Report Cards of Our Universities in THE 2025 Rankings
- Sabancı University
Has continued its upward trend since 2022 and this year reached the highest total score among all our universities since 2016. - Koç University
Has also been on the rise since 2021 and in the latest ranking achieved the second highest total score in the country since 2016. - METU (Middle East Technical University)
Has been improving since 2019. METU, which has shown the sharpest rise among Turkish universities, nearly doubled its 2016 score in six years and is by far the top public university.
These three universities are well ahead of our other universities in the rankings. Sabancı is on the verge of entering the 301–350 band. Since 2016, Sabancı and Koç have shared the top two spots, while METU has climbed from 7th to 3rd place.
- ITU (Istanbul Technical University)
Has been on the rise since 2021 and reached its highest total score since 2016. This score is even higher than the top university score in the 2021 rankings. - Boğaziçi University
Raised its score in all categories this year, reaching its highest score since 2016. Considering the difficult period the university is going through, I find the success of its academics noteworthy. - Bilkent University
Raised its score in all criteria except the last one, reaching its highest score since 2016. Until 2020, Bilkent was among the top three in the country, but as it could not keep up with the score increases of other universities, it dropped a bit in the national ranking.
As can be seen, all six of our universities in the top 800 have consistently increased their scores. As I emphasized in my previous article, the reason for the drop in rankings is not a decline in the performance of our universities, but rather the increase in the number of ranked institutions and especially the significant investments made in universities in developing countries like China.
- Çankaya University
After climbing into the top 500 in 2020 thanks to an academic who published 349 articles, Çankaya University has been declining. Those curious about its ranking can refer to Sultan Uçar’s article in Sözcü (January 28, 2022). - Kadir Has University
The surprise of the year for those not closely following academia. With 5,000 students and 200 academics, Kadir Has is one of the smallest universities in the ranking, but thanks to its citation performance, it ranked 8th in the country. Those who follow the school know the importance it has placed on research in recent years. This ranking performance is likely to improve further. - Hacettepe University
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of this study. Hacettepe doubled its score between 2016 and 2021, ranking 3rd in the country and 501–600 in the world in 2021. However, in subsequent years, it stagnated and was overtaken by other universities, dropping to 9th in the country and 849th in the world. - Yıldız Technical University (YTU)
Entered the ranking for the first time in 2022 in the 1001–1200 band and has been in the 801–1,000 band for two years. Except for industrial income, this university has room for improvement in all areas, and I expect it to progress further. - Bahçeşehir University
Entered the top 1,000 for the first time in 2022, rose to the 601–800 band the following year, but has dropped to the 801–1,000 band for two years, mainly due to a decline in industrial income. It may be difficult for this university to climb higher. - Özyeğin University
The last of our universities in the top 1,000, Özyeğin has been in the 801–1,000 band since 2023. As someone who knows this university closely, I believe its education and research scores have significant room for improvement. With the right steps, it could at least move up to the 601–800 band.
I congratulate all our universities that succeeded in the latest THE ranking. I believe the improvements in the performance of most should be recognized. Given current circumstances, I do not find it realistic to expect our universities to rise much higher in the rankings (such as into the top 100 or even top 200).