Team
British Side counsellors successfully completed the certification programs about education in the UK, organised by British Council Turkey. In order to receive up-to-date information, they participate in both education/visa seminars presented by British Council and the online/on-campus meetings organised by British universities every year. As we have a counsellor, who is a graduate of University of Sussex, our students may have a chance to learn from her experiences.
Our counsellors at our Istanbul office are as follows:
Pelin Akçay
Pelin Akçay, who is the director of our education counselling services, worked for the UK education department at British Council-British Consulate for 8 years between 1999-2007. She assisted the students, who would like to study in the UK, provided training to the education representatives in Turkey and supported the schools and universities. Prior to her position at British Consulate, she supported academic cooperation between Israel and Turkey while she was working at Israeli Consulate between 1998-1999. Pelin studied Bachelor’s in English Language and Literature at Boğaziçi University between 1994-1998.
Selin Akçay
She studied Bachelor’s in Management Information Systems at Boğaziçi University. After graduation, having gained experience in her field, by June 2007, she started her career at British Side. Selin, who successfully achieved her British Council Agent Marketing certificate in 2007, has been counselling the students about English Language, undergraduate and also postgraduate courses. She has been actively participating in the seminars and the meetings of the British universities and English language schools since the beginning of her career at British Side.
Özge Yuvanç
Based on her educational background abroad along with her social and volunteering activities, she has been a guide to our students with her valuable experiences to choose their suitable path in UK. Özge has been participating in the training seminars organised by the British universities and English language schools. She successfully completed her Education UK training and achieved her certificate in March 2012.
Müge Çete
Müge graduated from MA Modern and Contemporary Literature Culture and Thought at University of Sussex in 2014. Prior to that, she studied Bachelor’s in English Language and Literature at İstanbul University. She joined the British Side family in February 2014 after she received counselling service from us for her master studies. As well as participating in the training seminars of the universities, she achieved her UK Education Advisors certificate after successfully completing the Education UK program organised by British Council. Her expertise is in counselling not only for master and academic summer school courses but also education and living in the UK.
Lidya Küstü
Lidya Küstü was born in the UK in 1997 and started her education in Bodrum, studied Bachelor’s in Aviation Management at İstanbul Aydın University and graduated in 2021. She successfully completed several proficiency exams organised by University of Cambridge and achieved her certificates. She has been assisting the students and parents as one of the British Side counsellors since January 2022.
Alara Aşan
Alara graduated from Marmara University with a degree in German Translation and Interpretation and has two years of experience in the education sector within the aviation industry. Proficient in both German and English, she gained valuable insights from her studies in culture and society, enhancing her ability to support students. She is now part of the team at British Side as an Education Counselling Team Assistant, where she supports students to pursue their academic aspirations.
Gamze Bayraktar
Gamze holds a Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Language Education from Boğaziçi University and a Master of Arts in Linguistics from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Her academic journey was further enriched by a semester at the University of Bremen through the Erasmus program. With experience teaching English to diverse age groups at various institutions, she is now an Education Counselling Team Assistant at British Side, where she guides students in their educational journeys.