This page compares the education systems of Turkey and China.
Education System Overview
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| System Type | Public-private mix; Governance model: Centralized, with national education policy, curricula and major regulations administered primarily through the Ministry of National Education. | Public/private mix; governance is centralized at the national policy level, with provincial and local education authorities responsible for implementation and administration. |
| Governing Body | Ministry of National Education (MEB) for school education and the Council of Higher Education (CoHE / YÖK) for higher education. | Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (MOE), together with provincial and local education authorities. [China MOE] |
| Government Expenditure on Education (% of GDP) | 3.1% of GDP (2022, latest value in the World Bank indicator sourced from UNESCO UIS). [World Bank] | National fiscal expenditure on education was 4.02% of GDP in 2024. [China MOE] |
Education Structure & Compulsory Schooling
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| Compulsory Age Range | Approximately age 6 to age 18, covering 12 years of compulsory schooling. | Children normally begin compulsory education at age 6; local authorities may permit enrollment at age 7 where conditions require it. The nine-year compulsory cycle normally continues to about age 15. [China MOE] |
| Total Compulsory Duration (Years) | 12 years | 9 years of compulsory education, generally six years of primary school followed by three years of junior secondary school. [China MOE] |
| Pre-primary Education (ECE) Access | Optional; the adjusted net enrollment rate for ages 3–5 was 49.63% in 2024/25. [MEB] | Optional before compulsory schooling; the national gross pre-primary enrollment rate reached 92.9% in 2025. [China MOE] |
| Primary + Secondary Education Structure (Years) | 4 + 4 + 4 (Primary + Lower Secondary + Upper Secondary). | 6 + 3 + 3: six years of primary education, three years of junior secondary education and three years of senior secondary education. |
| Vocational vs. General Upper Secondary Split (%) | — | Approximately 26.9% vocational / 73.1% general in 2025, based on 11.19 million secondary vocational students and 30.40 million regular senior-secondary students. [China MOE] |
Academic Calendar & Instruction Time
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| Academic Year Start (Typical Month) | September | September |
| Academic Year End (Typical Month) | June | July |
| Instruction Weeks per Year | 36 weeks | Compulsory education typically includes 35 teaching weeks plus two weeks available for school-arranged activities; regular senior-secondary programs generally provide about 40 teaching weeks plus a social-practice week. |
| Instruction Days per Year | 180 days in the 2025/26 school year. | — |
Grading System
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| Primary/Secondary Grading Scale | A 0–100 scale is commonly used in secondary education; primary-level assessment also incorporates competency and developmental evaluation. | No single national grading scale applies to all school assessments. Numerical scores, achievement levels and letter-based systems are used according to examination, province and school level. |
| Higher Education Grading Scale | Commonly 0–100 and/or 4.0 GPA systems depending on the institution, with ECTS used for credit recognition and transfer. | Institution-specific; universities commonly use percentage scores and GPA or letter-grade conversions, but there is no single national GPA scale. |
Language of Instruction
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Instruction Languages (K–12) | Turkish | Standard Chinese (Putonghua/Mandarin) is the principal language of instruction in most schools. |
| Other Official / Minority Instruction Languages (K–12) | Greek and Armenian may be used in relevant minority schools alongside Turkish; other living languages and dialects can be offered through approved elective courses. [MEB Eurydice] | Minority languages are used alongside or instead of Standard Chinese in some ethnic autonomous areas and bilingual education programs. English is widely taught as a foreign-language subject. |
School Provision & Access (K–12)
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| Public School Enrollment Share (K–12, % of Students) | 90.9% among students enrolled in public or private formal schools in 2024/25. [MEB] | Based on official 2024 enrollment totals, approximately 93.1% of compulsory-education students and 79.9% of regular senior-secondary students were outside the non-government school sector. [China MOE] [China MOE] |
| Public School Tuition Fee (Annual, Local Currency) | $0 tuition for public primary and secondary schooling. | $0 tuition and miscellaneous fees during the nine-year compulsory education period. [China MOE] |
| Public Schools Nationwide Availability | Yes, with public schools operating nationwide. | Yes; the state guarantees compulsory education for school-age children and adolescents nationwide. [China MOE] |
| Private School Enrollment Share (K–12, % of Students) | 9.1% among students enrolled in public or private formal schools in 2024/25. [MEB] | In 2024, non-government schools enrolled approximately 6.9% of compulsory-education students and 20.1% of regular senior-secondary students. [China MOE] |
| Private Schools (Geographic Concentration) | — | — |
International Schools (K–12)
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| Number of International Schools (Total) | 261 international schools under the official classification for 2023/24. [MEB Eurydice] | — |
| Number of IB World Schools | 127 schools in the current IB directory for Türkiye. [IB] | 322 IB World Schools currently offer at least one IB programme in China. [IB] |
| Main International Programmes Offered | IB, Cambridge International, American and other international curricula, depending on school authorization and program. | International Baccalaureate (IB), Cambridge International/A Levels and Advanced Placement (AP), depending on the school. |
Resources & Learning Environment (K–12)
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Teacher Qualification (Public Schools) | An eligible Bachelor’s-level degree for the teaching field, followed by the applicable public recruitment process. The current system includes MEB-AGS selection and preparatory training through the National Education Academy. [MEB] | A recognized teacher qualification is required. Statutory minimum academic requirements vary by level: primary teachers require secondary normal-school education or above; junior-secondary teachers require higher normal-college or other two- to three-year college education or above; senior-secondary teachers require a four-year normal-college or university education or above. [China MOE] |
| Average Class Size (Primary) | 20.6 students (2023). [OECD] | Approximately 38.7 students per class in 2025, based on 101.78 million primary students and 2.63 million classes. [China MOE] |
| Average Class Size (Lower Secondary) | 28 students in public schools / 13 students in private schools (2023). [OECD] | Approximately 46.4 students per class in 2025, based on 55.09 million junior-secondary students and 1.19 million classes. [China MOE] |
| Average Class Size (Upper Secondary) | — | Approximately 48.5 students per regular senior-secondary class in 2024, based on 29.22 million students and 602,532 classes. [China MOE] [China MOE] |
System Performance & Learning Outcomes (OECD/PISA)
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| PISA Participation Years | 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018, 2022, 2025. [OECD] | 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018, 2025. Participation represented regional Chinese cohorts rather than a national sample; Shanghai participated in 2009 and 2012, the 2015 cohort covered Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Guangdong, and the 2018 and 2025 cohorts covered Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang (B-S-J-Z). [OECD] |
| PISA 2018 Scores (Mathematics / Reading / Science) | 454 / 466 / 468. [OECD] | 591 / 555 / 590 for B-S-J-Z (China). [OECD] |
| PISA 2022 Scores (Mathematics / Reading / Science) | 453 / 456 / 476. [OECD] | — |
| PISA 2025 Scores (Mathematics / Reading / Science) | 462 / 472 / 494. Türkiye scored close to the OECD average in mathematics and above the OECD averages in reading and science. [OECD] | 612 / 527 / 597 for B-S-J-Z (China). [OECD] |
| PISA Performance Trend 2000–2025 | Türkiye’s 2025 results were higher than in 2022 in mathematics, reading and science. OECD reports that Türkiye was among the few participating systems to improve in all three domains between 2022 and 2025, extending the positive trend recorded in previous cycles. [OECD] | Direct comparison of the full B-S-J-Z cohort is available from 2018. Between 2018 and 2025, mathematics performance was higher, reading was lower, and science was about the same. Earlier Chinese PISA cycles used different regional samples and should not be treated as one national time series. [OECD] |
| Strongest Subject Area (PISA 2025) | Science (Score: 494), followed by reading at 472 and mathematics at 462. [OECD] | Mathematics — 612 points for B-S-J-Z (China). [OECD] |
Higher Education System
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Higher Education Institutions (Total) | 208 higher education institutions in 2025, comprising 129 state universities, 75 foundation universities and 4 foundation vocational schools. [CoHE] | 3,167 higher education institutions in 2025, excluding 234 research institutes authorized to train postgraduate students. [China MOE] |
| Number of Universities (Research Universities) | 23 designated research universities. [CoHE] | — |
| Number of Universities of Applied Sciences / Colleges | — | 87 vocational undergraduate institutions and 1,554 higher vocational/junior colleges in 2025. [China MOE] |
| Main Institution Types | State universities; foundation universities; foundation vocational schools; vocational schools operating within universities. | Regular undergraduate institutions, vocational undergraduate institutions, higher vocational/junior colleges and adult higher education institutions. [China MOE] |
| Tertiary Enrollment Share by Ownership | — | Among regular and vocational undergraduate/short-cycle students in 2025, 27.04% were enrolled in private institutions and approximately 72.96% in non-private institutions. [China MOE] |
| English-Taught Degree Programmes (Bachelor + Master, Total) | — | — |
| Share of Tertiary Programmes Taught in National Languages (%) | — | — |
| Share of Tertiary Programmes Taught in English (%) | — | — |
| Main Global Ranking Used | QS World University Rankings 2027. [QS] | QS World University Rankings 2027. [QS] |
| Universities in Top 100 (Selected Ranking) | 0 in the QS World University Rankings 2027. [QS] | 6 mainland Chinese universities in QS 2027: Peking University (#13), Tsinghua University (#14), Fudan University (#26), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (#36), Zhejiang University (#47) and Nanjing University (#=90). [QS] |
| Universities in Top 500 (Selected Ranking) | 6 in the QS World University Rankings 2027. [QS] | 38 mainland Chinese institutions in QS 2027. [QS] |
| Universities in Top 1000 (Selected Ranking) | 11 in the QS World University Rankings 2027. [QS] | 64 mainland Chinese institutions in QS 2027. [QS] |
| National Accreditation / QA Agency (Higher Education) | Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (YÖKAK). [YÖKAK] | Higher Education Evaluation Center, Ministry of Education (HEEC), operating as an affiliated institution of the Ministry of Education. [China MOE] |
| International Students (Total) | 352,271 international students (January 2025). [CoHE] | 271,064 international students were enrolled in Chinese higher education institutions in 2024. [China MOE] |
| International Students Share of Total Tertiary Enrollment (%) | 4.3% in 2023 under the OECD international/foreign student measure. [OECD] | — |
Education Costs (Indicative)
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| Public University Tuition Fees – Domestic / Regional (Annual, Local Currency) | Typically $0 for eligible students enrolled in a first standard public higher-education program within state-covered conditions; contribution fees can apply in specified cases. | — |
| Public University Tuition Fees – International / Non-EU (Annual, Local Currency) | — | — |
| Typical Tuition Fees for English-Taught Programmes (Annual, Local Currency) | — | — |
| Language School Costs (Monthly, Local Currency) | — | — |
Major Education Updates & Policy Changes
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–2010: Key Updates & Reforms | ||
| 2010–2020: Key Updates & Reforms | ||
| 2020–2024: Key Updates & Reforms | ||
| 2025–2026: Key Updates & Reforms |
General Overview (Narrative)
| Category | Turkey | China |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | Türkiye operates a centralized education system, with school education overseen by the Ministry of National Education and higher education coordinated by the Council of Higher Education. Compulsory schooling covers approximately ages 6–18 and follows the 4+4+4 structure of primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education. In 2024/25, private schools enrolled 9.1% of students attending public or private formal schools, while public schools accounted for the remaining 90.9%. Pre-primary education is optional, with a 49.63% adjusted net enrollment rate for ages 3–5. Türkiye participated in PISA from 2003 onward and scored 462 in mathematics, 472 in reading and 494 in science in PISA 2025. OECD reported higher results than in 2022 across all three domains. Higher education included 208 institutions in 2025 and 352,271 international students as of January 2025. Recent changes include the phased rollout of the Türkiye Yüzyılı Maarif Modeli and the start of teacher-candidate preparatory training through the National Education Academy in 2026. | China operates a centrally directed education system with provincial and local authorities managing implementation. The standard school structure consists of six years of primary education, three years of junior secondary education and three years of senior secondary education. The first nine years are compulsory and tuition-free. Pre-primary participation reached a gross enrollment rate of 92.9% in 2025, while senior-secondary students were divided between general and vocational routes. Public provision accounts for most school enrollment, although non-government schools operate at compulsory and upper-secondary levels. China's PISA results represent participating regions rather than a national sample. In PISA 2025, Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang (B-S-J-Z) scored 612 in mathematics, 527 in reading and 597 in science. The higher-education system contained 3,167 institutions in 2025, including regular undergraduate institutions, vocational universities and higher vocational colleges. Official 2024 statistics recorded 271,064 international students. Current changes include the Preschool Education Law, one year of free preschool education introduced in 2025 and the 2026 AI + Education Action Plan. |