Altınbaş University Celebrated its 16th Anniversary

Altınbaş University celebrated its 16th anniversary with a special ceremony. One-year evaluations came to the forefront in the opening speeches of the ceremony.

The ceremony held at Fatma Altınbaş Conference Hall was attended by administrative and academic staff, as well as Deputy Mayor of Bağcılar Municipality Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ertuğrul Selçuk Güldüler, District Governor of Bağcılar Abdullah Uçgun, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Ali Altınbaş, Chairman of Mehmet Altınbaş Education and Culture Foundation Vakkas Altınbaş and Mehmet Altınbaş Education and Culture Foundation Board Member Sofu Altınbaş and University Rector Prof. Dr. Çağrı Erhan.

Ali Altınbaş, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, said that efforts will continue to be made to become a university that produces more science and contributes to society and said, “Today, as we celebrate our 16th anniversary, we know that it takes between 10 and 15 years for a university to gain an institutional identity. In this context, we are proud to say that we have achieved the characteristic of being an adult institution by leaving 16 years behind. The increasing participation in international scientific studies, which we have been working on meticulously since its establishment, is a source of great satisfaction for both our students and faculty members. This situation contributes to the strengthening of our education brand in the national and international arena and our progress towards becoming an institution that makes scientific contributions.”

Ali Altınbaş, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, stated that at this point, he appreciates the work of all employees of the University to strengthen the education brand and said, “We know that they contribute to the work with great devotion. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our employees. In the ever-changing order of the world, we cannot ignore the fact that the size of the land has lost its importance, and the most important thing is the knowledge produced and the contribution of this knowledge to the society and the country. Today, when wars and the understanding of colonialism have changed, we can clearly see how we, as a family, are in the right position in this journey of science, technology and awareness. If we want to compete with the world and contribute to the development of our country, we must continue to produce in this nest of science. Thanks to this production, the future of our country will be enlightened in the light of science and technology.”

In his opening speech, Altınbaş University Rector Prof. Çağrı Erhan touched upon the successes achieved in recent years and said: “Our university has become an important higher education institution that is recognized, known, respected, cooperated with, sent and accepted students, sent and accepted faculty members, not only in Istanbul and Türkiye but also in our region. We do not use childhood expressions like we did 7-8 years ago. We are now a university that has reached the age of adulthood, adding value to its quality and size every year and expanding. With your contributions, we look to our future with hope.” Prof. Dr. Çağrı Erhan reminded that 51 percent of the total number of students at the university consists of international students in accordance with the internationalization policy and said:
“We have students from 105 different countries of the world. According to 2024 figures, 51 percent of the total number of students at our university consists of international students. In this context, we maintain our first position in Türkiye. It is the only Turkish university in the top 100 in the world. In line with our internationalization goal, we broke our own record this year by sending the highest number of our students and staff to exchange programs abroad within both Erasmus and bilateral academic collaborations. Again, according to the Scopus Academic Database list, which indexes valuable articles at the international level, Altınbaş University ranked 31st among universities in Türkiye and 11th among foundation universities in the category of impact in the 2024 university rankings. We added a new one to our academic achievements by ranking 49th among universities and 16th among foundation universities in the innovation field category.”

Prof. Dr. Erhan also underlined that they have been included in many accreditations as an institution and announced that they have become a full member of the Union of Turkic World Universities as a new development. Erhan said, “It is a union where only quality institutions in the Turkic world take part and we are very happy about this membership. We will continue to grow our cooperation with our stakeholders in a very wide geography.”

Prof. Dr. Erhan also said that Altınbaş University is one of the 2 universities in Türkiye to receive the EU Horizon Project and added, “We have brought a 7 and a half million Euros project to our University in this way. We would like to thank everyone who was instrumental in us receiving the project.” 

In the ceremony, the 7th Service Year Award was also presented to academic and administrative staff who have been serving at the university for 7 years. In order to crown the success of graduates, Outstanding Graduate Awards were given in 4 different categories.

The ceremony ended after a group photo session.