First students of German university in İstanbul to start classes next year

11 October 2011, Tuesday / BJÖRN FINKE , İSTANBUL

The new Turkish-German university (TAU) in İstanbul will accept its first students in autumn 2012, Ziya Şanal, university rector, said on Monday evening.

The lectures will take place in provisional buildings, since the university’s premises will not be completed by that time. The foundation of the university, which as many as 5000 students will attend, was laid in Beykoz, a suburb on the Asian side of İstanbul, in October 2010.

The buildings might not be ready to host the students yet, but the institution already has an emblem. The organizers presented it in İstanbul on Monday evening. The logo was created at the end of a contest among mixed teams of design students at Anadolu University in Eskişehir and RheinMain University in Wiesbaden, Germany. The winning logo features the three initial letters of the university’s name, TAU, in the shape of flower petals. According to its designers, the logo symbolizes the connection between technology and nature at TAU. The institution – the biggest German university abroad — will focus on engineering, but at the same time will be committed to having a green campus.

The agreement to establish TAU was signed two-and-a-half years ago between the two countries. At that occasion, the German minister of education and research, Annette Schavan, said that the project could start in autumn 2009. Although this estimate has proven to be overly optimistic, there was a reason for the delay, namely disputes over the prospective curriculum.

Rita Süssmuth, president of the consortium representing the German universities involved in the bilateral project, said, “But now it looks realistic that we can start next autumn.” Rector Şanal added that the biggest challenges now are finishing the construction work on campus and acquiring “very good” faculty members.

Şanal is confident student demand for the university will be high. Both high school graduates from Germany and Turkey can apply. In addition to engineering, economics and law departments, the university will also offer degrees in natural and cultural sciences. The university degrees will be accepted in Germany and Turkey, and the language of education will be mainly German.

TAU is the first Turkish-German university. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would like to see a second bilateral university open its doors. “If a Turkish-German university is established in İstanbul, why shouldn’t a similar institution start in Germany’s capital Berlin?” he asked in March 2010 when Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Ankara. However, this idea has yet to find followers in Germany.

via First students of German university in İstanbul to start classes next year.