"Turkey is not just a beach holiday". Marina Klevcova and Ulyana Lebedeva explain how, due to foreign policy circumstances, they ended up at Koç University in Istanbul for an exchange semester. And stayed for the next one.

Marina Klevtsova and Ulyana Lebedeva, second-year students in the master programme "Master in International Management" at the HSE Graduate School of Business, visited a private university Koç, founded by the head of the Turkish business empire Koç Holding. This experience was a real fairy tale for the girls - studying on an individual trajectory with careful attention of mentors, picturesque campus territory, meeting students from all over the world and travelling. Read in this review how the GSB students fell in love with  the "different" Turkey.

Hello everybody! We are Marina Klevtsova and Ulyana Lebedeva, second-year students of the master's programme "Master in International Management" at the HSE Graduate School of Business, and in this short review we want to tell you about our experience of studying on exchange at Koç University in Istanbul. 

When we were only thinking about the mobility programme and choosing universities, we did not pay much attention to Koç University and were more focused on European universities - France and Italy. But even then the photo of a large, beautiful campus in the mountains overlooking the sea caught our attention. We travelled to the southern regions of Turkey many times on holiday, and our common thought was that this country was only about an all-inclusive beach holiday. And that's not what we expected from our semester-long exchange. So, Koç was one of the last on the list of priorities. But the geopolitical turbulence made adjustments - we could not go to the chosen European universities, and we went on exchange to Koç. In any case, it was an international experience, we thought, but we flew to Istanbul without any expectations of the place or the university.

It turned out that Koç is a young private university, founded in 1993 by Turkish entrepreneur Vehbi Koç. He heads Koç Holding, a real business empire widely known around the world. Today, the group controls around 5 percent of Turkey's total GDP and is listed by Forbes as one of the world's most powerful companies. 

Due to the holding company's support, the university has a very well-developed infrastructure and great opportunities for students. Koç also ranks highly in the international employers' market. A look at LinkedIn statistics reveals that the university's graduates work for almost every major global company in completely different fields.

Studying at the university is based on the American system, where a student forms his or her own study track without being bound to a programme or a student group: there is a set of subjects from which you choose the most interesting. Absolutely all courses are taught in English. 

Let's talk more about the infrastructure of the campus - I know how much this question worries many students before the trip. Koç is quite far from the city centre (about an hour and a half drive by public transport) in a very picturesque place near the coast. The campus is very large and it even has its own indoor ice rink, theatre and huge stadium. There are also plenty of coffee shops, a food court, and a democratic canteen that also offers a vegetarian menu. You can always find something to suit your taste and budget. It's hard to go hungry in Turkey, and Koç is no exception. The student centre has a post office and a branch of Yapi Kredi Bank, which belongs to Koç Holding. We opened an account there in lira to make it easier to pay for expenses.

Students have the option of living in one of two campuses: the "Main" and the "West" campus. The "Main" campus is located next to the university itself, the "West" campus is a five-minute drive away. There are regular free shuttles in between for easy access to classes. We chose this particular accommodation option as it was the most cost-effective. 

"The "West" campus is located near the coastal area of the Bosphorus, Saryera. There you can buy all the basic necessities of life, take a walk, change money or have lunch. The locals don't speak English very well, but we’ve never had a problem with understanding. Around the student hostel there are a large number of restaurants, two bars, various coffee shops, a pharmacy and several grocery shops to suit all budgets. All of them can be reached on foot in 3-5 minutes. The hostel itself has a large sports pool, gym, small shops and a couple of cafés. The rooms are clean and reasonably comfortable. We lived in a three-bed room, as only three-bed rooms were available for exchange students. But even in that format it was comfortable. The only disadvantage was a small fridge.

At the orientation week we were given details of how to use the student platform KUSIS to plan and then sign up for courses, so everything went smoothly. We were taught by professors who have PhDs from top universities around the world and who have a wealth of practical experience in an international environment. When choosing courses, be guided by the number of credits (3 credits at Koche = 6 credits at HSE) - this reflects their complexity and volume. We highly recommend Cross-cultural management and Basic Turkish to broaden your horizons. 

During the first week, we had some getting-to-know-you and team-building activities and mentors were assigned for every exchange student. These were local students who accompanied us through the whole learning process, helped with any questions and just had a great time together. Networking at Koç is very cool, the students are motivated and easy to get in touch with. Thanks to the exchange, we were able to meet people from different parts of the world. Contrary to expectations, there were a lot of guys from Europe and the USA, but also, for example, from Mexico and Japan.

For those who love extracurricular activities, Koç also offers plenty of options: conversation clubs, team sports and various workshops. Our favourites are the Turkish National Ebru oil painting workshop and the dance and music clubs, which produce shows at a professional level. We were a bit worried about the language, as we were often the only non-Turkish speakers in the clubs. But the guys understood us perfectly and tried to speak mostly in English. Also for those who would like to get to know Turkish culture from the inside, there is a project where you can spend time with a Turkish family, such as going out for a visit or a picnic.

Mentors from Koç sometimes offered various trips to other regions of Turkey. So we went to Cappadocia for the winter. It was, of course, a little cold, but very exciting. A few tourists only because of the time of the year was also nice. The great thing about tours from the university is that there is no need to worry about planning the route, finding the best places, renting accommodation and other organisational matters. And also the price is attractive, as students get good discounts for group trips. 

For those who want to travel independently there are also good options in Turkey, as renting a standard car here is very cheap. A Russian licence works, but it's better to have an international insert, which is easily obtained through the GosUslugi portal.

Our somewhat spontaneous exchange to Koç, for which we had not had high expectations, was one of the highlights and memorable moments of our lives. The trip was a great opportunity to get to know a "different" Turkey, pick up foreign languages, make friends from all over the world and gain precious international experience and awesome emotions. We don't regret at all that our exchange  turned out this way, so we decided to stay here for one more semester.

We would like to express special gratitude to Shakhnoza Ergeshbaevna Tashmetova from the International Office of the HSE Graduate School of Business for her help with mobility extension and preparation of all necessary documents!