Analysis of the Factors and Reasons Determining the Choice of French Speaking International Students to Pursue their Higher Education in Türkiye.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on student mobility in the world with successive confinements and the closing of borders. However, this slowdown in trade has not stopped travel and post-pandemic demand is increasingly important. Thus, the demand of international mobility in higher education continues to increase and is becoming a major challenge not only from a political point of view but also an economical one. In recent years, Türkiye assert itself as a host country for international students and more and more French speaking students choose to study in Turkish universities. The aim of this research is to determine the factors and the reasons why French speaking international students decide to study in Turkish universities, the difficulties they face during their higher education and their satisfaction with their decision to study in Türkiye in general and at Bursa Technical University in particular. A mixed research consisting of a survey and semi-directed interviews was conducted at Bursa Technical University during the 2021-2022 academic year with French speaking international students from 13 countries where French is the official or second language. The results show that these students do not regret their decision to come and study in Türkiye and at Bursa Technical University because they appreciate the quality of education and the hospitability of the local population but language remains their main problem. Moreover, it appears that the advantages of the Turkish university system for engineering students and Türkiye being a mostly Muslim country greatly affect their decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]