Bilkent University () is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

located in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It was founded by

İhsan Doğramacı İhsan Doğramacı (3 April 1915 – 25 February 2010) was a Turkish people, Turkish paediatrician, entrepreneur, philanthropist, educationalist and college administrator of Iraqi Turkmen descent born in modern Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq ...

, the first president of the Council of Higher Education and the head of the prominent Doğramacı family, with the aim of creating a center of excellence in higher education and research in 1984. It has constantly been ranked among the top Turkish universities since its establishment. In 2011, it was ranked 112th in the world by The World University Rankings. Bilkent University was modeled after

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and was the first non-profit private university established in the country. The name Bilkent is an abbreviation of ''bilim kenti'', meaning "city of science" in Turkish.

History

Preparations for the establishment of the university began in 1967, with the purchase of a tract of land to the west of Ankara. In the late 1970s the foundations of the buildings which now house administrative offices, the faculty of engineering, and the library, were laid. Construction of residences for academic staff, cafes, student dormitories, and various academic buildings followed rapidly. Bilkent-University

Campus

The university occupies three campuses. They are located about 12 km west of the center of

, and cover a total area of more than 300 hectares. Bilkent concert hall

Library

The university library houses a large collection of books with annual acquisitions valued at over 3 million U.S. dollars. As of 2017, Bilkent University Library is the largest university library of Turkey, and it is the only university library to rank in the top 10 libraries in the country. In addition to books, the collection includes periodical subscriptions,

microform A microform is a scaled-down reproduction of a document, typically either photographic film or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original d ...

s, access to numerous online databases and electronic journals. Sheet music and sound recordings are available in the music rooms. The library also hosts a number of private collections and an exhibition hall. Bilkent University - Main Library

Academics

The university offers 33 undergraduate majors, together with 32 graduate programs spanning 22 different fields.

Faculties

* Faculty of Applied Sciences * Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture * Faculty of Business Administration * Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences * Faculty of Education * Faculty of Engineering * Faculty of Humanities and Letters * Faculty of Law * Faculty of Music and Performing Arts * Faculty of Science

Schools

* Graduate School of Education * School of Applied Languages * School of Applied Technology and Management * Vocational School of Computer Technology and Office Management * Vocational School of Tourism and Hotel Services

Rankings

The

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...

consistently ranks Bilkent University as one of the top universities in Turkey. Bilkent, as a university with less than 50 years of history, is also ranked as one of the most prestigious younger universities in the world: ''THE'' powered by Thomson Reuters ranked Bilkent in the category BRICS & Emerging Economies as follows: Bilkent University is particularly noted for the quality of its Faculty of Engineering. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings rank Bilkent among the top 100 universities for Engineering and Technology, as follows: The Faculty of Business Administration of Bilkent University was the first business school in Turkey to be accredited by

AACSB The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is an American professional and accreditation organization. It was founded as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business in 1916 to provide accreditation to business ...

; less than 5% of the business schools around the world have received this accreditation. The business school has been ranked by Eduniversal among the best business schools of the

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

region for international influence. According to the

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

of 2012 and 2013 the university ranks in the 151–200 range in the subject of "Economics & Econometrics".

Student life

Sports

Students can participate in many sports courses and be trained by university staff, mostly for free. The university presents many individuals and teams in different sports in varsity competitions. The most well-known sport teams of the university are the Bilkent Goats and the Bilkent Judges, the

ultimate Ultimate or Ultimates may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums *Ultimate (Bryan Adams album), ''Ultimate'' (Bryan Adams album) *Ultimate (Jolin Tsai album), ''Ultimate'' (Jolin Tsai album) *Ultimate (Pet Shop Boys album), ''Ult ...

team and the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team, respectively.

Student unions and clubs

The board and the departmental members of the Bilkent Student Union are chosen annually among all registered university students. The Student Union is the main sponsor and the organizer of Mayfest, the traditional Bilkent University summer festival. Various student clubs organize regular activities every day on and off the campus, mostly open to everyone. All students are allowed to join, or participate in the events and activities of any club they wish to. Student union and club activities are coordinated under the supervision of Student Events Center of Bilkent.

Recreation

Bilkent University is host to numerous events regarding music and the performing arts. The university also sponsors frequent lectures, art exhibitions, and literary evenings throughout the academic year. During the first week of may, each year Mayfest is held. Mayfest is a well-known festival among the youth of Ankara, consisting of a large number of activities, as well as open-air concerts where renowned Turkish pop and rock bands and singers take the stage every night throughout the week.

Affiliations

Centers

* National Research Center for Magnetic Resonance (UMRAM) * Bilkent University Center for European Union Affairs *

Ahmed Adnan Saygun Ahmet Adnan Saygun (; 7 September 1907 – 6 January 1991) was a Turkish composer, musicologist and writer on music. One of a group of composers known as the The Turkish Five, Turkish Five who pioneered Music of Turkey#Western influence on Turk ...

Center for Music Research and Education * Bilkent Center for Advanced Studies (BICAS) * Center for Mind, Language & Culture * Center for Brain Research * Center for Environmental Sciences * Center for International Economics * Center for Russian Studies * Center for Studies in Society and Politics * Center for Turkish Language and Speech Processing * Center for Turkish Politics and History * Center for Research in Transitional Societies (CRTS) * Center for Turkish Literature * Communications and

Spectrum Management Spectrum management is the process of regulating the use of radio frequencies to promote efficient use and gain a net social benefit.Martin Cave, Chris Doyle, William Webb, ''Modern Spectrum Management'', Cambridge University Press, 2007 The ter ...

Research Center (ISYAM) * Genetics and Biotechnology Research and Development Center (BILGEN) * Halil Inalcık Center of Ottoman Studies * Nanotechnology Research Center (NANOTAM) * National Nanotechnology Research Center (UNAM) * Bilkent University Computational Electromagnetics Research Center (BiLCEM)

Cyberpark

Bilkent Cyberpark, founded in 2002, is the fastest growing techno park in Turkey serving with 240 technology-based companies, one micro nano chip factory, five research centers, and 4,00 personnel.

Institutes

* Institute of Economic and Social Sciences * Institute of Engineering and Science * Institute of Fine Arts * Institute of Music and Performing Arts * Institute of World Systems, Economies and Strategic Research * Institute of Materials Science and Nanotechnology

Notable people

Faculty

István Aranyosi István Aranyosi (born 1975) is a Hungarian philosopher and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Bilkent University. He is best known for his works on philosophy of mind and metaphysics. Books *''The Peripheral Mind: Philosophy of Mind and the P ...

- Faculty of Humanities and Letters *

Gürer Aykal Gürer Aykal (born May 22, 1942) is a Turkish conductor and adjunct professor at Bilkent University. He has been the musical director and principal conductor of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra since 1999. Education Aykal was born ...

- Faculty of Music, conductor *

Suna Kan Suna Kan (21 October 1936 – 11 June 2023) was a Turkish violinist who studied in France and appeared internationally. She was a soloist and concert master of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra for 44 years. She was professor of violin at th ...

- Faculty of Music, violinist *

Gülsin Onay Gülsin Onay (born 12 September 1954) is a Turkish classical pianist. She lives in Cambridge, England. Education Born into a musical family, Gülsin Onay began to play the piano at the age of three. Her first teacher was her mother. When she ...

- Faculty of Music, pianist *

Fazıl Say Fazıl Say (; born 14 January 1970) is a Turkish pianist and composer who has worked internationally. Life and career Say was born in Ankara in 1970. His father, Ahmet Say, was an author and musicologist. His mother, Gürgün Say, was a pharm ...

- Faculty of Music, pianist * Jason Hale - Faculty of Music and Performing Arts, Theatre Department Chair, actor and director * Talat Sait Halman - Dean of the School of Humanities and Letters, first Minister of Culture of Turkey *

Stanford J. Shaw Stanford Jay Shaw (5 May 1930 – 16 December 2006) was an American historian, best known for his works on the late Ottoman Empire, Turkish Jews, and the early Turkish Republic. Shaw's works have been criticized for denial of the Armenian gen ...

- Faculty of History *

Halil İnalcık Halil İnalcık (7 September 1916 – 25 July 2016) was a Turkish historian. His highly influential research centered on social and economic approaches to the Ottoman Empire. His academic career started at Ankara University, where he completed h ...

- Faculty of History *

Norman Stone Norman Stone (8 March 1941 – 19 June 2019) was a British historian and author. At the time of his death, he was Professor of European History in the Department of International Relations at Bilkent University, Ankara, having formerly been a ...

- Faculty of International Relations, and History *

Hikmet Sami Türk Hikmet Sami Türk (born 1935 in Of, Trabzon) is a Turkish academic and politician. He was at the faculty of law of Ankara University from 1967 until 1995. Elected to parliament from 1995 to 2002 for the Democratic Left Party, he was Minister o ...

- Faculty of Law, former Minister of Justice of Turkey *

İlber Ortaylı İlber Ortaylı (; born 21 May 1947) is a Turkish historian and professor of history of Crimean Tatar origin at the MEF University, Galatasaray University in Istanbul and at Bilkent University in Ankara. In 2005, he was appointed as the dire ...

- Faculty of Law * Sami Selçuk - Faculty of Law, former Head Judge of the Supreme Court of Turkey *

Abdullah Atalar Abdullah Atalar (born 11 April 1954) is a Turkish scientist and academic. Atalar was the Rector (education), rector of Bilkent University, İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, and a professor at Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineer ...

- Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering * Orhan Aytür - Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering * Erdal Arıkan - Founder of Polar Codes, Faculty of Engineering, Department in Electrical and Electronics Engineering * Mustafa Akgül - School of Applied Technology and Management, Department of Computer Technology and Information Systems *

Hilmi Volkan Demir Hilmi Volkan Demir is a Turkish scientist, best known for his works on white light generation. Biography Hilmi Volkan Demir was born on July 4, 1976, in Kars, Turkey. He received his B.Sc. degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Bi ...

- Faculty of Science, Department of Physics, and Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Director of UNAM

Alumni

Başak Köklükaya Başak Köklükaya (born 19 April 1974) is a Turkish actress. She has appeared in more than 20 films and television shows since 1989. She starred in '' The Confession'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2002 Cannes Film ...

- Actress *

Binnur Kaya Binnur Kaya (born 19 April 1972) is a Turkish actress. Biography Binnur Kaya graduated in theatre from Bilkent University in 1995. She went to Istanbul where she worked at the Ankara Sahnesi and Karatahta Child Theatres and then at the Bakırköy ...

- Actress * Demir Demirkan - Rock musician *

Emrah Yücel Emrah Yucel (born May 24, 1968), is a Turkish advertising and graphic designer based in Los Angeles, United States, USA. He specialized in motion picture advertising as well as country and city branding. Yucel was born as the son of a screenwri ...

- Graphic designer and president of the Turkish Film Festival *

Erdem Başçı Erdem Başçı (born 1966) is a Turkish people, Turkish economist and the former Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey in 2010s. Early life He was born in 1966 in Ankara. After finishing the high school at TED Ankara College in ...

- Governor of the

Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) () is the central bank of Turkey. Its responsibilities include conducting monetary and exchange rate policy, managing international reserves of Turkey, as well as printing and issuing banknotes ...

* Esra Bilgiç Töre - Actress
Mete Atatüre
- Turkish physicist *

Gizem Girişmen Gizem Girişmen (born 25 November 1981) is a Turkish Paralympic archerhttp://www.hurriyet.com.tr/spor/digersporlar/9888672.asp?m=1 competing in the women's recurve ARW2 event. Early years In 1992, at the age of eleven, she was paralyzed follo ...

- Disabled female archer and gold medalist at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

* Gizem Memiç - Former

Miss Turkey The Miss Turkey () is a national beauty pageant in Turkey. The pageant was founded in 1929, where the winners titled as Miss Turkey World, and Miss Turkey Supranational. History The Miss Turkey pageant was initially promoted by the newspa ...

titleholder who represented Turkey both in

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...

and

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Mi ...

in 2010 *

Hakan Fidan Hakan Fidan (born on 17 July 1968) is a Turkish politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs since June 2023. He was previously the director of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) from March 2010 until June 2023.''To ...

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

, former soldier, academic and the head of the

National Intelligence Organization loction 39°54'25.0"N 32°39'59.3"E The National Intelligence Organization (), also known by its Turkish language, Turkish initials MIT or MİT, or colloquially as the Organization (), is an intelligence agency of the Turkish government tasked ...

Haluk Akakçe Haluk Akakçe (1970 – 9 October 2023) was a Turkish contemporary artist living and working in New York and Istanbul whose work explored the intersections between society and technology through video animations, wall paintings and sound installat ...

- Painter and audiovisual artist *

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (; born 5 February 1968) is a Turkish diplomat and politician who is currently a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Grand National Assembly. He also served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Turkey), Minister o ...

- Diplomat and politician; current Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey * Hande Dalkılıç - Pianist * Seth Ariel Tongay - Material Scientist * Ibrahim Sirkeci - Professor of Transnational Studies and Marketing at

Regent's University London Regent's University London (formerly Regent's College) is a private university located in London, England. It is part of Galileo Global Education, Europe’s largest higher education provider. Regent's University London was established in 1984 ...

* Kaan Tangöze - Rock musician as known from Duman * Murat Han - Actor *

Nasuh Mahruki Ali Nasuh Mahruki (born 21 May 1968) is a professional mountaineer, writer, photographer and documentary film producer. He climbed to the summit of Mount Everest and was the first ever Turkish person to climb the Seven Summits. Early life He wa ...

- Mountaineer, first Turk to climb

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

and the founder of

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

team, AKUT * Nevşin Mengü - News reporter *

Orkut Büyükkökten Orkut Büyükkökten (born February 6, 1975) is a Turkish software engineer who developed the social networking services Club Nexus, inCircle and Orkut. He is a former product manager at Google. Early life and education Originally from Konya, ...

- Employee of

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

who developed the social networking service called

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Şahan Gökbakar Şahan Gökbakar (born 22 October 1980) is a Turkish comedian, actor and producer. Early life Born in İzmir, Gökbakar grew up in Turkey's capital, Ankara, attending the primary school and high school attached to the Middle East Technical Unive ...

- Comedian * Tamer Karadağlı - Actor *

Tarkan Gözübüyük Tarkan Gözübüyük (born 15 July 1970 in Erzurum) is the bass player of the Turkish heavy metal band Mezarkabul (known as ''Pentagram'' in Turkey). He is in relationship with Turkish actrist Janset over 20 years. Early life Born in 1970 in ...

- Musician as known from

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around ...

, producer * Vuslat Doğan Sabancı - Former chairwoman of ''

Hürriyet ''Hürriyet'' (, ''Liberty'') is a major List of newspapers in Turkey, Turkish newspaper, founded in 1948. it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Turkey at around 319,000. ''Hürriyet'' combines entertainment with news coverage and ...

'' * Yasemin Mori - Musician *

Yiğit Bulut Yiğit Bulut (born 1 January 1972, in Keşan, Edirne) is a Turkish journalist, conspiracy theorist, and since July 2013, a senior advisor to president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He was editor-in-chief at news channels Habertürk TV (2009–2012) and ...

- Journalist and a senior advisor to President

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

* Hatice Özer Ballı - Professor of applied econometrics in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

References

External links

* *
Bilkent Cyberpark
{{authority control Bilkent University 1984 establishments in Turkey