MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION

Their core work

Turkey's Ministry of National Education (MEB) is the central government body responsible for all pre-university education policy, curriculum development, and school administration across the country. In H2020 projects, it contributes national-level policy perspective and access to the Turkish school system — thousands of schools and millions of students. Its participation focuses on implementing EU-funded educational pilots at scale, testing science education reforms, and connecting European research with Turkish classroom practice.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

The Ministry's H2020 trajectory shows a clear pivot from built-environment energy work toward education and science communication. Their earliest project (BRESAER, 2015) dealt with energy-efficient building envelopes — likely involving Turkey's large public school building stock. By 2020, both active projects (Scientix 4, MOST) are squarely in science education, STEM policy, and school-community partnerships, signaling a deliberate shift toward their core mandate.

MEB is consolidating around science education reform and open schooling, making them a strong partner for any project needing access to a national school system for piloting STEM initiatives.

How they like to work

The Ministry has never coordinated an H2020 project — it joins as a participant or third party, contributing policy access and implementation scale rather than project management. With 50 unique partners across 18 countries from just 3 projects, it operates in large, multi-national consortia typical of Coordination and Support Actions. This is consistent with a government body that provides institutional reach and regulatory context rather than research output.

Despite only 3 projects, the Ministry has built connections with 50 partners across 18 countries — a wide European network largely inherited from the large CSA consortia it participates in. Geographic reach spans broadly across Europe with no single dominant partner cluster.

What sets them apart

As a national ministry, MEB offers something no university or NGO can: direct access to the entire Turkish public school system for piloting educational innovations at national scale. For any consortium needing a government-level partner in Turkey — whether for policy validation, large-scale classroom pilots, or teacher professional development programs — MEB is the definitive institutional partner. Their involvement signals political buy-in that strengthens dissemination and impact claims in proposals.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MOST
  Directly aligned with the Ministry's core mission — connecting schools to communities through open schooling and environmental citizenship education.
• Scientix 4
  Part of the flagship EU science education community (Scientix), placing MEB within Europe's largest STEM education network as a policy-level contributor.