Mehtap Gayda

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What position do you hold at Babelgrup? What has been your career path so far?

Hello, my name is Mehtap Gayda and I am the founder and director of Babelgrup. I have BA in English Language and Literature and MA in Teaching. After school I have stayed in the US for a year and visited places and learned a lot. I have been working as a teacher, translator & interpreter and education consultant since 2005. I started Babelgrup in 2008. We offer language courses, translation and consulting services in Antalya, Turkey. Since then we focus on providing quality services for our students and clients. Our building is located in the heart of Antalya with a fabulous mountain and sea view.

Did YOU study abroad? If so, where did you go and what inspired you to go?!

Yes. After university I went to Oregon USA for a conference at Oregon University. I wanted to study at the University of Massachusetts then I decided to turn back to Turkey. After I got married, I went to France to learn French.

Studying abroad is ‘awesome’, you learn to be an individual and respect life, people, cultures and have colourful perspectives. It makes you to live & think outside the box. Travelling is and will always be my passion. You surrender yourself to a country and its people and enjoy the experience. The world is full of adventures for you to see and experience!

What does the future hold for Babel - any new programs to share?

We would like to have more programs and new students from all over the world to experience and share knowledge & travelling with us. We will add some more language courses for our students. We are planning to be in different places as Babel school wants to be in many locations such as İstanbul, İzmir, Ankara, Bursa and Adana that are the big cities in Turkey. We will continue to help people as much as we can and provide equal opportunities. We know that ‘Knowledge is power’ therefore Babel school wants to be there for those who need to access knowledge. To sum up, we will always try to do the best for our students.

New programs? We are planning to have Turkish Language & Turkish Cuisine and Turkish language & Turkish Literature courses this year.

What about the future of the industry? How do you think study abroad and international education will change over the next 10 years?

We are always optimist about the future of the industry. Study abroad programs and international education will improve the men and women of the world in terms of politics, education strategies and peace in the world. These study abroad programs are chances to see ‘the others’ and experience different life styles, cultures, traditions…

In the future, the changes in the international education will certainly affect all institutions whether it is a state school and/or university, private school and/or university or language school. International education will be more sensitive and sensible for people. We should find a way to combine ethics, scientific knowledge & metaphysics, conscious and cultural & gender awareness in education. Thanks to the technology, we can provide online lessons, in the past this was impossible. I think, people will still travel abroad by using advancements.