Istanbul University

Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (İstanbul Üniversitesi), is a prominent public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey.

Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, it was reformed in 1846 as the first Ottoman higher education institution based on European traditions. The successor institution, which has been operating under its current name since 1933, is the first university in modern Turkey. Some pre-1930 Western sources refer to it as the University of Constantinople after the previous name of the city (not to be confused with the Byzantine era University of Constantinople, which was founded in 425 AD by the East Roman emperor Theodosius II as the Pandidacterium and was by some accounts the world's first university), while one in French referred to it as the Université de Stamboul ("Stamboul" the name for the historic inner city).

Istanbul University is consistently ranked first in Turkey and among the top 500 universities in the world according to the recently published Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU 2023). At present, there are 64,032 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students studying in 33 academic units, including faculties, institutes, colleges, and vocational schools at 10 campuses. The main campus is adjacent to Beyazıt Square in Fatih, the capital district of the province, on the European side of the city.

Istanbul University alumni include 2 Nobel laureates, Aziz Sancar (in Chemistry) and Orhan Pamuk (in Literature), the longest-serving President of Israel Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, two Prime Ministers of Israel (David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Sharett), President of Turkey Abdullah Gül, six Prime Ministers of Turkey (Suat Hayri Ürgüplü, Sadi Irmak, Nihat Erim, Refik Saydam, Naim Talu, Yıldırım Akbulut), and the current Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu.

History
Origins of Istanbul University go back to 1453, when it was founded by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II "as a school of philosophy, medicine, law and letters". There was also the Byzantine era University of Constantinople, which was founded in 425 AD by the East Roman emperor Theodosius II as the Pandidacterium (it was later rebranded as the Phanar Greek Orthodox College after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453). Istanbul University functioned as a Medrese (Islamic theological school) as well. This madrasa is regarded as the precursor to the Darülfünûn (technical institute or university. Literally: House of Natural Sciences), which evolved into Istanbul University in 1933. Education in a number of sciences and fields (such as medicine, mathematics, astronomy, cartography, geography, history, philosophy, religion, literature, philology, law, etc.) became available, and, until the 19th century, they were instrumental in educating the ruling cadres of the Ottoman society. However, when the medreses were no longer able to meet the needs of the modern world, a restructuring process began, and as a result, the institutions of higher education called Darülfünûn, the core of Istanbul University, was established.

An institution of higher education named the Darülfünûn-u Osmanî (Ottoman Polytechnic Institute) was created in 1863, but suppressed in 1871. Its first rector was Hasan Tahsini, regarded as one of the most important Ottoman scholars of the 19th century. In 1874 the Imperial Polytechnic Institute (Darülfünûn-u Sultanî) (دار الفنون سلطاني) started classes in law in French, but was closed in 1881.

The Imperial University, now known as Darülfünûn-u Şahâne was refounded in 1900, with the departments of theology, arts, mathematics, science and philology. In 1924, the faculties of law, medicine, arts and sciences were established in Istanbul University (İstanbul Darülfünûnu), as the university was now called. Islamic theology was added in 1925, but in 1933 the university was reorganized without the latter.

The first modern Applied Physics courses were given at the Darülfünûn on 31 December 1863, which marked the beginning of a new period, and on 20 February 1870, the school was renamed as the Darülfünûn-u Osmanî (Ottoman House of Multiple Sciences) and reorganized to meet the needs of modern sciences and technologies. Starting from 1874, some classes of Literature, Law and Applied Sciences were given at the building of Galatasaray High School, which continued regularly until 1881. On 1 September 1900, the school was renamed and reorganized as the Darülfünûn-u Şahâne (Royal Polytechnic Institute) with courses on Mathematics, Literature and Theology. On 20 April 1912, the school was renamed as the İstanbul Darülfünûnu (Istanbul Polytechnic Institute) while the number of courses were increased and the curricula were modernized with the establishment of the Schools of Medicine, Law, Applied Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics), Literature and Theology.

On 21 April 1924, the Republic of Turkey recognized the İstanbul Darülfünûnu as a state school, and on 7 October 1925, the administrative autonomy of İstanbul Darülfünûnu was recognized while the Schools (within the old Medrese system) became modern Faculties. The Darülfünûnu counted with five faculties: medicine, law, letters, theology and science. The professors of the Darülfünûnu had academic freedom as mentioned in Article 2 of Law 493

On 1 August 1933, İstanbul Darülfünûnu was reorganized as İstanbul Üniversitesi (Istanbul University) following the educational reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Classes officially began on 1 November 1933.

Campus
The university has seventeen faculties on five campuses; the main campus being on Beyazıt Square, which was originally built by Constantine the Great as the Forum Tauri and was later enlarged by Theodosius the Great as the Forum of Theodosius during the Roman period.

The main campus building with its landmark gate was previously used as the headquarters of the Harbiye Nezareti (Ministry of War) by the Ottoman government. Located on the grounds is the Beyazıt Tower, an 85 m tall fire-watch tower. The grounds were previously the location of the Ottoman era Eski Saray (Old Palace). Some Roman and Byzantine ruins are still visible on the grounds.

The university has a teaching staff of 2,000 professors and associates and 4,000 assistants and younger staff. More than 60,000 undergraduate and 8,000 postgraduate students follow the courses offered by Istanbul University every year.

The main gate was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 500 lira banknotes of 1971–1984.

International perspective and rankings
Istanbul University School of Business is the only AACSB-Accredited Business School among the public universities in Turkey.

In the QS World University Rankings 2024, Istanbul University is ranked at 711–720th globally. In the broad subject areas, it is ranked 281st in "Arts and Humanities", 309th in "Life Sciences and Medicine", 353th in "Social Sciences and Management", 451-500th in "Natural Sciences, and 451-500th in "Engineering & Technology".

In the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2019, Istanbul University is ranked at 401–500th worldwide (1st in Turkey). It is also ranked at 251–300th in "Veterinary Sciences", 401–500th in "Clinical Medicine", 101–150th in "Dentistry & Oral Sciences", 201–300th in "Nursing", and 301–400th in "Medical Technology".

In 2020, Times Higher Education ranked the university top 1000 in the world, 301–400th in "Clinical, pre-clinical and health", 401–500th in "Education", 501–600th in "Social Sciences", and 601–800th in "Life Sciences".

The Best Global Universities Ranking 2021 of the U.S. News & World Report ranks Istanbul University 714th in the world, 225th in "Surgery", 243rd in "Clinical Medicine", 195th in "Endocrinology and Metabolism", 255th in "Neuroscience and Behavior", 383rd in "Molecular Biology and Genetics", 442nd in "Plant and Animal Science", 446th in "Biology and Biochemistry", and 593rd in "Physics".

By CWTS Leiden Ranking 2019, Istanbul University is ranked 335th (overall), 196th in "Biomedical and Health Sciences", 374th in "Life and Earth Sciences", 669th in "Mathematics and Computer Science", 544th in "Physical Sciences and Engineering", and 570th in "Social Sciences and Humanities".

By Round University Ranking 2019, Istanbul University is ranked 529th in the world, 490th in "Humanities", 496th in "Life Sciences", 329th in "Medical Sciences", 556th in "Natural Sciences", 506th in "Social Sciences" and 600th in "Technical Sciences".

Notable faculty
See the page Academic staff of Istanbul University.

Notable alumni
See also Istanbul University alumni for a detailed list.
 * Turkish Presidents


 * Abdullah Gül


 * Foreign Presidents


 * David Ben-Gurion, Founder and the First Prime Minister of Israel
 * Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, the Longest-Serving President of Israel


 * Speakers of the Turkish parliament


 * Ferruh Bozbeyli
 * Fuat Sirmen


 * Turkish Prime Ministers

• Nihat Erim

• Refik Saydam

• Sadi Irmak

• Suad Hayri Ürgüplü

• Yıldırım Akbulut


 * Foreign Prime Ministers


 * David Ben-Gurion, Founder and the First Prime Minister of Israel
 * Moshe Sharett, Prime Minister of Israel


 * Turkish Ministers


 * Cemil Çiçek
 * Arif Demirer
 * Mehmet Ali Şahin


 * Politicians


 * Ali Tanrıyar – Former Minister of Interior
 * Cemil Çiçek – Former Speaker of the Parliament
 * Coşkun Kırca – Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
 * Ekrem İmamoğlu – Current Mayor of Istanbul
 * Erkan Mumcu – Former Minister of Culture and Tourism / Minister of Education / Minister of Tourism
 * Ertuğrul Mat – Former Bursa deputy
 * Hayati Yazıcı – Former Minister of Customs and Trade
 * İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil – Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
 * Kadir Topbaş – Former Mayor of Istanbul
 * Köksal Toptan – Former Speaker of the Parliament
 * Masud Sabri – Pharmacist and former Governor of Xinjiang province in China
 * Meral Akşener – Leader of Good Party
 * Murat Başesgioğlu – Former Minister of Labor and Social Security
 * Mustafa Bey Barmada – Former Governor General of the State of Aleppo
 * Naci Ağbal – Former Minister of Finance
 * Nimet Bas – Former Minister of Education


 * Journalists

• Abdi İpekçi

• Ahmet Şık

• Halit Kıvanç

• Fatih Altaylı

• Hrant Dink

• Metin Toker

• Murat Belge

• Nedim Şener

• Uğur Dündar


 * Scientists

• Ahmet Mete Işıkara

• Alp Ikizler

• Aykut Barka

• Aziz Sancar, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

• Cavit Orhan Tütengil

• Engin Arık

• Fuat Sezgin

• Hulusi Behçet

• Nazim Terzioglu

• Muzafer Sherif

• Nüzhet Gökdoğan

• Paris Pişmiş

• Serdar Bulun

• Zeynel Mungan


 * Writers

• Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

• Ali Kurumahmut

• Bahadir Kaleagasi, international co-ordinator of TUSIAD

• Duygu Asena

• Mario Levi

• Mıgırdiç Margosyan

• Nihal Atsiz

• İlhan Selçuk

• Orhan Pamuk, Nobel Laureate in Literature

• Reşat Nuri Güntekin


 * Poets


 * Attila İlhan
 * Onat Kutlar
 * Orhan Veli


 * Musicians

• Arif Mardin

• Bülent Ortaçgil

• Candan Erçetin

• Ceza

• Mercan Dede

• Sadettin Kaynak

• Sagopa Kajmer

• Teoman (singer)


 * Other

• Burcu Esmersoy – Anchorwoman, Model

• Cansu Dere – Actress, Model

• Cüneyt Arkın — Actor, Director

• Çağatay Ulusoy – Actor

• Ayça Ayşin Turan - Actress

• Deniz Gezmiş – Political activist

• Metin Erksan – Film Director and Art Historian

• Okan Yalabık – Actor

• Özgü Namal – Actress, Singer

• Özgür Çevik – Singer, Actor

• Türkan Rado (1915–2007), first ever Turkish female professor of jurisprudence

• Tuncel Kurtiz – Actor

Notable expatriate academic staff

 * Fritz Arndt (1885–1969), German chemist (1915–1918)
 * Erich Auerbach (1892–1957), German philologist (1936–1947)
 * Helmuth Theodor Bossert (1889–1961), German philologist and art historian and archaeologist (1934–1959)
 * Max Clara (1899–1966), German anatomist
 * Georges Dumézil (1898–1986), French philologist, religion historian (1923–1931)
 * Erwin Finlay-Freundlich (1885–1964), German astronomer (1933–1937)
 * Albert Gabriel (1883–1972), French art historian (1926–1930)
 * Hilda Geiringer (1893–1973), Austrian mathematician (1934–1938)
 * C. W. M. Hart (1905–1976), Australian anthropologist (1959–1969)
 * C. H. E. Haspels (1894–1980), Dutch archaeologist
 * Felix Haurowitz (1896–1987), Czech physician and biochemist (1939–1948)
 * Baymirza Hayit (1917–2006), Uzbek historian and orientalist
 * Richard Honig 1890–1981), German penologist (1934–1939)
 * Günther Jacoby (1881–1969), German theologian and philosopher (1915–1918)
 * Curt Kosswig (1903–1982), German zoologist and geneticist (1937–1955)
 * Lotte Loewe 1900–unknown), German organic chemist (1934–1955)
 * Hans Marchand (1907–1978), German linguist
 * Richard von Mises (1883–1953), Austrian mathematician
 * Fritz Neumark (1900–1991), German economist (1934–1954)
 * Rudolph Nissen (1896–1981),German surgeon (1933–1949)
 * William Prager (1904–1980), German mathematician
 * Hans Reichenbach (1891–1953), German philosopher (1945–1938)
 * Oskar Rescher (1884–1972), German scholar in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish literature
 * Umberto Ricci (1879–1946), Italian economist (1942–1945)
 * Hellmut Ritter (1892–1971), German orientalist (1926–1949, 1956–1969)
 * Wilhelm Röpke (1899–1966), German economist
 * Hans Oswald Rosenberg (1879–1940), German astronomer (1938–1940)
 * Leo Spitzer (1887–1960), Austrian Romanist and Hispanist, philologist (1925–1930)
 * Andreas Tietze (1914–2003), Austrian scholar of Turkish lexicography and language (1938–1957)