Study in Bosnia from Turkey (2026): Bosnia and Herzegovina for Turkish Students

Last updated: 20 October 2026 · Study in Bosnia editorial team

If you want to study in Bosnia from Turkey, the short version is this: you fly about two hours from Istanbul, enter without a visa, and study in English at a European Bologna university for a fee that is fixed in euro. The part that needs real planning is not Bosnia. It is YÖK, because the way you enrol today decides how smoothly your diploma is recognised when you come home.

Turkish families usually come to us with two names already in mind, IUS and Burch. Both are good options. But they are two of 21 state-accredited universities, and for medicine, engineering or a lower budget the public universities in Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Mostar and Foča are often the better fit. This guide puts all of them side by side.

Why Turkish students choose to study in Bosnia

Turkish students choose Bosnia and Herzegovina because it is close, affordable, culturally familiar and still a European degree system. Few countries tick all four boxes at once.

• Distance: Sarajevo is closer to Istanbul by air than Van or Kars. Going home for Bayram is a weekend decision, not a project.
• Cost: English-taught bachelor programmes cost between roughly €1,500 and €8,000 a year, and a room in Sarajevo rarely costs more than €300 a month.
• Culture: the old town of Sarajevo grew around an Ottoman çarşı. You hear words like čaršija, kahva and sokak every day, you find halal food in almost every bakery and grill, and mosques such as the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque from 1531 are part of normal student life.
• Community: there is a large Turkish community in Sarajevo, from students and lecturers to business owners, and the Yunus Emre Institute runs a cultural centre in the city.
• Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina is an EU candidate country and part of the Bologna Process. Your credits are ECTS credits, and a master in Germany, Austria or the Netherlands later is a realistic next step.

What we see in practice: parents relax once they visit. Many arrive expecting something far away and leave saying Sarajevo feels like a smaller, calmer Istanbul neighbourhood with mountains around it. Searching for Bosna Hersek'te üniversite brings up mostly IUS and Burch, so families are often surprised that the state universities also teach in English.

IUS and Burch: the two universities with Turkish roots

The International University of Sarajevo and International Burch University are private, state-accredited universities in Sarajevo founded with Turkish involvement, and both teach their programmes in English. Turkish students in Bosnia are most visible on these two campuses.

International University of Sarajevo (IUS) opened in 2004 and sits in Ilidža, on the western edge of Sarajevo, about ten minutes from the airport. It teaches all programmes in English, from computer science, engineering and architecture to psychology, law and international relations, offers double diplomas with Turkish partner universities and has dormitories on campus. It also runs a one-year English preparatory programme for €5,000. Bachelor tuition is €5,400 to 6,600 a year. Medicine costs €13,750 and Dental Medicine €11,000 a year.

International Burch University was founded in 2008 and sits in Ilidža, also on the airport side of the city. It teaches in English across IT, engineering, genetics and bioengineering, architecture, management, economics, international relations, English and film and media. Most bachelor programmes cost about €5,100 a year (10,000 KM), while Dentistry, Film and Video Production and Game and Interaction Design cost €10,000 a year.

IUS Burch Turkish students tend to live in Ilidža in their first year, close to campus, and move into central Sarajevo later. Both campuses are mixed: Bosnian students form a large group, alongside students from the Gulf, Central Asia, Europe and Africa. Your English improves faster than your parents expect.

English-taught programmes beyond IUS and Burch

Seven of the 21 state-accredited universities offer full bachelor or integrated degrees in English, and two more offer English-taught master or doctoral programmes. These are the options Turkish students compare most often:

What it costs to study in Bosnia from Turkey

Studying in Bosnia from Turkey costs roughly €10,000 to 15,000 a year for an English-taught bachelor in Sarajevo, tuition and living costs together, and from about €8,500 a year for medicine in Foča. All fees are set in euro or in convertible marks, which are pegged to the euro.

Fees for 2026/27 as confirmed to us. More detail in our guide to tuition fees in Bosnia.

Living costs run from about €400 a month in Foča or Tuzla to €550–750 in Sarajevo. A shared flat in Sarajevo costs €200–350 per person, a lunch of ćevapi about €4–5, and a monthly student public transport ticket is cheap. Our cost of living guide for Sarajevo breaks it down line by line.

A lira note: because every fee is in euro, a weaker lira makes the same degree more expensive at home. Most families we work with pay tuition from a foreign-currency account and budget the first year in euro, not lira. Add one-off costs of roughly €300–500 for translations, apostilles, the residence permit and the medical check.

Entry rules and residence permit for Turkish citizens

Turkish citizens can enter Bosnia and Herzegovina visa-free with an ordinary passport and stay up to 90 days within any 180-day period. For a full degree you then need a temporary residence permit for study, which you apply for inside the country.

1. Enter with your passport. Travel on your passport, not your ID card, because the residence permit is issued on your passport.
2. Register your address within 48 hours. The registration slip is called the white card and costs 10 KM (about €5).
3. Apply for the residence permit at the Service for Foreigners' Affairs in your university city, ideally in your first month and before your 90 days run out. The fee is 150 KM (about €77).
4. Renew every year with a new enrolment certificate and proof of passed exams.

The documents you prepare in Turkey are the ones that take time: a criminal record certificate (adli sicil kaydı) with apostille, no older than six months, your high-school diploma with apostille, and certified translations into Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian. Proof of funds is set at 400 KM (about €205) per month of stay. Entry rules can change by government decision, so we check them against the rules valid on the day you travel. The full process is in our student visa and residence permit guide.

Flights between Turkey and Bosnia

Istanbul is the gateway: Turkish Airlines flies from Istanbul Airport to Sarajevo and AJet flies from Sabiha Gökçen to Sarajevo, both with daily services. Flight time is about two hours.

AJet also connects Sabiha Gökçen with Tuzla, and has flown to Mostar in the summer season. From Ankara, İzmir, Antalya or other Turkish cities you normally connect in Istanbul. Both Sarajevo campuses of IUS and Burch are 10 to 15 minutes from Sarajevo airport by taxi, which makes a Friday-evening flight home very easy.

Recognition in Turkey: YÖK and diploma equivalence

A degree from Bosnia and Herzegovina is used in Turkey through YÖK's recognition and equivalence (denklik) procedure. You plan it before you enrol, not after you graduate.

Before you enrol

• Check YÖK recognition of the university you choose, for example through the YÖK school recognition service on e-Devlet. We go through this with you for your specific programme.
• Check the YKS condition. Since the 2024 amendment of YÖK's equivalence regulation, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, law, architecture, engineering and teacher training require a minimum YKS success ranking in the year you start, unless the university meets YÖK's world-ranking condition. When the rule was introduced, medicine required a ranking within the top 50,000. Check the threshold valid for your year before you sign anything.
• Study on site. YÖK looks at your entry and exit records. Online or distance study does not count for equivalence.

After you graduate

• Apply online through YÖK's equivalence system with your diploma, transcript, diploma supplement, apostilles, sworn Turkish translations and passport records.
• YÖK then grants equivalence directly, asks for an aptitude exam (STS, for example in medicine, dentistry and pharmacy) or asks for additional coursework.
• Plan several months for the decision. Keep your syllabus and clinical logbook, because the commission compares content.

Programmes such as business, economics, international relations, psychology or IT are outside the YKS ranking rule, which is one reason many Turkish students pick them in Sarajevo. More on recognition in other countries is in our guide to degree recognition.

Your path from Turkey to a Bosnian university

This is the typical order for a Turkish student, from first decision to diploma equivalence at home.

How Study in Bosnia helps students who study in Bosnia from Turkey

Study in Bosnia is the official representative of Bosnian universities, with a main office in Bern and an office in Bosnia. We work with all 21 state-accredited universities, so our advice is not tied to one campus.

• We compare IUS, Burch and the public universities for your field and budget, including the YÖK angle.
• We prepare your application and stay in contact with the faculty until your place is confirmed.
• We find housing near your campus and arrange your white card and residence permit appointment.
• We list every cost in euro before you decide, including the one-off fees for the first year.

If you are still deciding between a private and a state university, read our comparison of public and private universities in Bosnia, or start with the complete guide to studying in Bosnia.

Study in Bosnia from Turkey: frequently asked questions

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