Application

The application for Overseas Exchange is always made for the next academic year. For example, if the student wants to visit a partner university for 2023-2024 academic year, s/he should apply during 2022-2021 academic year application period. The application periods are announced on announcements  section of this website.

The initial step for application is to attend the information sessions of the International Cooperations Office (ICO) during November of each year, which aim to give information about exchange programs. The dates and places of these meetings are announced on the department notice boards and on ICO's main website announcements section.

Applicants must be registered at METU as full-degree students at the time of application. They must have completed at least one semester and have a valid CGPA score. They must also be able to continue studies at the same level (undergraduate, masters, PhD) at METU the following year, i.e. the year of the exchange. 

Conditional Program (Bilimsel Hazırlık) students and students studying in the Department of Basic English are not eligible to apply.

Undergraduate students should have at least 2,5 CGPA and graduate students should have at least 3,0 CGPA over 4,0.

 

How to Apply?

ONLINE APPLICATION (link will be available when the application period starts)

Applicants must make their university preferences by consulting with their departmental exchange program coordinators. Departmental coordinators must approve student's preferences on the application form and also his/her participation in the exchange program before s/he leaves for the host university.

 

International Cooperations Office is no longer holding English Proficiency Exam for Exchange Programs (EPEEP) based on the University Senate decision given on December 29, 2021. No EPEEP exam has been held starting from 2022.

However, students interested in applying to ICO programs such as Erasmus+, Overseas Exchange or Mevlana will be able to bring any English language score taken within the last 5 years before the application period. These scores must be one of the METU recognized exams. Please check which exams are recognized by METU from the link and prepare your valid score. The online system will take your highest score if you select your available score to be counted for Erasmus+/Overseas Exchange application assessment and ask the system to do so. If not, you will be able to upload your language score which is recognized by METU on the application system which will be checked for the validity and eligibility by ICO and converted to METU IYS exam based on the table below. The table below will be used for conversion of METU's recognised exams into a grading scale ranging from 1 to 100, the highest score. Then the online system will calculate its 50% for the selection purposes (see Selection Criteria section) as explained below:

Equivalance Table for METU IYS to other English exams

 

According to the decision taken by the University Exchange Programs Committee on 10 October 2022, in addition to the exams that are recognized by METU, ICO will accept English language exams that are organized by OSYM (YDS/e-YDS/YÖKDİL). Students interested in applying to ICO programs such as Erasmus+, Overseas Exchange or Mevlana will be able to submit any of these English language scores taken within the last 5 years before the application period deadlines.

Please check which exams are organized by OSYM from the link and prepare your valid score.

METU Selection Criteria

50% of CGPA and 50% of the EPEEP score are taken into account in electing prospective exchange students.

Remark: Before calculating the 50% of the CGPA, a coefficient is applied on the CGPA according to the applicants' department and semester information as explained below:

Student CGPA: 3.15 

CGPA of the related department's students in the same semester with the applicant: 2.89

Ratio: 3.15/2.89 = 1.09

Coefficient: 25*+1.09=26.09

Overall Exchange application score: 3.15x26.09 = 82.18

*the convergent factor to calculate 50% of the CGPA = 25  

• 15 points will be added to the overall score of the students who are  the childrens of martyries and veterans.
• 10 points will be added to the overall score of students with disabilities.
• 10 points will be added to the overall score of the students who have been under protection by 2828 Social Services Law.
• To get these additional points, applicants have to submit their  official proofs during application period to International Cooperations Office. 
• 10 points will be decreased from the overall score of the students for each participation of the Overseas Exchange in the same study cycle.
• 10 points will be decreased from overall score of the students if they withdraw from the program after the given deadline for withdrawal. 

 

Language Proficiency and Academic Standing

METU does not ask an internationally recognized language document at the time of application. However, in most of the cases students need to submit a relevant language proficiency document during their application to the host university (TOEFL/IELTS for English-medium universities, etc.). Therefore, students are recommended to investigate the language requirements of the host universities even before their application to METU and take the required exam(s) when necessary.

Host universities may also require an academic transcript to evaluate candidates' academic standing in the semester(s) before s/he actually starts the exchange program. Therefore, students must be in good academic standing and are advised to avoid getting failing grades until their participation in the exchange program.

Students with FF/FD/W grades should consult their departments' procedures and undergraduate regulations.

It is highly recommended that applicants check partner universities' restrictions. A list of restrictions about language proficiecny, CGPA, etc. communicated by partner universities to ICO are listed in the announcements. However, it should be noted that this is not a comprehensive list and different restrictions might be introduced by partner universities.

In order to implement the "full recognition" rule within the framework of Erasmus+ and other exchange programs in a healthy way, with the decision of METU Exchange Programs Commission dated 05.02.2024,  all courses taken by students within the scope of exchange programs must be included in the METU transcripts, the successful courses will be indicated with a separate statement and their METU equivalents will be written, and the unsuccessful courses will be indicated in the remarks section of the transcripts together with their names and course codes from the host institution.

Therefore, as of 05.02.2024, the updated Academic Confirmation Form Return document must be used in the course substitution processes carried out in METU Departments/Faculties and Institutes.  It is mandatory to indicate all the successful and unsuccessful courses taken at the hosting institution in this updated form.

You can access the form here: https://ico.metu.edu.tr/useful-documents