Istanbul Technical University

Overview

Istanbul Technical University, referred to as ITU for short, is a premier technical university in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the third-oldest technical university in the world, having been established in 1773. Baron de Tott, a Hungarian aristocrat, founded the institution as the Imperial School of Naval Engineering during the rule of Sultan Mustafa III of the Ottoman Empire to train technical military personnel. In 1948, ITU became an autonomous university with expanded academic offerings that covered civil, mechanical, and electric engineering as well as architecture.

In the early 1940s, other faculties were added to the university: Chemical Engineering, Naval Architecture, Maritime, Mines, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Arts and Sciences, and Management. Each faculty is also subdivided into departments. For example, under the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering is the Department of Textile, within the Faculty of Architecture is the Department of Urbanism and Urban Design, and covered by the Faculty of Civil Engineering is the Department of Geodesy and Photogrammetry. Of its more than 200 bachelor and graduate degree programs, Istanbul Technical University is well-known for its mining engineering, architecture, marine science, and civil, electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering courses.

ITU is also active in research. It has more than 360 research and development laboratories. Additionally, the university has more than 10 active research centers. A few of these are the Sea and Marine Sciences Technologies Application and Research Center, the Satellite Communications and Remote Sensing Center, and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Some of the products of Istanbul Technical University’s research centers and laboratories are a handful of firsts in Turkey: first local helicopter called Arıkopter, the first autonomous car named Otonobil, first communication satellite christened Türksat3USAT, the first hydrogen-powered boat that goes by the name Martı, and the first CubeSat baptized İTÜpSAT1.

The university is working towards strengthening its ties with universities in Europe through the European Engineering Learning Innovation and Science Alliance. There are seven other higher education institutions in the group, which includes Paris Tech, Scoula Normale Superiore, and the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. This project is sanctioned by the European Union and has received around 14 million euros in funding from different sectors. The alliance has 14 sub-projects as well and ITU is the leader in one, Bridge between Education, R&D and Innovation, and has contributed to other sub-projects.

In its aim to become a global university, Istanbul Technical University has established a connection with a Ukrainian university as well to research and develop innovative technologies in the fields of electronics, aviation, and engineering.