TEV İnanç Türkeş High School for Gifted Students

TEV İnanç Türkeş High School for Gifted Students (TEV İnanç Türkeş Özel Lisesi) is an independent private co educational boarding school for the gifted and talented in Turkey.

In 1990 Sezai Türkeş founded the İnanç Foundation (İnanç Vakfi) in his late wife İnanç Türkeş’s name. The foundation aimed to educate underprivileged gifted and talented Turkish students and started Özel İnanç Lisesi in 1993 with 30 students. In its full capacity, the school planned to have 210 students in 7 grades (prep year, followed by 3 years of middle school and 3 years of high school). Starting in 1995, the school experienced financial problems and opted to stop the construction of its campus. In 1997, due to changes in the education system of Turkey, Özel İnanç Lisesi dropped the middle school section. In 2002, due to further financial hardship, the administration of Özel İnanç Lisesi was handed over to Türk Eğitim Vakfı which renamed it TEV İnanç Türkeş Özel Lisesi.

Admission to the school was based on aptitude and the school administers its own testing and admission process. Admission was done through a rigorous selection procedure involving three steps:

Application and Aptitude Test: At the end of their 8th grade, the ~2000 students who apply to the school were given an aptitude test for cognitive assessment in various cities throughout Turkey. Exams were taken in several major centers. While the school was striving to receive applications from all regions in Turkey the majority of applicants were from the Western half of Turkey. Second Screening: Students who succeed on this test were given an IQ test (WISC); the 120 top scoring students were invited to TEVİTOL for further examination. During the transition period from the Inanc Turkes Foundation to the Turkish Education Foundation, different methods were used to replace some of these stages but since 2007 the above procedure had become the norm again until recent years. As of 2021 22, the selection procedure of TEVITOL consists of two main steps. Students designated to graduate from the 8th grade pre apply in mid March. For the completion of their pre application, students are expected to provide their high school entrance exam (LGS) scores. The applicants are ranked according to their LGS scores, and then invited to the campus for the completion of the second step of the selection process. First, Cognitive Assessment System test is applied in order to determine students' cognitive skills in planning, attention span, simultaneous, and successive subsets (90 min). Then, students are interviewed on their educational history and achievements (30 min). Although not included in the overall score for admission, there is also a placement test of English (60 min). Finally, if they apply, students' parents are interviewed for determining the scholarship/financial aid.

The full cost of studying at TEVITOL is 324.000 TRY (~12.000 USD) for boarding students (2023 2024)

Initially, İnanç High School awarded full scholarship to all admitted students. One of the requirements of entry was financial need because the school aimed to admit underprivileged students. Representatives from the school visited students at their homes to identify students who are really in need. This step was more of a subjective financial background check and it also provided the family of the student to meet representatives from the school to answer any questions they may have. Currently, financial background information is only required of full scholarship candidates and those seeking partial aid and involves parents financial statements.

TEV İnanç Türkeş High School is located 7 km southeast of Gebze. The campus consists of 103 acres (420,000 m2) of land and houses administrative offices, staff housing and sports facilities. On a west east axis, the school contains student housing, arts center, library, main building with student lounges and dining hall, science center and athletics facilities. To the north of the campus, there is an indoor sports complex. To the southwest of the main campus, the "Greek Temple" (an observation site) sits atop stairs that lead down to the Sea of Marmara. TUBITAK is adjacent to the campus to the west.