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"Don’t shut out yourself in the dormitory. Join the events organized
for you, subscribe to student clubs and participate in sport and arts
activities". (Türkiye Scholarships Holder's Guide, 2013, p. 15)
In an attempt to understand friendship in the city which is beyond the justice,
Martha Ellen Stortz starts from Aristotle's descriptions of justice. "Aristotle defines
the aim of justice as effecting equality and addressing inequality. Here his concern
for equality is abstract and impersonal. But, when Aristotle turns to friendship, he
concern that equality is more personal and focuses upon the role of friendship in
effecting equality and addressing inequality. Injustice, in the city, according to
Aristotle, demands something beyond the justice, and he calls it friendship. " (Stortz
1994, pp. 413-414) In the effort to mark the internal characteristics of friendship
Stortz (1994) is focusing on the equality, respect and justice as integral parts of the
"perfect friendship". In addressingthe friendship which depend upon the equality,
Martha Ellen Stortz indicated that it must be "based on virtue unite moral equals and
the people as an excellence. "(Stortz 1994, p. 412)Storz, regarding the respect,
arguing that the only "perfect friendship cultivates respect for the other. Perfect
friends look beyond what is good for me and strive what is good for the other". (1994,
p. 413) For the justice she indicates that the "friends always share a view of what is
just". (1994, p. 413)
In the Turkish Scholarships Holder's Guide it is clearly indicated that the
friendship has the purpose for easier social integration of international students in
Turkey, in order to feel ourselves as at home. As an additional way of student's faster
socialization in Turkey it is emphasized the necessary for "students’ participation in
public events as important for them to obtain necessary information and to establish
new friendships". (Türkiye Scholarships Holder's Guide, 2013, p. 15)
In the brochure for international students the value of friendshipis indicated
pointing out that it is not something what will just help them to accommodate
themselves into Turkish culture but also something what will last even after. Also, it
reminds us "that the friendships will be among the greatest gains of their life in
Turkey after they complete their study". Friendship is somethingthat will not judge,
something that will show the respect and distinguish the inequalities between self
and other. Therefore, friendship becomesthe highest value of hospitality. But
question still remains; can we speak about the "community of friendship" without
involving the opposite and negative perception as its own reflection in the mirror
embodied in enemy? It seems that it is possible but only when we understand that
there are no discourse dichotomies between the self and other, friend and enemy,
host and guest.
5.
National culturediscourses in the international high education
Before we enter into a deeper analysis of national culture discourses contained in the
brochure for international students in Turkey we need to deal with the linguistic
dichotomy and analyze the category of international students. International student
as a term determinates the strong relationship with the concept of nation and national
identity. Therefore, instead of use the category of international student, I argue that
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we should examine the possibility to replace it with the category of foreign students
in terms to indicate that they are still the other but it would help distinguish the
national discourse from its linguistic constitutive core.
Mike Byram and Fred Dervin (2008) point out how the mobility in high
education, despite the popular beliefs, is not a new or modern but rather an old
phenomenon since the universities are open for all, providing the benefits for
themselves and for the others. Although the universities are often present as
international institutions carrying international character, they are de facto national
institutions in terms of financing since they are financed by the state. It should be
added to this statement that although there are private universities, they must be in
accordance with state and national legislationfulfilling their requirements. Therefore,
although we look at the universities as institution of international character they still
contain the national discourses in their organizational, financial and legislation
structure. Byram and Dervim also made clear distinction within the academic
mobility in higher education between the teaching and administrative staff on one
side and the students on the other. This paper is focused entirely and only to the
academic mobility among the international students.
Cammelli, Ghiselli and Mignoli point out how the most important aspect of
study abroad is construction and perception of foreignness and intercultural under-
standing. (2008, pp. 217-237) Student mobility thus allows not only the opportunities
to cross the frontiers and step into the otherness, but also to experience it.
The structure of our present world is shaped by the state and national identity
which arise from it. Those national identities become the integral part of our own
cultures and show the unbreakable bond between them. Such claims can be
particularly found in the works of Zygmunt Bauman who points out how the
"national identity influence the people's life, making the differences between the
normal and abnormal, the expectable and the unexpected, the ordinary and the
bizarre, domesticated and wild, the familiar and the strange, us and the stranger".
(Bauman 2004, p. 38) According to this statement it is easy to understand that our
national and cultural identities become one, influencing our perception and self –
reflection in relation between us and others.
Despite attempts to present the internationalization of high education in the
world as universal it is obvious that education in every country of the world rely
upon the national discourse and in most cases use culture as an excuse in order to
impose the conditions and obligation to the guest. In most cases it starts from the
language and points the determinants for becoming the accepted member of
community. Those circumstances show that the unconditional hospitality is
impossible since only the guest has to adapt himself to the new environment which
in this case shapes and redefines the guest's behavior.
Hannah Arendt in her study indicates the crisis in education which is primarily
national affected by national boundaries and showing the national discourse. She
tries to make the connection between the education and politics. Therefore,
according to her, "education has become an instrument of politics, and politics
activity itself was conceived as a form of education. Pedagogy has developed into a