· 1,5 million students enrolled from these countries
· Makes up 20% of the global education industry demand
· Important and strategic regions
· Ease of getting Turkish visa
· Strong cultural religious, economic and social ties between these regions and Turkey
· Convenience of transport links to Turkey from the regions
· Opportunity to meet decision makers from new top agents never shown up or unable to attend other events around the world.
The international education industry has been growing rapidly over the last couple of decades. According to UNESCO, the number of students studying abroad is expected to reach 8 million by 2025. The Greater Middle East and Central Asia will be playing a very important role in supplying a vast majority of those students (almost 20% of the global market) coming from these two regions. There are thousands of educational recruitment agents in the region assisting these students in order to find suitable programmes, countries and schools. Turkey is a very central location and a bridge for those two important regions making it an excellent hub for attracting Greater Middle East and Central Asia agents.
On the other hand, many international education providers find Turkey an attractive country because of its own enormous student flow, as well as its neighboring countries. Turkey and the countries of the Greater Middle East and Central Asia have succeeded in establishing strong cultural, religious, economic and social ties and the educational agents from GME and CA are very keen on keeping in touch with each other.
You also have the added convenience that Turkey welcomes people from many GME and CA countries without requiring a visa. Organizing a boutique regional event in Istanbul will help both educators and agents to increase the volume of their business in the region as Istanbul is located in an attractive and strategic point.