İstanbul University ranks among world’s top 500 universities

İstanbul University, which is one of the oldest and best-known institutions in Turkey, struggled with fights between academics and corruption in the past but is now operating smoothly. Now Professor Mesut Parlak, the current rector, is attempting to repair the damaged image of the university, caused by corruption, student fights and inappropriate discussions of university members at the administratıve level.

Rector Parlak: The past is over

After learning from Zaman daily that İstanbul University was selected among the top 500 world universities, Parlak expressed his satisfaction and said they were working to emphasize scientific research by transferring YTL 15 million to research funds in order to rank higher in the forthcoming top 500 list, possibly in the top 250. Not commenting on the earlier fights and discussions that took place at the university, Parlak said: “Our duty is to produce information, strengthen our academic structure, give the best education and produce research and projects. We are on the side of the secular and democratic republic, which supports the principles of Atatürk, national unity and a democratic state governed by the rule of law. We do not fight with anyone else. We do not care about people’s ideologies. We are an institution and our principles are clear. The duty of a university is to support each and every layer of society in its advanced fields. If a university is close to the rest of society and if it does not contribute to economics, health or industry, it cannot be a real university.”

Parlak added that the events of the past did not hang over the university. “Families sending their children to İstanbul University are no longer pessimistic about the future because the past events are over with,” he said.

Professor Tahir Hatipoğlu, former head of the University Members’ Association, said İstanbul University’s place on the top 500 list does not mean much when other Turkish universities were taken into consideration. He believes universities are getting political as institutions rather than fulfilling their educational duties. “There has been a decrease in scientific publications in Turkey. Professors and assistant professors are giving up on scientific work because academic work is being done only to promote [politics]. Academics are doing research just for money and politics. Fees for summer schools or makeup examinations are on their minds instead of doing science. I think the universities are going to go bankrupt. University members have their own political ideologies, of course, but universities are becoming political as institutions, and this is harmful. In particular, there are obstacles to communicating with the government. This situation needs to be fixed.”