Dear Friends of Education,

The torch of the Turkish Education Association was lit by Atatürk, our Great Leader and the first President of the Turkish Republic, and it has been blazing since 1928. We have always felt privileged because our founding members were also the founders of the Turkish Republic, including the Prime Minister of the period. We have also felt the weight of our commitment which continues to compell us to pursue our mission with increasingly more creative and successful projects every year.

Modernization is often defined along three dimensions: a competitive economy based on technological development; a pluralistic democracy based on human rights; and a constitutional state effectively fulfilling all its functions, from justice and security to healthcare and education. In the age of globalization, a country can maintain and reinforce its presence in all these areas only by cultivating well-educated individuals. For social and economic progress, we need people equipped with technological knowledge and skills as well as democratic citizenship awareness and commitment. This can only be ensured through an innovative and progressive education system based on a sound vision.

As a civil society initiative committed to this vision, die Turkish Education Association has always distinguished itself with the scholarships it has offered, with the educational quality of die schools it has established, and with the scientific projects and activities it has undertaken. We derive our power and success from our faith in democracy and the social responsibility awareness that we have stimulated.

The Turkish Education Association aims to take its services to the international platform both through foreign student admission to its schools and through investments to open schools abroad. It also aims to expand "schoolization" across the entire country at all levels of education from pre-school to university.

Within this context, Turkish Education Association Higher Education Foundation was established as the first step of the Turkish Education Association University. The documentation for the university, which is expected to be launched in 2009-2010 academic year with its faculties of Education, Engineering 6c Economics, has been completed and presented to Board of Higher Education.

The republic rests on the principle of merit. Hence, education can not just be a way of producing professionals who are successful in their own specific areas. The Turkish Education Association aims to cultivate honorable, knowledgeable and well-rounded citizens. With the light of our ever-blazing torch, we aim to provide better education opportunities primarily for Turkish children in need of financial support, thus contributing to the cultivation of leading individuals in our society. Ever since its inception, the Turkish Education Association has been committed to this ideal and strives to take its efforts to a further and more successful stage each day.

S. Selcuk Pehlivanoglu
President. Turkish Education Association