Our faculty members, who have demonstrated outstanding success in research, patenting, and project development, received their awards at the YTÜ Academic Awards Ceremony. During the ceremony, awards were presented in 13 different categories, and our Rector, Prof. Dr. Eyüp Debik, shared the university’s international vision and goals for the new term. 

Organized to highlight YTÜ’s academic and scientific potential, the YTÜ Academic Awards Ceremony was held at the Davutpaşa Congress and Culture Center. At the ceremony, our Rector, Prof. Dr. Eyüp Debik, along with our Vice Rectors, Prof. Dr. Vatan Karayaka and Prof. Dr. Güleda Engin, and our deans, presented awards to our faculty members who demonstrated excellence in research, publications, national and international projects, sustainable achievement, and national/international patents and utility models. 

In 2025, the number of faculty members publishing in journals in the top quartile (Q1 and Q2) of the international literature exceeded 700. The Faculties of Science and Letters, Chemistry and Metallurgy, and Civil Engineering led the way in high-quality publication output.

At the ceremony, which highlighted multidisciplinary success and sustainable academic quality, individuals who have made significant contributions to science and technology were invited to the stage to receive certificates of achievement.

"We will reach the top 100 by 2031"

Speaking at the ceremony, YTÜ Rector Prof. Dr. Eyüp Debik outlined the university’s internationalization efforts and its rising success in projects and patent development. He shared the work being done toward the goal of entering the world’s top 100 universities. 

Prof. Dr. Debik emphasized the importance of collective wisdom and collaboration in achieving the goals set upon taking office, stating, “Last year, we had mentioned the top 500, but based on the evaluations, we were directed toward the top 100. We will achieve this goal by 2031.” 

Highlighting that efforts are ongoing to hire 50 foreign faculty members from abroad and that a new bureaucratic infrastructure has been established, Rector Debik noted that they will launch joint graduate programs with institutions in countries such as Azerbaijan, Hungary, and Poland to enhance international quality. 

Debik mentioned that work is underway on a digital campus and that models developed by foreign universities are being examined, adding that they aim to complete the process by 2027. 

"Work that does not serve the nation’s needs is of no use to us"

Sharing incentive packages aimed at improving the quality of academic output with the participants, Prof. Dr. Debik noted that they have significantly increased budgets for scientific research projects (BAP), and that incentives of 60,000 TL are now being provided to winners of national projects and 100,000 TL for international projects. 

Emphasizing that a new metric has been adopted in scientific publication policies, Debik said, “From now on, we will base our evaluations entirely on the Scopus index instead of Web of Science (WoS).”  

“Let’s undertake projects that produce solutions to the nation’s problems”

Highlighting that the university’s global visibility will be strengthened through the YTU Publishing initiative established in London and preparations for international certification, Debik drew attention to the societal impact of scientific research:

"There is little benefit in turning a study that won’t serve as a remedy for any of the nation’s wounds into a project and publishing a paper from it. We must absolutely undertake projects that produce solutions to the nation’s problems."

Internationalization Initiative

According to information provided by our Rector in his presentation and speech, YTÜ, which operates with the vision of ranking among the world’s top 100 universities, is taking strategic steps to increase the number of international researchers and students. In this context, it is launching dual graduate programs to expand scholarship opportunities for researchers and open-access funding support.

The university is implementing structural transformations to accelerate on-campus internationalization and is establishing strong collaboration networks with foreign institutions. Within this vision, global initiatives such as YTU Publishing and the YTU Certification Hub have been launched, while the YTU Monthly newsletter has been released to readers.

Steady Rise in the THE Rankings

Continuing its steady rise in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, YTU secured a position in the 601–800 band in 2026. With this momentum, the university has once again demonstrated its global competitiveness and quality.

QS World University Rankings

Rapidly increasing its academic visibility on the international stage, YTÜ rose to the 731–740 range in the 2026 QS World University Rankings. Additionally, it achieved a significant milestone by increasing the number of fields ranked in the QS Subject Rankings from 6 last year to 12 this year.

In the 2026 QS subject rankings, the university’s engineering and architecture departments achieved major global success. Architecture (151–200), Civil Engineering (201–275), Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (251–300), and Chemical Engineering (301–350) stood out as the top-ranked departments.

We are ranked 48th in GreenMetric

Driven by its vision of sustainability and an eco-friendly campus, YTÜ continues its steady rise in the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings. Thanks to this consistent track record of success, the university has reached 48th place globally as of 2025.

Rising in the research university rankings

As one of Turkey’s leading centers of science, YTÜ is raising its success bar in the YÖK Research Universities 2025 Ranking. Moving up one more step, YTÜ secured the 6th position, thereby validating its research capacity.

Steady increase in international projects

The number of international projects led and supported by our university, which strengthens global collaborations, is steadily increasing year by year. Thanks to this upward trend, the total number of international projects reached 54 as of 2025.

At the top in patents

According to the PatentEffect 2025 Report, YTÜ is the patent champion both in Turkey and Europe, ranking first in 10 out of 20 technology fields and in international applications. YTÜ has held the top spot in European Patent Applications for three consecutive years and secured second place among state universities in the number of commercialized patents.

Research Budget Target: 500 Million TL

With the addition of 21 new groups in 2026, a total of 61 interdisciplinary research groups will conduct scientific studies within the university. Allocating a budget of 125 million TL and 50 million TL in internal funding for research groups, YTÜ has set its total project budget target for 2026 at 500 million TL.

BAP Budgets 

The budgets for Scientific Research Projects (BAP), which serve as the heart of scientific research, continue to grow steadily on an annual basis. As a result of strategic investments, this research budget reached 106.6 million TL as of 2025.

Publication Incentives 

To support high-quality scientific output, the university is significantly increasing incentive amounts by implementing the "quality incentives for quality publications" model. Under the new regulations, the incentive amount for scientific publications in the top tier (Q1) has increased from 5,000 TL to 60,000 TL.

TÜBA-GEBİP and High Performance Awards

At the ceremony, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emrah Şefik Abamor was honored with the Turkish Academy of Sciences Outstanding Young Scientist (TÜBA-GEBİP) Award. 

Throughout 2025, 10 research assistants, 7 instructors, 12 assistant professors, 10 associate professors, and 10 professors—who demonstrated the highest performance based on their academic ranks—were invited to the stage and honored for their contributions to the institution’s development.

Sustainable Success in Academia

One of the most significant categories demonstrating the sustainability of academic quality within the university was “Academics Who Have Taken the Stage for Three Consecutive Years of Performance.” Nine individuals who maintained consistently high performance throughout 2024, 2025, and 2026 were specially honored at the ceremony. 

The academics who achieved consistent success were as follows:

• Prof. Dr. İbrahim Dinçer
• Prof. Dr. Ozan Erdinç
• Prof. Dr. Seydi Ahmet Satıcı
• Prof. Dr. Sezgin Bakırdere
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Görkem Kökkülünk
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kerim Koç
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Müslüm Özışık
• Lecturer Dr. Pelin Pelit Arayıcı
• Research Assistant Dr. Tarık Ömür