Girne - Health Related Studies - Scholarship

Northern Cyprus. Do graduates face any problems with degrees from an unrecognized country?

 

They sure might - especially if they live in a recognized one. Well, at least this time, it's not a school run by a person named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing!

 

What? No Groupon either? C'mon - there HAS to be!

 

This question puts me in mind of several "unrecognized" countries that have appeared here on DI in the past.

(1) Sealand. Although I never heard of a University being set up in this tiny outpost that claims not to be part of UK, You can snag a "knighthood" or similar for - I think - less than $100. That's bogus, but fairly harmless. Maybe like an Abide University degree. You don't take it seriously and they don't "take" you seriously, in the financial sense. You still get to eat. But no meaningless degrees from Sealand - just meaningless titles.

(2) The Principality of Hutt River. H.R.H. The late Prince Leonard Casley (d. 2019) allowed some "Universities" to set up on his turf - that Australia had the temerity to insist was theirs. (Hutt River was - and is - smack in the middle of the State of Queensland. Nothing good EVER came from these schools. IIRC one of them was "accredited" by two genuine, traditional African monarchs. They were genuine hereditary monarchs, but the Ugandan Government reminded them that their present powers did not include accreditation of Universities. Hutt River Province was dissolved about three years ago. Its web page is still there.

(3) The Ancient Principality of Seborga According to Italian authorities, Seborga hasn't existed as a separate entity for over 800 years. That didn't stop a few enterprising people from "re-establishing" it and making it a good climate for some swashbuckling-type businesses, including totally unaccredited universities offering academically meaningless "degrees." IIRC a couple were headquartered in a wine cellar. At least you could get a decent Chianti or something of gthat quality, with your fake degree. I believe they're all gone, these days.

(4) North Cyprus. This is a little different - and not entertaining. Google tells me: "No country other than the Republic of Turkey has officially recognised Northern Cyprus as a sovereign state. The United Nations recognises it as territory of the Republic of Cyprus under Turkish occupation."

Do I want a degree from a place that's recognized only by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his regime and his Occupation Forces? I don't really think so.
Do you?

 

Oops. Timer got me again. Hutt River province was in the State of Western Australia - not Queensland, as I wrote in too much of a hurry. My apologies to Western Australians, Queenslanders and everyone else.

 

I repeat what the United Nations says, Steve: "The United Nations recognises it as territory of the Republic of Cyprus under Turkish occupation.
That's why I said what I said.

 

Yeow! Guess I have to amend my statement:

Do I want a degree from a land that's officially recognized as a country only by Turkey? No. That is not sufficent recognition for me. Plus, I am not a fan of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

How's that?

 

How about Greek Cypriots that happened to live in Northern Cyprus or, more likely, had to leave?

 

To be fair... North Cyprus is not a fake country in the same sense Seborga is a fake country; likewise, this Girne entity seems to be a fairly substantial HE institution and in no way a degree mill. So, *I* personally am inclined to accept a degree from there as legitimate. Problem is, a degree is legitimate if it serves individuals present and *future* needs, and "future" part can be tricky for a school certified by a partially-recognized* country. Especially in parts of the world where formal government recognition is more important. Besides, there's a certain yuck factor.

*A country is partially recognized if at least one UN member recognizes it, and a country is not itself a UN member. Of course, in practice it's a spectrum: a bunch of terrorists and low-level spooks russia recognized as "Luhansk People's Republic" is technically this, but it doesn't make it equal to Taiwan.

 

Agreed - all of it. My take: How is a credential evaluator going to evaluate ANTHING in a "country" that isn't except in the eyes of Turkey and its tin-pot despot named RTE. I don't think they should - and maybe they don't. The "yuck factor" Stanislav alluded to is just too pervasive for me. Maybe it is - or maybe it isn't too much for a credential evaluator. I just don't know. Even if the school is good, I see it as a crapshoot.

Turkey has been a human rights nightmare in the past - and it's not over. Europe recognizes this. Talks to let Turkey into the EU stalled back in 2017 over human rights issues. They're not going anywhere.

Google: "The EU has accused and criticized Turkey for human rights violations and deficits in rule of law. In 2017, EU officials expressed that planned Turkish policies violate the Copenhagen criteria of eligibility for an EU membership."

Then there's https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods-print

This report documents abuses by country and product. Turkey is um - "up on the carpet" - for child labor in quite a few industries - cotton, citrus fruits, cumin, furniture, peanuts, pulses-legumes, footwear and garments. Here's one of the reports with details:

Footwear

There are reports that children as young as 9 produce footwear in Turkey. Both boys and girls, including many in the Syrian refugee community, are engaged in work activities in this sector. According to international organizations, NGOs, and media sources, there is credible evidence that the use of child labor is common in footwear production, including in major production areas such as Gaziantep and Istanbul. Children work long hours, with some reports of working up to 12 hours per day, 6 days per week. Due to the long hours worked, many child workers in this sector are unable to attend school. Some child laborers in this sector use hazardous chemicals, machinery, and materials.

OML! This -- in 2022?

"North Cyprus" is a Turkish-claimed piece of land in the Republic of Cyprus -that is not part of that Republic. Not as fraudulent as Seborga? If you say so - but bogus enough anyway, as I see it. I wouldn't touch any place Turkey lays claim to - let alone a degree from such a place. And yes - it may be a time-bomb, set to detonate later, as Stanislav indicates.

But right now, at least, I'd prefer Turkey to the regime in Pyongyang. That's as far as I'll go. I just don't see a "country" where Turkey claims there is one, in Cyprus. Neither does any country except Turkey. Do you think a Foreign Credential Evaluator would go for this? Your money - your call.

 

I know where LOTS of them are: Palmers Green (often called "Little Cyprus" or "Palmers Greek") in North London, England. I lived there as a kid until 1952, when I came to Canada. No Cypriots at that time, but Palmers Green is home now, to the largest colony of Greek Cypriots in the world, outside of Cyprus.

On the whole, they've done very well. Many are business owners - some businesses, like bakeries, are dominated almost completely by people of Cypriot origin or descent. Many of them own properties - my late grandmother's house is now owned by a family of Greek Cypriot origin. Greek names abound on municipal government rosters. They put a lot into their new home. Good for them.

Last I checked, a staggering almost 80% of the kids at my old school were English-second-language. That's up from ZERO when I went there - and a large proportion are Greek mother-tongue. Times have sure changed. And the Greek Cypriots forced to leave their homeland have largely done fine, thank you!

 

Final thought: Where does this school get its money from - aside from tuition paid by students?

If it's from the Government of the Republic of Cyprus - then at least Cyprus recognizes the school as its own and maybe that makes it all OK. I don't make that kind of rule. Not sure who, if anyone, does. Any International Law majors here?

If financial assistance comes from Turkey - or there IS NO Government funding of any kind - then that's a different ballgame - a REAL "school without a country." In that case, it might as well be on a huge barge, floating in the Mediterranean.

 

It's a Private University - responsible to Turkish authorities in "North Cyprus." Not to the legitimate Government of the Republic of Cyprus. They say so.

This sentence and the Turkish names here convince me that "North Cyprus" is not the Republic of Cyprus. And not Turkey either, even if Erdoğan might occasionally think it is. (I'm not sure whether he does or doesn't - not in my wheelhouse. He rents no space in my head.) And therefore, this is a school without a country. Its home is only recognized as a country by one despot, who rules a country with enough Human Rights violations to choke a camel! Fair enough. I'm officially out - and I was never in.

"Faculty of Health and Nursing School are accredited by YODAK (Higher Education Planning, Evaluation, Accreditation and Coordination Council for Turkish Republic of North Cyprus) and YOK (Council Of Higher Education for Turkey)." For me, that says it all. Thank you, Prof. Dr. Ismet Esenyel.

It's 2:30 a.m, here. Color me asleep.