Building Bridges: International Institutions and Syrian Youth in Turkish Higher Education

Abstract

This article examines the role of international organisations and supranational actors, conceptualised here as international institutions, in disseminating inclusive higher education norms for refugees, with a focus on their influence at the national level in Turkey. Using primary documents and expert interviews, the article analyses how international institutions facilitate the transfer of norms, provide funding and shape policy design in crisis contexts. The findings reveal that international institution-led initiatives in Turkey have supplemented crisis-responsive education frameworks, serving as mechanisms to support Syrian youth and as tools to promote inclusion. The analysis reveals that higher education functions as both a humanitarian response and a strategic policy area. International norms are adapted and negotiated within domestic settings and applied selectively. Overall, the article explains why the diffusion of higher education norms for refugees is incomplete. It reveals how international institutions contribute to shaping national policy during times of crisis, as well as the limitations they face due to domestic political priorities and power relations.