A high-level Turkish delegation led by President of the Board of Education (BoE) Cihad DEMİRLİ and other government officials and experts has completed their first part of the study visit to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 25 February. The visit is being organised within the scope of the European Union and Council of Europe joint project on Enhancing Foreign Language Education Quality in Türkiye.

The study visit started with opening remarks by Cihad Demirli, President of the BoE; Nurdan Bayraktar Golder, Ambassador, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Türkiye to the Council of Europe; and Matjaž Gruden, Director for Democracy at the Council of Europe.

The President of the BoE and the Director for Democracy reiterated the strong commitment on both sides to implement this project successfully and the Ambassador underlined that the project is a concrete example of how such co-operation contributes to the ideals that were defined 75 years ago by the Council of Europe.

The delegation engaged in discussions with key representatives of the Council of Europe’s Education Department, gaining valuable insights into the Education Strategy (2024-2030) from Villano Qiriazi, Head of Education Department; deepened their understanding of formal and non-formal education policies developed by the Council of Europe, as well as their practice through capacity building activities presented by Sarah Keating, Head of Formal and Non-formal Education Division; were informed about the work of the committees of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) by Louise Barton, Director for Human Dignity and Sustainable Development, and observed good practices in language teaching, assessment, and teacher training through a visit to the European School of Strasbourg.

The delegation will now visit the European Centre for Modern Languages in Graz, Austria for more in depth discussions on language education policy and training.