Founded in 1996 by the Istanbul Education and Culture Foundation (İSTEK), Yeditepe University aims to educate young people who are contemporary, inquisitive, innovative, technologically proficient, familiar with world cultures, and grounded in a strong sense of self, guided by Atatürk’s principles and supported by distinguished academic and administrative staff. Through its contemporary academic programs and practices, the University delivers an education aligned with the demands of the information age.
Yeditepe University conducts its academic activities through 13 faculties, namely Computer and Information Sciences, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Education, Fine Arts, Law, Economics and Administrative Sciences, Communication, Humanities and Social Sciences, Architecture, Engineering and Natural Sciences, Health Sciences, and Medicine, as well as 1 vocational school, offering a total of 70 undergraduate and 4 associate degree programs. In addition, graduate education is provided through 91 master’s programs and 45 doctoral programs within the Institute of Graduate Studies. Since its establishment, Yeditepe University, whose medium of instruction is English, has been preparing young people from all across Türkiye for life at its 26 Ağustos Campus.
Yeditepe University provides education at its 26 August Campus, which was designed and built to meet students’ educational, cultural, artistic, athletic, and social needs. Located on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, in the foothills of Kayışdağı, the 26 August Campus covers 125,000 square meters and has a total indoor area of 223,000 square meters. Inspired by Seljuk architecture, the campus includes educational buildings, social facilities, and open spaces, as well as two separate student residences surrounding these buildings, with a total capacity of 3,637 students.
Recognized as the leading foundation university in Türkiye in the 2017 and 2018 GreenMetric evaluations, an international platform assessing sustainability and environmental awareness and ranking the world’s greenest universities, Yeditepe University also achieved another distinction by becoming the only university in Türkiye capable of generating its own energy through a rooftop solar power system installed on campus. This system, the largest rooftop installation implemented in Istanbul, has a capacity of 1 MW and was built using 3,850 Axitec panels and Huawei inverters. Work has also begun on a 350 kW wind energy investment on university-owned land in Şile. In addition, efforts are ongoing to expand the solar energy system to a total capacity of 10 MW.
The buildings on campus are entered through grand gates, some reaching heights of up to 22 meters. With their spacious, well-lit courtyards, they reflect a modern interpretation of Seljuk architecture's defining features. The exterior surfaces of the buildings, which blend Seljuk and modern architectural elements, are clad in natural stone sourced from Anatolia. To keep the buildings cool in summer and warm in winter, Ünye stone was used on the façades, while polyurethane was used as insulation material.
