ABOUT BİLKENT UNIVERSITY

Bilkent University - the first private, non-profit university in Turkey - was founded on October 20, 1984, by Professor İhsan Doğramacı, M.D. The aim was to create a center of excellence in higher education and research. The name "Bilkent" exemplifies the founder's aim, since it is an acronym of "bilim kenti," Turkish for "city of learning and science." The University campus is located off the main highway to Eskişehir about 12 km (7,5 miles) west of the city center, and covers around 500 hectares (1200 acres).

The school admitted its first students in October 1986. That year there were 386 undergraduate and graduate students in one main building. Currently there are about 12,000 students, and the campus extends to three sites: Main Campus (location of the University administration and most of the faculties), Middle Campus (location of the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts), and East Campus (location of some of the vocational schools, the primary school, the high schools, and the School of English Language). Faculty housing apartments are available on all three sites.

Each year, more than 1,500,000 high school graduates take a national exam to enter the country's state and private universities. Today, there are more than 100 state and private universities in Turkey, and many of the students who perform best in testing choose Bilkent. Around a quarter of the University’s students benefit from scholarships.

The faculty is comprised of academic staff from 40 different countries. Most have received their Ph.D. degrees from prominent universities in North America and Europe. According to the ISI Citation Indexes, Bilkent continues to be first in Turkey in number of published papers per faculty member and ranks high internationally.

To promote the enrichment of teaching and research programs, Bilkent University has entered into collaborative projects and exchange programs with many universities abroad. At present, Bilkent has student exchange agreements with over 100 universities around the world. There are more than 150 international students from over 40 countries currently enrolled at the university.

Bilkent also has a communications office in New York's Empire State Building. It is equipped with interactive video conferencing capabilities, and offers a number of courses on economics, finance and communication. These are given via satellite by well-known scholars from universities in and around New York and by professionals in these fields.

We are proud to say that Bilkent University has distinguished itself as a "City of Science and Knowledge" throughout its short history.

Non-discrimination statement: Bilkent University admits academic and administrative staff and students regardless of gender, race, color, national or ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to staff and students at the University. It does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, national or ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other university-administered programs.