Apart from the diplomats of the ministries of foreign affairs, states carry out educational diplomacy, which is an application area of public diplomacy, which is considered the public-facing version of diplomacy, through other official and non-official institutions. This study analyses the Education Counsellors’ Offices of the Ministry of National Education, which are among the official institutions, and the Education Counsellors working in senior positions in the counsellors’ offices. Education Counsellors’ Offices, which assume responsibility for overseas education activities, also undertake tasks such as recruiting international students within the scope of incoming students and providing professional public support at almost every stage to students who go to the country with state scholarships or individual efforts. It is known that education diplomacy, which is accepted as a soft power parameter and therefore its outputs are known to be received in the long term, establishes stronger ties. This study analyses the relationship between education and diplomacy. The study aims to reveal to what extent education diplomacy is important in the fields of duty and responsibility of Education Counsellors, who are essentially associated with diplomacy and accepted as an actor. To serve the purpose of the study, literature review and content analysis methods were preferred and the study was written within this framework. In this context, first of all, it was noted that the diplomacy dimension of education is of great importance within the duties and responsibilities of Education Counsellors in the perspective of diplomacy and education and that educational diplomacy opens a different window in inter-state relations. In the study, the roles of Education Counsellors’ Offices and Education Counsellors, who are not very visible but make valuable contributions to education diplomacy, are discussed and finally, it is aimed to contribute to the literature by recommending the establishment of an academy that will ensure that Counsellors as practitioners of education diplomacy are conscious of education diplomacy.

Education diplomacy, international relations, education counselors, education counselors’ offices, education abroad.