Evaluation of critical determinants in international student mobilization from the perspective of communication: An inquiry on the student coming from sub-Saharan Africa in Turkey

Thanks to advance of communication technology, it has been much easier to access information in anywhere in the World. As a result of globalized world, people and states get interaction with other cultures. These interactions have intensively been increasing in the fields of sports, art, tourism, culture, and education. These fields are conceptualized as a part of soft power in public diplomacy. Regarding education, in recent years, international student mobilization has become one of the most influential fields counted as an extension of cultural diplomacy. Every year, hundreds and thousands of students have been enrolling in short- or long-term education programs in different parts of the world with different motivations and reasons. The mobilization of international students not only contributes to the cultural and scientific areas but also to the economy of the host country. In this sense, most of the states are in a serious competition to attract these students to their education programs. Turkey, increasing its regional and international sphere of influence and having a developing economy, has become one of attractive destinations for international students. In this study, Turkey preference of 19 international students who come from the Sub-Sahara African countries where Turkey has at least two institutions of public diplomacy (Yunus Emre, TİKA, YTB, Turkish Maarif Foundation, and Consulates) between the years of 2015-2020 are going to be analyzed through prisms of communication. To do that, the study conducts semi-structured interviews among the qualitative research methods. The results of interviews indicate that those students did not know enough about Turkey and higher education in Turkey before they arrived. And Turkey fell short in advertisement and inadequately being forefront, especially about the higher education opportunities. Despite that, these students expressed their satisfaction with the education they receive in Turkey.