Updated 2026-10-02
The short version
Plenty of students from Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya pay for IELTS before checking whether the university they want requires it. Many do not — because your schooling was in English and they accept that as proof.
Others do require something, but will accept their own free exam instead. And a few require IELTS or TOEFL with no substitutes at all.
The requirement belongs to the university, not to the country. There is no single Turkish rule. Anyone who tells you "Türkiye doesn't need IELTS" is guessing on your behalf.
The four situations you can be in
1. Exempt because your education was in English.
Many Turkish universities accept applicants from countries where English is an official language of instruction, using your school results as the proof. For Nigerian students that usually means your WAEC or NECO English grade.
2. Exempt if you pass the university's own exam.
Most universities run their own English proficiency test, often online and usually free to applicants. Pass it and you start your degree. This is the route most of our students take.
3. A language year first.
If you do not pass, you are placed in the English preparatory year — "hazırlık" — before your degree begins. It is a real year, with its own cost and its own timetable, and it delays your graduation by a year. It is not a punishment and plenty of students do well out of it, but you should know before you go, not after.
4. IELTS or TOEFL genuinely required.
Some programmes, particularly medicine and some postgraduate degrees, will not substitute anything for a recognised test score.
Turkish-taught programmes are a separate question
If you apply to a programme taught in Turkish, English requirements are irrelevant — you will need Turkish, usually evidenced by a TÖMER certificate at the level the university sets, or a Turkish preparatory year.
This matters commercially. Turkish-taught programmes are often cheaper. A student who accepts one to save money, without a plan for the language, is buying a problem.
What to do, in order
- Shortlist your programmes first. Requirements attach to programmes, not to countries.
- Ask us, or the university's admissions office, for the English requirement for that specific programme, this intake, in writing.
- Only then decide whether to book an exam.
An IELTS booking is not a small amount of money in Lagos. Do not spend it on a rumour.
One thing worth knowing
Requirements change between intakes. A rule that held last year may not hold this year, and a forum post from 2023 is not evidence. Before you pay for anything, get the answer in writing, dated.