2022 Will Be the Year of Transformation for ITU

ITU, the University of Those Who Inspire, held its annual end-of- year assessment meeting on Tuesday, April 12, at Süleyman Demirel Cultural Center with a wide participation.

Istanbul Technical University (ITU) held its annual end-of-year assessment meeting on Tuesday, April 12, at 14:00 at Süleyman Demirel Cultural Center. In the meeting held with the wide participation of ITU academicians, our Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu talked about the important activities carried out throughout 2021 and emphasized that the change and transformation at ITU will continue in 2022.

2022: The year of change and transformation

Emphasizing that ITU, an educational institution identified with engineering and architectural education in Turkey, will be 250 years old in 2023, Prof. Dr. Koyuncu evaluated the year 2021 as follows: “2021 was a ‘breakthrough year’ for us. We have made many advances in R&D, education, digitalization, international relations, university-industry cooperation, produced many new projects, signed partnerships, and quickly concluded some of our planned works and shared them with the ITU Family. In 2022, we will try to focus on change and transformation while ensuring the continuity and sustainability of our activities. In this respect, we can say that 2022 will be the ‘year of transformation’ for ITU.”

Turkey’s leading university in international rankings

In QS 2022 rankings by subject, ITU raised the bar since last year when it entered the list at the 202nd place and ranked 142nd in the world in “Engineering and Technology” area this year. ITU also achieved a great success by entering the first 50 of QS World Rankings in “mineral & mining” and “petroleum engineering” areas. Obtaining very successful degrees among Turkish universities, ITU took the 1st place in Turkey in a total of 8 areas including “engineering and technology”. The areas in which ITU is the leader in Turkey are listed as follows: engineering, chemistry, electrical and electronic engineering, environment/ecology, earth sciences, chemistry engineering and polymer science.

ITU made a great progress and found a place in the 101-200 band in Times Higher Education (THE) 2021 Impact Rankings, in which the world’s leading higher education rankings institution Times Higher Education (THE) evaluated the success of universities worldwide in implementing United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. According to THE’s rankings, in the list that evaluates around 1,200 universities worldwide, ITU is on the 24th place in the world in the 9th goal titled “Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure” and on the 48th place in the world rankings in the 4th goal titled “Quality Education”. Besides “Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure” and “Quality Education” areas in which ITU had the greatest success, it took place in the 101-200 range in a total of six areas.

It is aimed to increase the number of publications more than twice

Emphasizing that they attach great importance to intensifying the academic studies at ITU, our Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu explained their goals with the following data: “We aim to increase the number of publications per faculty member, which was 1.64 in 2021, to 2.5 in 2022, and gradually to 3 and 3.5 in the following years. Similarly, we aim to increase our project revenue, which is 170 million TL today, to 350 million TL this year, and to 500 and 800 million TL in 2023 and 2024, respectively.”

Expressing that, in addition to the goals in the number of publications and project revenue, they aim to raise the bar in commercialization and patent applications, Prof. Dr. Koyuncu shared the following important data on the number of patent applications: “Our national patent applications are at the level of 35 as of 2021; we aim to increase this number to 50 in 2022, to 70 in 2023 and finally to 100 in 2024. While the number of our international patent applications was 10 in 2021, this number will increase to 20 in 2022, and to 35 and 50 in 2023 and 2024, respectively.”

The university with the highest number of accreditations in the world

With its 25 accredited engineering programs, ITU maintains its position as the university with the highest number of ABET accreditations in the world. Accreditation is a title given to universities that have education of international quality through examination of the programs of higher education institutions by international organizations. Thanks to the accreditations, it is proven that the education at ITU is at an international level. ITU is one of the first universities in Turkey to exchange students and staff within the scope of Erasmus. It has agreements with approximately 360 institutions within the scope of Erasmus, especially in European countries.

Turkey’s first and only Office of the Dean of Research was established at ITU

ITU continues its efforts to become a world-class research university. ITU Office of the Dean of Research (ARDEK), which aims to provide innovative solutions to meet the needs of universities, public institutions and various sectors and to make R&D culture permanent, was established as Turkey’s first and only office of the dean of research. It aims to increase ITU’s performance by increasing the academicians’ publications and projects that are successful in the international arena, to sign innovative projects focused on TUBITAK and the EU, to provide the necessary conditions for faculty members to perform much better, and to guide students to actively participate in all projects.

A research university with a rich library and more than 400 laboratories

As a strong “research university”, ITU has a rich library and laboratory infrastructure. 8 ITU libraries on 5 campuses offer a unique resource asset, including nearly 1 million publications, nearly 5 million master’s and doctoral theses, 124 databases, and over 6 thousand rare works. 

While making a great contribution to the professional development of undergraduate and graduate students with its more than 400 laboratories, ITU also provides opportunities for relevant sectors and researchers to work within the scope of sectoral collaborations. Throughout the university, there are 72 laboratories designed only for undergraduate students. A total of 215 laboratories are used in undergraduate education, with 135 laboratories serving students as well as research activities. 

Among the best universities in graduate employment

ITU Alumni Information System, which is structured to make the relations between ITU alumni more effective and to deliver the activities and projects at ITU to its graduates, besides being an interactive electronic database, also functions as a system that works in collaboration with the ITU Interactive Information Backbone. The current number of members is around 50 thousand. 

The overall employment rate of ITU graduates is around 70%. Looking at the employment percentages by department, the departments with the highest employment rate are Mathematical Engineering (87.18%), Computer Engineering (80.82%), and Electronics and Communication Engineering (79.34%). When the employment percentages are considered on the basis of faculty, it can be seen that the faculty with the highest employment rate is the Faculty of Computer and Informatics with 79.75%.

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