A study on the social and academic life experiences of African students studying at Karadeniz Technical University

"Turkey Scholarships", the Republic of Turkey's higher education scholarship program for international students, aims to provide equal opportunities to successful students around the world to receive scholarship education at international standards. Every year, thousands of students benefit from this scholarship program and have the opportunity to study at different universities in Turkey. Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) is one of the higher education institutions where international students receive education. As of 2023, there are 1742 active foreign students at KTU. Among these students, there are 230 students of African descent. This study aims to sociologically examine the social and academic life experiences of students of African descent studying at KTU with Turkey Scholarships, which is run by the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) and offers education opportunities to international students from all over the world. This study, supported by KTU Scientific Research Project (BAP) Unit, is a qualitative research designed to get to know students of African descent and to reveal their social-academic lives. A total of 30 interviews were conducted with at least two students from each country of African students studying at KTU with Turkey Scholarships. These interviews provide a basic source of data for a more comprehensive understanding of students' experiences and views. This study focuses on intercultural communication, intercultural learning, acculturation and acculturation on conceptual and theoretical grounds and aims to explain the experiences of this group of students within this theoretical framework. While intercultural communication deals with the process of interaction between different cultures, it emphasizes that the most important tool in the communication process is language. Therefore, the findings of the study are of great importance in terms of describing the academic and social life experiences of African students in the future and drawing attention to the importance of these students' role as volunteer ambassadors between two cultures. The roles, functions and importance of these students, who are called "volunteer ambassadors" of Turkey, in the process of building bridges between their countries and Turkey in the future were also investigated. The focus on African students studying at Karadeniz Technical University in the field study constitutes the originality of this study. It is aimed that this study will contribute to the field of sociology and guide future studies on African students.