Are Turkish and Northern Cyprus Degrees Recognised in Iraq, Kuwait, Syria and Egypt? (2026)

Taktik partner universities in Iraq's self-funded guide

5 of 14

Turkish universities in Iraq's 2024 self-funded guide

46

Northern Cyprus university in the same guide (EMU)

1

Turkish universities on Kuwait's NBAQ list

8

Checked on 2026-11-03. This guide is based only on official pages of the higher-education ministries of Iraq, Kuwait and Syria and Egypt's Supreme Council of Universities. These lists change every year; check the official page again before you enrol.

Who decides whether a Turkish or Northern Cyprus degree is recognised?

Recognition is decided by the higher-education ministry of the student's own country, not by Taktik and not by the university. A university can show its own licences, but whether its degree is accepted in Iraq, Kuwait, Syria or Egypt is decided by that country's official body. For this reason, recognition is not guaranteed, and a university that is listed this year may not be listed next year.

If you are Iranian, see the separate guide Turkish universities and Iran's Ministry of Science.

Are Turkish universities recognised in Iraq?

The Department of Scholarships and Cultural Relations (دائرة البعثات والعلاقات الثقافية) of Iraq's Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research publishes a page titled «دليل الجامعات العالمية المعترف بها للدراسة خارج العراق 2024» (guides page). According to this page:

• It was last updated on 2025/06/03, and the 2024 guide applies from the 2024/2025 academic year.
• There are two main guides: the «النفقة الخاصة» guide (self-funded, non-employees only) and the «الابتعاث» guide (government scholarships).
• The self-funded guide lists 46 universities under “Turkey / تركيا”. For most of them the «ملاحظة» (note) column states the basis for listing (a Times, QS or Shanghai rank); for two universities it says «قرار هيئة الرأي».
• The scholarship guide lists 14 Turkish universities; none of the 14 partner universities on this page is among them, and Northern Cyprus does not appear.
• Iraqi government employees have a separate guide.

What is the status of Northern Cyprus universities in Iraq?

In the self-funded guide, only one university is listed under “Northern Cyprus / شمال قبرص”: Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU). In the version we read, Near East University and Cyprus International University were not found. Three other universities appear under “Cyprus / قبرص”; these are universities of the Republic of Cyprus: University of Cyprus, University of Nicosia and Cyprus University of Technology. We found no separate announcement about Northern Cyprus universities on the Iraqi ministry's website.

Which partner universities are on the Iraqi and Kuwaiti lists?

The table below shows what we found in the two official lists on 2026-11-03. Notes are copied exactly as written in the list.

“Not found” means it was not in the version we read; it does not mean the ministry made a negative decision about that university. The note column of the Iraqi rows above has no separate condition for medicine or dentistry; for these fields, ask the ministry itself before enrolling.

How can an Iraqi student check a university themselves?

1. Open the self-funded guide (or, if you hold a government scholarship, the scholarship guide).
2. For Turkey, choose the continent «اسيا» and the country «تركيا»; for Northern Cyprus, choose «اوروبا» and «شمال قبرص».
3. According to the page's own instructions, university names can be searched in English only; continent and country can be typed in Arabic or English.
4. Save the text of the «ملاحظة» column and the date you checked.

More detail: Study in Turkey for Iraqi students.

How do you check in Kuwait?

On the e-services page of Kuwait's Ministry of Higher Education, the item «الجامعات المعتمدة» leads to the search platform of the National Bureau for Academic Accreditation (NBAQ), and the ministry's FAQ also refers students to this site for recommended universities and majors. Notes written on the search page:

• According to this page, approval from the cultural office (المكتب الثقافي) is required before enrolling in any programme on these lists.
• The mark (X) means a programme is no longer on the official list.
• For the cap on student numbers per university (الحظر العددي), contact the cultural office.

When we checked, eight universities were listed under «الجمهورية التركية»: Bilkent, Boğaziçi, Hacettepe, Istanbul Technical, Istanbul University, Koç, Middle East Technical and Sabancı. Six carry the note «الدراسة في برامج البكالوريوس والماجستير فقط عدا التخصصات الطبية» (bachelor's and master's only, except medical fields), and Hacettepe and Koç carry «جميع التخصصات، على أن يقتصر الالتحاق بالتخصصات الطبية على بكالوريوس الطب البشري فقط» (all fields; medical fields limited to the bachelor of human medicine). No country named Northern Cyprus was on the list. Degree equivalency is done through the ministry's equivalency system.

What about Syria?

In an announcement dated 13 October 2026, Syria's Ministry of Higher Education asks students to check a university's accreditation and the mode of study before registering. According to this announcement:

• Recognition of a university requires regular study at that recognised university and does not cover external («انتساب»), virtual or distance study.
• Accreditation of a university does not mean automatic equivalency of its degree; degrees go through equivalency procedures under the rules in force.

The ministry publishes decisions adding institutions to its lists of recognised universities as attached files, for example decision no. 552 dated 22/10/2026. We did not find a complete, searchable list for Turkey and Northern Cyprus, so we state no result for the partner universities. To check a specific university, contact the Certificate Equivalency Administration.

What about Egypt?

According to the FAQ of the Supreme Council of Universities (SCU):

• The Equivalency Committee (لجنة المعادلات) reviews each case individually after graduation.
• The condition is that the university is recognised by the higher-education ministry of the country where it is located.
• Practical fields require full-time study.

This page has no separate list for Turkey or Northern Cyprus. Applications are filed in the electronic equivalency system, and according to the system guidelines a foreign degree is first certified by the issuing country's higher-education ministry and then by the Egyptian cultural office or the embassy.

What Taktik can and cannot do

• Advice and applications through Taktik are free.
• We can open your country's official page with you and search for the exact university and programme name.
• Taktik is not affiliated with YÖK, YTB, the ministries named here or any government, and cannot decide in place of your country's ministry; recognition is not guaranteed.
• Our suggestion: take a dated screenshot of the official page and ask your country's ministry before paying tuition.

To start, send a free consultation request.