Site Search:
 
Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today!
Teach English Abroad and Get Paid to see the World!
Job Discussion Forums Forum Index Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Does anyone have anything good to say about Bilkent?
Goto page 1, 2  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Turkey
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Faustino



Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 601

PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 7:01 pm    Post subject: Does anyone have anything good to say about Bilkent? Reply with quote

Well?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
googlebrains



Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 41

PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 7:16 pm    Post subject: Re: Does anyone have anything good to say about Bilkent? Reply with quote



Last edited by googlebrains on Sat Mar 26, 2005 11:33 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
Faustino



Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 601

PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 7:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Current Bilkenters are conspicuous by their absence. They're either working too hard or they're blissfully happy.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dmb



Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397

PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I once went to an IATEFL conference at Bilkent. It was very well organised
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Faustino



Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 601

PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 7:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I concur, DMB. However, I would like to point out that if you're a Bilkent teacher who wants to attend the Bilkent TEFL conference, you have to pay up, just like the other punters. No discount, nothing.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dmb



Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397

PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 7:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you offer to do a 'sideshow' you don't have to pay
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
asya



Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

well..I work and live at Bilkent and I have to say that I like it here. Very Happy I love my apartment. I love my students. I love my neighbors. I love my space. I like the gym. I love the fox family that lives near my garden. I love going to Real on weekdays with no traffic. I love it that Starbucks is a 5-min drive from my home. I don't love classical music. But if I want to, I can go to a concert every Friday night (2 mins from my apartment). Actually,there are many things to like here.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
31



Joined: 21 Jan 2005
Posts: 1797

PostPosted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 4:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Entrailicus wrote:
From what I've heard they have a pretty impressive international reputation. Why is this?


quote="Entrailicus"]From what I've heard they have a pretty impressive international reputation. Why is this?[/quote]

It is bought with cash. Bilkent as I have said is a billion dollar business and they buy a select few foreign academics who have an international reputation. The other 99.9% of staff get the standard 5-1200 dollar a month salary. Consider that the majority of students efectively fail the Turkish state university exam and buy their degree. Finally there is the snob value. You have to have money to go to Bilkent (except for a percentage of scholarship students who bump up the IQ level) so it must be good.

BTW Bilkent did not make the top 500 universities in the world according to a recent survey.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mongrelcat



Joined: 12 Mar 2004
Posts: 232

PostPosted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 5:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

asya wrote:
well..I work and live at Bilkent and I have to say that I like it here. Very Happy I love my apartment. I love my students. I love my neighbors. I love my space. I like the gym. I love the fox family that lives near my garden. I love going to Real on weekdays with no traffic. I love it that Starbucks is a 5-min drive from my home. I don't love classical music. But if I want to, I can go to a concert every Friday night (2 mins from my apartment). Actually,there are many things to like here.


There's a Starbucks????? That there makes it worth it. Laughing
Tell me, where is it????
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
googlebrains



Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 41

PostPosted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote



Last edited by googlebrains on Sat Mar 26, 2005 11:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
dmb



Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397

PostPosted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can anyone hook me up with a link for this top 500 universities thing? Also Bilkent does pull out the stops for its conferences in the ELT world and gets alot of the big wigs in the industry to give seminars. I wish there more of these things going on in Turkey
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
googlebrains



Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 41

PostPosted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dmb wrote:
Can anyone hook me up with a link for this top 500 universities thing? Also Bilkent does pull out the stops for its conferences in the ELT world and gets alot of the big wigs in the industry to give seminars. I wish there more of these things going on in Turkey


http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking.htm
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
31



Joined: 21 Jan 2005
Posts: 1797

PostPosted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

googlebrains wrote:

-----------------------

I think your experiences of the hazirlik program can not be used to judge the entire university.

True. Hazirlik programmes by their very nature are not representative of a university as a whole. They are very profitable for a private university and tend to weed out students. But Bilkent operate hazirlik as a ruthless business and cynically allow students who clearly cannnot cope to enroll in it and in diploma programmes in order to milk them.

By the way, there are no Turkish universities on the top 500 survey. Does this mean ODTU, Bogazici, Hacettepe, etc. are crap universitites?

Interesting point and difficult to answer briefly but I will try.

Firstly I never said Bilkent was crap. The MA TEFL programme is highly regarded in Turkey and gives a select few from not only Turkey but countries such as Azerbaycan a chance to take a paid year off and mix with the kind of people who will be the future in EFL in Turkey and other countries. It really is a unique programme.

No Turkish university nor any Arab university made the top 500. But 3 Israeli universities did. Part of the problem of Turkish universties is that they are crippled by a lack of money. They do little in the way of research and cannot afford to subscribe to journals let alone publish and attend international conferences. True some unis like Bosphorous have a fund that teachers can apply to if they want to attend conferences but it is limited. Add to that air fares, visas etc. it is difficult.

Sadly the very way a top uni is graded excludes unis in poorer countries.

I know dozens of Bilkent graduates who have gone on to do their PHDs in America,

Not surprising since Bilkent has been on the go for quite some time and has graduated a lot of scholarship students who are the best of the best in Turkey. Other fee paying graduates can of course afford to pay for a PHD anywhere in the world. I am not knocking the cream of the cream at Bilkent or anywhere else.

and then have become professors in the United States.
I am sure they have done well. But the majoriy of Bilkent students are rich kids who are buying a piece of paper while enjoying life in a rich bubble.

Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dmb



Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397

PostPosted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 9:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the link googlebrains.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
31



Joined: 21 Jan 2005
Posts: 1797

PostPosted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Entrailicus wrote:
Has anyone attended any of these universities?


Unlikely as whynotme is the only non native on this board. I am not counting Demet as she was brought up bilingual.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Turkey All times are GMT
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group

Teaching Jobs in China
Teaching Jobs in China