The institute also takes part annually in the National Day celebrations of the Kingdom, as part of its commitment to community engagement and the promotion of national identity.
Goals
- Cultural Interaction: Culture and art are the main fields of presence for Yunus Emre Institute. The Institute aims to increase cultural interaction between Turkey and other countries and to serve for the better perception of Turkey through culture and art events.
- Turkish as a Second Foreign Language: Dedicated to teaching Turkish in order to increase the familiarity and reputation of the Turkish language abroad, Yunus Emre Institute aims to enable the people of other countries to get to know Turkey directly.
- Scientific and Academic Interaction: Yunus Emre Institute carries out operations to promote and to support Turkey’s global scientific and academic works. The Institute collaborates with more than 100 universities in more than 60 countries as part of the Turkology project and offer courses on Turkish language and culture, and supports chairs and departments for the same purpose.
- Cultural Diplomacy: Having successfully implemented the cultural diplomacy approach, the Institute focuses on theoretical works to promote culture as an integral component of international relations.
Study Programs
Turkish Courses
Yunus Emre Institute makes an effort to teach Turkish on various venues and platfoms – including the Turkish language classes at Yunus Emre Turkish Culture Centers; the “Tercihim Türkçe” (I Prefer Turkish) project in which Turkish is taught as a second foreign language in primary, middle and higher education organizations; the Turcology Project through which Turkish is offered at universities abroad, and the online Portal for Teaching Turkish ), where hundreds of thousands of people learn Turkish by themselves.
Turkish Summer School
Turkish Summer School welcomes foreign guests and students from around the world in different cities in Turkey and enables them to experience Turkish language and culture in its homeland. In addition to lessons, the students also attend travel tours that get to know the cultural and natural beauties of the city/region they are visiting.
Teacher Training
In order to meet the need for experienced teachers for foreign language education, Yunus Emre Institute regularly organized programs for their training. In addition to programs that are available for those who have an academic or professional interest in the field, the Institute also hosts education events for organizations that teach Turkish as a foreign language.
Additional Information
As a cultural diplomacy institution, the Yunus Emre Institute was established in 2009, with headquarters in Ankara, and opened its first branch abroad in Sarajevo in 2009. The Institute currently operates in 50 countries including Europe, Asia, Middle East, East Asia, Africa, and the Americas with a total of 60 active Yunus Emre Turkish Culture Centres. Recently, the Institute began its activities in Beijing and Abuja and will soon establish new branches in Kigali, Toronto, and Buenos Aires. The Institute aims to continue this expansion into 2023, when it expects to have up to 100 Culture Centres operational.
Besides the Turkish education provided at the Culture Centres, Turkish education and Turkology departments are supported through the cooperation with educational institutions in other countries. The Institute provides a basis for cooperation between universities in Turkey and those abroad, particularly by using its network with universities abroad for science diplomacy.
The Yunus Emre Institute regards creating opportunities for interaction and dialogue as a primary mission. To this end, the Institute is implementing many different projects and planning new ones. With all these large scale projects and other activities, the Yunus Emre Institute aims to develop and strengthen connections with other countries. For this purpose, the Institute, through its wide international network, cooperates on a comprehensive basis with other institutions that carry out cultural activities at international level and thus contribute to Turkey’s cultural diplomacy.
