St Petersburg University administers first Turkish Exam
At the end of last month, the Turkish Proficiency Exam was held at the University, and sixteen people took it. It was a joint effort of St Petersburg University and Istanbul University.
The Language Testing Centre at St Petersburg University is the only centre in Russia that is authorized to conduct this exam, and it is allowed to do so anywhere in the country. Thanks to support from one of the University’s partners, Migrant Center "MIR" the ten students with the best academic results in Turkish last year were able to take part in the exam without paying.
Being able to conduct an international test at the University, the Turkish Proficiency Exam, is important for us because the practice of holding Oriental language exams, whose certificates are recognized by major universities and companies throughout the world, is not as widespread in Russia as we would like. At St Petersburg University, however, we are working hard to improve this situation.
Dmitry Ptyushkin, Acting Director, St Petersburg University Language Testing Centre
“Istanbul University has been conducting the Turkish Proficiency Exam since 2013. During this time, exams have been held in such countries as Germany, Greece, Turkey, Albania, Egypt, Iran, Azerbaijan, Japan, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Kazakhstan – and now Russia can be added to the list,” commented Dmitry Ptyushkin, Acting Director of the Language Testing Centre at St Petersburg University.
Since 2019 has been declared a bilateral year of culture and tourism between Russia and Turkey, and given the influence this will have on testing, Dr. Mehmet Yalçın Yılmaz, Director of the Language Center at Istanbul University, was dispatched on a visit to St Petersburg University. He noted that the University’s testing centre was very well organised, and he gave his assurance that Istanbul University sets a high value on its partnership with St Petersburg University. He went on to say that his university is very interested in developing this relationship further, not only in terms of language testing but also international exchanges, summer schools and other initiatives.
The next test date for the Turkish Proficiency Exam is planned for sometime in September of this year. More detailed information may be found at test.language@spbu.ru or +7 (812) 325 11 24.
The Turkish Proficiency Exam is conducted to determine a foreigner’s command of the Turkish language. If a person passes the exam, they are given a certificate, which they will need if they want to enroll at a Turkish university or get a job in a Turkish company.
This exam is being administered as part of a project at the Centre for Testing Oriental Language Proficiency at St Petersburg University. Similarly, the University conducts testing for Korean (TORIK), the next test date for which is April 21 of this year, and Hebrew. Testing is also planned for Japanese, Arabic and Persian.