Middle East Technical University (METU) (Turkish: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, commonly abbreviated as ODTÜ) is an international university well known for its qualified scientific education and research in Ankara, Turkey. Most of its engineering departments are being periodically reviewed and deemed "substantially equivalent to similarly titled and accredited programs in the U.S.A." by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, which is the recognized U.S. accreditor of college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology. METU was founded in 1956 as a state university. The official language of instruction at METU is English.
| METU Emblem | |
| Motto | N/A |
|---|---|
| Type | Public |
| Established | November 15, 1956 |
| President | Ural AKBULUT |
Academic staff | 1,000 |
| Undergraduates | 20,000 |
| Postgraduates | 3,000 |
| Location | , |
| Campus | Suburban, 11,100 acres (45 km²), also 7,500 acres (30 km²) METU Forest |
| Member of | EUA |
| Mascot | N/A |
| Website | www.metu.edu |
METU Computer Center manages Turkey's Country Code Top-level Domain (ccTLD) (the ".tr" domain).
History
Middle East Technical University was founded by Vecdi Diker under the name "Orta Doğu Yüksek Teknoloji Enstitüsü" (Middle East High Technology Institute) on November 15th, 1956 to contribute to the development of Turkey and Middle East countries by creating a skilled workforce in the fields of natural and social sciences. "Arrangements and Procedures as for the Foundation of METU, Law No 6387" was enacted on January 29th, 1957. Finally, "Foundation Act No 7307", which sets forth the particular standing of METU and describes the conditions rendering METU as a juridical entity, was enacted on May 27th, 1959.
METU's presence brought about new methods and introduced innovations to Turkish higher education system manifesting METU as a pioneer of modern education nationwide. In its earliest years, one part of METU was located in a small building that belonged Social Security Office of Retirees at Kızılay's Müdafaa Street and the other part in the barracks behind the TBMM (Grand National Assembly of Turkey). In 1963, the university moved to its current location creating the first university campus of Turkey.
In 1956, the Department of Architecture initiated the first academic program at the university. In spring of 1957, Department of Mechanical Engineering launched its academic program. At the onset of 1957-1958 academic year, the Faculty of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Administrative Sciences were established. In 1959, the tasks undertaken to establish Faculty of Arts and Sciences were completed. The Faculty of Education launched its academic program in 1982. Today, there are a total of 41 undergraduate and 143 graduate programs taught in the faculties and graduate schools of METU.
Organization
Faculties and departments
METU has 41 academic departments, most of which are organized into 5 faculties. These are responsible for the undergraduate programs.
- Faculty of Architecture: Architecture, City and Regional Planning, Industrial Design
- Faculty of Arts and Sciences: Biology, Chemistry, History, Mathematics, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, Statistics
- Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences: Business Administration, Economics, International Relations, Political Science and Public Administration
- Faculty of Education: Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Educational Sciences, Elementary Education, Foreign Language Education, Physical Education and Sports, Secondary Science and Mathematics Education
- Faculty of Engineering: Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Engineering Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Food Engineering, Geological Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Mining Engineering, Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering
In addition to these, there are the Department of Basic English and the Department of Modern Languages in the School of Foreign Languages, Technical Vocational School of Higher Education, and bound to the President's Office, the Department of Turkish Language and the Department of Music and Fine Arts.
Graduate schools
The 5 graduate schools present in METU are responsible for the graduate programs.
- Graduate School of Applied Mathematics
- Graduate School of Informatics
- Graduate School of Marine Sciences
- Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences
- Graduate School of Social Sciences
Academics
Over 20,000 students have registered to METU in the 2003-2004 academic year and approximately 25% of these are enrolled in graduate programs. METU has 41 undergraduate programs within the faculties of Engineering, Architecture, Arts and Sciences, Economic and Administrative Sciences, and Education and there are 93 masters and 51 doctorate programs available in the graduate schools of Natural and Applied Sciences, Social Sciences, Informatics, Applied Mathematics and Marine Sciences. Marine Sciences conducts the academic program studies at Mersin-Erdemli.
The language of instruction at METU is American English. All enrolled students are required to have a degree of proficiency in English for academic purposes and this is assured by a proficiency examination before the commence of studies. Students with unsatisfactory knowledge of English are asked to follow a preparatory English education of one year, by the METU School of Foreign Languages.
Owing to the high quality academic education that emphasizes merit and excellence in scientific, cultural and intellectual studies, METU has become one of the most distinguished institutions in Turkey. As of 2004, the university employs 647 faculty (professors, associates professors etc.), 321 academic instructors, and over 1,400 research assistants. The total number of the alumni now is 543,726 (345,907 of which have completed undergraduate programs).
International perspective
Each year, between 800 and 1,200 students with various academic degrees from nearly 50 different foreign countries attend programs at METU. Undergraduate and graduate students from a number of countries attend METU as "Special Students" or "Exchange Students" for a semester or a year. METU currently has active student exchange programs with several foreign universities.
METU is a participant in the Socrates - Erasmus program of the European Commission, which has the aim of increasing student mobility within European Union, the European Economic Area countries, and the candidate countries of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.
METU library
The library has one of the largest collections in Turkey, it contains 348,260 books and 159,900 bound periodicals. The library subscribes to 11,000 electronic journals and has 1,500 print journal subscriptions, 50 online databases, over 1,780 book and serial CD's, 1,300 doctoral dissertations and 11,600 masters theses. Collections are predominantly in English but also in Turkish, German, and French.
Campus
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Main campus
METU main campus in Ankara, used by the university since 1963, is the first university campus of Turkey. It is situated about 20 km from central Ankara and encompasses an area of 11,100 acres (4,500 ha), of which 7,500 acres (3,043 ha) constitute the METU Forest. The campus grounds was transformed into a forest with the continuing help of students and volunteers since the foundation of the university. Lake Eymir, inside the campus, is used by the students and faculty for rowing and recreational activities. The campus is accessible by several types of public transport, and the construction of METU subway station on the entrance to the campus is near completion.
Northern Cyprus Campus
The new METU Northern Cyprus Campus, about 50 km west of Lefkoşa (Nicosia) on the island of Cyprus, admitted its first students during the academic year 2003 - 2004, but the doors were officially opened in Cyprus in September 2005.
Accomplishments
METU strives to maintain a high standard of education by international standards. All 13 departments of the Faculty of Engineering have been evaluated, at METU's request, by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and their programs were given approval by this board. Because of METU's effort to maintain international standards, the Faculty of Engineering was awarded in 1977 the "Silver Badge of Honor" by the UNESCO International Center for Engineering Education and the "Meritorious Achievement Award in Accreditation Activities" by the American Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
Environmental issues are among the serious concerns of the university. METU was the only university that was awarded the International 1995 Aga Khan Award for Architecture for its Forestation Program. This prize, coincidentally, was received when the 40th anniversary of METU was being celebrated.
METU-Technopolis
METU-Technopolis is the first science and research park of Turkey. Founded within the campus, it aims to facilitate the development of companies that conduct substantial research and development to produce high-tech products and services, through benefiting from METU's research capacity and information pool. Priority is given to companies executing research and development work on IT, advanced materials, energy, automotive, chemistry, biology and environment technologies.
Student life and culture
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The student life at METU is marked with the activities of student societies, political protests and festivals. The main campus hosts the annual METU Spring Festival, which is a five day long series of concerts and exhibitions and during which an opposition between the students and the school authority about the consumption of alcoholic beverages on campus is known to occur.
There are various traits shared by METU students, including the usage of an English - Turkish jargon (apparently stemming from the fact that English is the language of instruction) covering academic processes and student life, which might not be liked much by the students of other schools, and the omnipresent "hocam" (literally meaning "my teacher"), which is used by METU students to address anyone from bus drivers to senior faculty members.
Notable members
Faculty
- Cahit Arf (faculty 1968 - 1980) — Mathematician
- Halil Berktay (faculty 1992 - 1997) — Historian
- Feza Gürsey (faculty 1961 - 1974) — Mathematician and physicist
- Erdal İnönü (faculty 1964 - 1974) — Physicist and former politician
Alumni
- Taner Akçam (B.S. 1976) — Historian, sociologist and author
- Alev Alatlı (B.S. 1963) — Writer
- Ali Babacan (B.S. 1988) — Minister for economy
- Soner Büyükatalay — Mountaineer. Mt. Everest summiter
- Can Dündar (M.S. 1988, Ph.D. 1996) — Journalist
- Haydar Ergülen — Poet
- Şebnem Ferah — Singer
- Serkan Girgin (B.S., M.S.) — Mountaineer. Mt. Everest summiter
- Mustafa Halilsoy (Ph.D.) — Turkish Cypriot physicist
- Tunç Hamarat (B.S.) — Grandmaster and World Champion in correspondence chess
- Derya Köroğlu (B.S. 1979, M.S. 1983) — Musician (Yeni Türkü)
- Bora Maviş (B.S., M.S.) — Mountaineer. Summiter of Mt. Everest
- Eylem Elif Maviş (B.S., M.B.A.) — Mountaineer. First Turkish female summiter of Mt. Everest
- Burçak Özoğlu Poçan (B.A.) — Mountaineer. One of the four Turkish female summiters of Mt. Everest
- Serhan Poçan (B.S.) — Mountaineer. Summiter of Mt. Everest
- Süreyya Serdengeçti (B.A. 1979) — Economist. Former governor of the Central Bank of Turkey
- Mehmet Ali Talat — President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
- Ali Nihat Yazıcı (M.B.A. 1994) — Chess player
- Suna Yılmaz (B.S.) — Mountaineer. One of the four Turkish female summiters of Mt. Everest
External links
- Middle East Technical University (official web site)
- Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi (official web site in Turkish)
- METU Northern Cyprus Campus (official web site)
- METU Academic Units
- METU International Students and Study Abroad Office
- METU Library
- List of METU Student Clubs and Societies
- METU Campus Map
- Country Code Top-level Domain ".tr" managed by METU
- METU-Technopolis (official web site)
- radyo ODTÜ (METU Radio) (official web site)
- ODTÜ Mezun Portalı (METU Alumni Portal)
- Satellite Imagery of METU Campus (Google Maps)