Middle East Technical University

Founded in 1956, the Middle East Technical University (METU), based in Turkey, specialises in the natural and social sciences. Its motto is: ‘Science is the truest guide in life.’

Architecture was the first academic programme to be taught at the university, which now offers 43 undergraduate, 107 post-graduate and 69 doctorate programmes to around 30,000 students.

METU is organised across five faculties – Architecture, Engineering, Administrative Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Education – and separate graduate schools of Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Informatics, Applied Mathematics, and Marine Sciences. 

Originally based within two small buildings, METU gradually grew in size. In 1963 it relocated to its current site in Ankara, becoming the first university campus in the country.

Today, METU is an internationally-focused institution, boasting more income from international research projects than any other Turkish university, with partnerships in place with such leading global organisations as NASA, NATO, the United Nations, the World Bank and Erasmus.

All METU's degree programmes are taught in English and the university is home to over 1,700 international students from almost 100 different countries.

In 2003 it opened an international campus in Northern Cyprus – the first overseas campus of a Turkish university.

Its main campus in Ankara is situated within 11,000 acres of land designed to resemble a forest, complete with a lake – Lake Eymir – which a focal point for students’ recreational activities. While its Erdemli campus, situated on the Mediterranean coast, is the site of META’s Graduate School of Marine Sciences.

Other METU facilities include Turkey’s first science and research development park. Known as METU Technopolis and located on its main campus, the park aims to act as a hub for high-tech start-ups.