The opportunity to study abroad is rarely experienced by individuals who cannot afford to shoulder all expenses such as yearly enrollment, board and lodging, and other costs abroad. But not today. Scholarships and grants are now available throughout the continent. The number of scholarship grants increases every year (Nada et al., 2018) as every country is inviting students from around the globe to study at their institution (Altbach, 2004). They offer a wide variety of opportunities to study abroad with a monthly stipend, free dormitory, food, and more (Kelo, Rogers, and Rumbley, 2010). Providing suitable resources and services to students creates a positive experience (Luo and Jamieson-Drake, 2013) and attracts more international students to study in their country (Ammigan and Jones, 2018). Countries such as the USA, the UK, and Australia are leading countries (Şimşek and Bakır, 2016) that provide quality education. These countries are in the industry of recruiting students to study in their universities (Ammigan and Jones, 2018). Today, every corner of the continent is trying to do the same (Dirk, 2001), as the aforementioned countries do. In 2012, the global population of international students reached 4.5 million (Caruso and de Wit, 2015). The global population of international students will continue to rise every year (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 2015). Turkey, on the other hand, is one of the countries that have improved in terms of providing scholarship grants to students all over the continent (UNESCO, 2008; Kondakci, 2011). Turkey’s scholarship for international students started with the Great Scholarship Project in 1992 and continued through 2002 providing 17527 scholarships to associate, bachelors, and graduate students (Aypay, 2008). Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) is a government agency that recruited 120,000 students from 164 countries in 2016 reported by Ahmet Algan in his interview with Anadolu Agency.

One of the countries that participated in this application is the Philippines. As of 2017, Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) approximately caters to 150 students from the Philippines who are currently studying in Turkey. The numbers were a mix of undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students studying in different cities and taking different specializations (MEB, 2000; 2004; 2008).

International students who were studying in Turkey encountered a lot of challenges (Jones, 2017), new experiences (Bista and Foster, 2016), adaptation to a new environment and culture, (Perrucci and Hu, 1995), and various struggles faced by students to complete their course with high flying grades. Some were culture-shocked (Bista and Foster, 2016; Perrucci and Hu, 1995) when they arrived in Turkey, considering that Turkey has a different environment from their homeland (Nasir, 2012). Mixed emotions (Bista and Foster, 2016) were felt by every student who flew abroad, bringing a handful of motivation, persistence, and the goal of finishing the course and returning to his country. The experiences that these students encounter create an opportunity that helps them increase their interaction across a culture that may help them improve their global competencies, intellectual development, and leadership skills (Luo and Jamieson-Drake, 2013). On the other half, this may also create a contrary effect on the students (Bista and Foster, 2016; Perrucci and Hu, 1995) that may lead them to drop their course and return to their origin. Improving the experience of an international student to ensure global competitiveness (Baranova, Morrison, and Mutton, 2011) is a vast responsibility for every university abroad (Choudaha and Hu (n.d.)).

The core purpose of this study is to outline the experiences of various international students and define their expectations before flying to Turkey, the problems they met while studying. The result of the study shows the reason as to how students can improve their learning experiences and address concerns that await in their future endeavors.

International education aims to develop potential individuals to mold noble characters and upsurge knowledge as well as to be skillful, creative, innovative, and responsible citizens of society. Hence, the internationalization of Turkey’s Higher Education plays a vital role by shaping international students who are currently studying in the country towards a better and secure future with a good education that will open the doors of opportunities and offers. Furthermore, this study will enlighten and help those international students to be more developed and productive not only in their intellectual capability but also in their academic performances.

This research will help provide a wider increase in aspects of the learning capacity of international students that might also contribute to a bigger picture of understanding Turkish cultures, traditions, religions, and as well as educational platforms for the upcoming international students. In this connection, the international students will gain an important and advantageous understanding of the Turkish Internationalization of Education enabling them to improve more and be progressive of their learning process so that when they go home, they can conduct seminars, workshops, and training to share, proliferate and enlighten the numbers of the people who have lesser knowledge of the internationalization of the Turkish education.

The biggest motivation of the researcher why Turkey’s Internationalization of Higher Education is to measure and quantify the expectations, experiences, and evaluations of international students, to sort out their reactions, feedback, and feelings as they live in the country. Therefore, this research shall provide a very vital information that will identify the factors that affect and influence the learning process of foreign students. In this regard, we will be able to distinguish the issues that affect the academic performances of international students who are living and socializing as well as making friends with Turkish people, how they adapt to the acculturation of the language, how they adopt the foods they eat for everyday basis, and how they adapt and deal with the new ambiance of the environment they live in.

Basically, these three major concerns should be addressed in order to provide information for everybody. The researcher wanted to highlight and emphasize in this study that international students are not just overseas international learners since they have to learn the language, adapt the culture, and adjust with the environment. In this process of social, psychological, and cultural change, they have to balance cultures while adapting the prevailing culture that exists in Turkey or the place where they are. Portentous to the aforementioned discussion, it shows that this study is rare and very significant as it shares vital data to gather, identify and determine the experiences, expectations, and evaluations of the international students in the wholeness of the Turkish Republic.

As a living example of International Student in Turkey; the researcher’s fundamental reason why he chose this type of research is, it would be a lot easier for the researcher to collect and gather the necessary data needed for the identification and enumerations of the factors that affect the academic performances of the foreign students. The researcher patiently stayed four (4) years of living in Turkey wherein he experienced how far different living and residing in other countries; how does the researcher adapt the culture that exist in Turkey, how does the researcher adapted the ambiance of the new environment, how the researcher started learning the language and be proficient in it despite how hard it is and most importantly is in terms of personal psychological experience. Wherefore, the researcher would have easier access to the data needed in this study.

On the other hand, the researcher chose this study to motivate other students from different dimensions of the world to come and acquire their education in Turkey as the aforesaid country offers and provide an initial foundation for the formation of qualified nation generation. The country’s educational platforms also offer great opportunities where international students shall grow and may provide something and shall go home as spokespersons of their respective countries of origin to foster an excellent example of successful learners.