Impacts of Educational Tourism on Social Capital and Mental Health of International Students of Eastern Mediterranean University in Northern Cyprus, Famagusta

The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the impacts of educational tourism on social capital and mental health of international students of Eastern Mediterranean University in Northern Cyprus, Famagusta. In order to achieve the necessary information, the qualitative approach was conducted as a research methodology. The process of data collection was done through in-depth interviews among international students who have come to North Cyprus to continue their studies. According to data collection, some types of changes have been found in this research such as: Social isolation, financial insecurity, crash of expectations, family relationship social interaction problems. The study indicates that educational tourism has impacts on international students’ social capital and mental health, since the students decide to move and leave their country to study and live in another country, their life will change. The most important change is in their mental health and that happens because of many reasons such as lack of confidence, language difficulties and barriers, family expectations and lock down issues (due to the pandemic). All these changes bring other impacts in their lives such as loneliness, lack of emotions, insomnia, using too much social media, lack of communication, and fear of future, increasing stress and anxiety and paranoia. Keywords: Educational Tourism, International Students, Mental health, Social capital, North Cyprus.