TEV İnanç Türkeş Özel Lisesi

History

In 1990 Sezai Türkeş founded the İnanç Foundation (İnanç Vakfi) in his late wife İnanç Türkeş’s name. The foundation aimed to educate underprivileged gifted and talented Turkish students and started Özel İnanç Lisesi in 1993 with 30 students. In its full capacity, the school planned to have 210 students in 7 grades (prep year, followed by 3 years of middle school and 3 years of high school).

Starting in 1995, the school experienced financial problems and opted to stop the construction of its campus.

In 1997, due to changes in the education system of Turkey, Özel İnanç Lisesi dropped the middle school section.

In 2002, due to further financial hardship, the administration of Özel İnanç Lisesi was handed over to Türk Eğitim Vakfı (English: Turkish Education Foundation) which renamed it TEV İnanç Türkeş Özel Lisesi.

Student Selection Process

Admission to the school is based on aptitude and the school administers its own testing and admission process. Admission is done through a rigorous selection procedure involving multiple steps.

1. Application and Aptitude Test: At the end of their 8th grade year, the 2000 students who apply to the school are given an aptitude test in various cities throughout Turkey. Exams are taken in several major centers. While the school is striving to receive applications from all regions in Turkey the majority of applicants are from the Western half of Turkey.
2. Second Screening: Students who succeed on this test are given an IQ test; the 120 top-scoring students are invited to TEVİTOL for further examination.
3. Summer Camp: These 120 students attend a 5-day summer camp at TEVİTOL for observation and interviews. The camp involves a full day schedule that begins with sports in the morning and continues up to 18:00 with fifty-minute classes. The program also includes drama, music and social activities in the evening. Students stay in the school dormitories. Part of the evaluation involves seeing if applicants would be fit for a boarding school experience and how they would interact with other fellow students.
4. Admission: After the summer camp, 60 students are admitted with scholarship or financial aid awarded as necessary. Since 2006 generally 25% of students receive full scholarship while a significant number is also granted partial aid.

During the transition period from the Inanc Turkes Foundation to the Turkish Education Foundation different methods were used to replace some of these stages but since 2007 the above procedure has become the norm again.

Fees and Financial Aid

The full cost of studying at TEVITOL is 53,000 TR (2014-2015) including room and board, though most students pay a fraction of this fee. Tuition fees comprise about 15% of the expenses of the school while the rest is obtained from donations to the Turkish Education Foundation.

Before TEV İnanç Lisesi awarded full scholarship to all admitted students. However one of the requirements of entry was that a student could only enter İnanç Lisesi if their family was not able to provide finances for a private high school. Representatives from the school visited students at their homes to identify students who are really in need. This step was more of a subjective financial background check and it also provided the family of the student to meet representatives from the school to answer any questions they may have. Currently financial background information is only required of full scholarship candidates and those seeking partial aid and involves parents financial statements.

Extracurricular activities

TEV Inanc Lisesi offers activities to improve students' creativity and social life. All students are encouraged to have at least three activities in a week, but students may have more than 3 activities in a week. Activities in the school can be student-run, teacher-run or could take place outside the school in cooperation with universities and academic institutions. Popular student-run activities include

are activities with teacher rticipation.

Campus

TEV Inanc Lisesi is located 7 km southeast of Gebze. The campus consists of 103 acres (420,000 m²) of land and houses administrative offices, staff housing and sports facilities.

On a west-east axis, the school contains student housing, arts center, library, main building with student lounges and dining hall, science center and athletics facilities. To the north of the campus, there is an indoor sports complex.

To the southwest of the main campus, the "Greek Temple" (an observation site) sits atop stairs that lead down to the Sea of Marmara.

TUBITAK is adjacent to the campus to the west.

Universities Abroad

TEVITOL has been sending applications to universities abroad since 2000 with the first graduates of the class. Success rates have fluctuated but generally the majority of the students were able to continue their studies abroad. Until few exceptions recently all Inanc Lisesi students were able to study with full scholarship.

Some of the universities Inanc alumni have been admitted to: