Istanbul University, the oldest, largest and the most deep-rooted university in Turkey, dates back to 1453 with the opening of Istanbul by the Ottoman army led by Sultan Mehmet al-Fateh. The Sultan noted the importance of Istanbul as a geographical link between the Asian and European continents and sought to develop them scientifically and culturally A large and important educational center.
Initially, Muhammad al-Fateh established Istanbul University as an educational school, and after its establishment, most scholars from Samarkand to Fez began to arrive after Muhammad’s official invitation to them.
The educational stage at Istanbul University began with the Church of St. Sophia, which was converted into a mosque after the conquest of Istanbul and the Zeirak church next to the Hagia Sophia. These two churches are the basic structural roots of Istanbul University.
Its graduates have always held key positions in the state, Turkish educational institutions, the economy and the government sector. The university has many faculties spread across several parts of Istanbul, but the university’s main campus is in Bayezid Square.
There are currently 60,000 university students and 8,000 post-graduate students. The university has 6,000 employees. The University of Istanbul is the oldest university in the world. It is one of the top 15 universities out of 136 universities. Academic standards, with more than 5,000 professors, are among the top 500 universities in the world.
Among the graduates are former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Pasha Said, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, and Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. Between 1971 and 1984, the image of the gate of the main entrance of the campus was printed on the 500 Turkish lira.
The University of Istanbul is one of the top 10 universities in Turkey and has ranked in the top 500 universities worldwide for its prestigious position in all scientific, cultural and social fields over the years.
The university has 74,000 university students, 8,000 graduate students and 5,300 faculty members. The university has about 20 colleges, 16 institutes, 35 research centers, and Turkish and English.
The university library is a library that is not without a book, and here are a few numbers about it:
• 94 years of service
• 120 thousand books
• 93 thousand rare archaeological publications
• 36 thousand rare photographs
All this in the “Library without a missing book,” so called the library of the Istanbul University because it is the only one containing all the books printed in Turkey.