Glossary
YÖK — meaning and English translation
YÖK (Yükseköğretim Kurulu) is the Council of Higher Education, the body that supervises Turkish universities and recognises foreign degrees through denklik.
The Yükseköğretim Kurulu was set up in 1981 and given constitutional status the following year to oversee all Turkish universities, state and foundation. For people moving between the UK and Türkiye it matters in two ways. It decides whether a UK degree is equivalent to a Turkish one, through the denklik procedure, and its systems allow a Turkish diploma to be verified online, which is what UK universities and UK ENIC rely on when they check a Turkish degree. YÖK refuses to examine a translation of a degree certificate that has not first been apostilled.
Our rendering is “Council of Higher Education (YÖK)”, the body's own English name. We keep the abbreviation because it appears on diplomas and letters and is what a reader will search for.
A UK university or regulator does not deal with YÖK directly but may ask an applicant for a YÖK-verified diploma. Recognition in the other direction is described under YÖK denklik.