Founded in 1997 as a private non-profit institution, Kadir Has University (KHAS) is one of the leading mid-size universities in Turkey. The university has more than 6,000 undergraduate and around 1,000 postgraduate students. With an exceptional academic staff and a wide range of educational opportunities, as well as high levels of cooperation, interaction, and research capabilities coupled with strong international connections and a dedication to development, Kadir Has University has become a highly respected academic institution worldwide. KHAS also contributes to the vibrancy of Istanbul, supporting the economic, social, and cultural development of its neighbourhood as well as promoting concerts, exhibitions, and sports events.
KHAS is located on the shores of the Golden Horn on the historical peninsula of Istanbul, which was once the capital city of the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire. With 15 million inhabitants, the city is a dynamic center for business, finance, science, and the arts in the region, which extends from the Middle East to the Balkans. The city’s cosmopolitan character and its vibrant culture are a result of an eclectic mix of East and West, as well as old and new, making Istanbul a great place to study.
KHAS is a city university with an award-wining campus. The historical Tekel Cibali building, which was initially built as a state tobacco depot and cigarette factory in 1884, was later restored and outfitted as the central campus of the university with the latest in infrastructure. The restored building was awarded the prestigious Europa Nostra Award, which is given to the best restoration projects. While the campus is itself a hub of education and research, its historical museum and exhibition halls provide easy access to the cultural activities that Istanbul offers.
Kadir Has University encourages creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship in all of its academic activities in parallel with its long term strategies. For the last three years, the university has ranked in the top 50 universities in the University Entrepreneurship and Innovation Index List, announced by Turkey’s Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology. The university’s Innovation and Technology Transfer Research and Application Center (INEO) was awarded funding by TÜBİTAK in 2014 for capacity building.
The university, which has seven faculties, namely Engineering and Natural Sciences, Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, Management, Art and Design, Communications, Law, and Applied Sciences in addition to its three vocational schools, is dedicated to becoming a leader in university education in Turkey and its neighboring areas. The university’s seven faculties are home to 25 departments, and the vocational schools have a total of 9 departments. As a non-profit institution, the university focuses on quality rather than quantity and offers a wide range of scholarships for students in all departments.
Kadir Has University continues to provide education for students after graduation from undergraduate programs. The university offers 26 Master’s and 9 Doctoral degree programs in its graduate schools of social sciences and in science and engineering. The Graduate School of Social Sciences was launched in 2001 with two Master’s programs and in subsequent years the number of programs has rapidly increased to sixteen, four of which are Doctoral and twelve are Master’s programs in different areas of the social sciences. The Graduate School of Science and Engineering has ten Master’s and five PhD programs. Master’s programs are offered with thesis and non-thesis tracks so that students have an option for a future either in academia or in a technical field. In addition, the university offers four Master’s programs coordinated jointly with two international universities.
At Kadir Has University, we believe in the importance of scientific and technical research and dissemination of knowledge, in addition to education, to become an internationally competitive institution. To facilitate the realization of this vision, KHAS is making all efforts to increase its research potential and activities. With the launch of a strategy report in 2006, a historical decision was taken to shift the university’s orientation from education to research. Since 2004, 318 projects: 246 research (72 externally funded, 72 internally funded and 102 BAP projects), 20 consultancy, 43 activity and 9 infrastructure projects, most of which are funded by sources other than KHAS have been logged in its current research portfolio. More than half of these externally funded projects were initiated in the last four years. The total number of projects supported by TÜBİTAK, the leading governmental R&D support institution, reached 61, while the number of projects supported by the European Union reached 29.
We believe that the dissemination of the results of research is just as important as the research itself. For this reason, scholarly data, findings, methods, processes of research, and ideas resulting from research and events organized by academic units and research centers at KHAS are regularly shared with the general public for the benefit of the country as well as of humanity. In this regard, it should be pointed out that, among academics in Turkey, the faculty members at KHAS are the ones most frequently consulted by domestic and foreign media.
We are determined to be an “academic institution recognized for international quality” within the framework of our mission, vision and main principles as renewed in the KHAS 2015-2019 Strategic Plan. The plan foresees 163 actions and 24 targets arranged under five themes. Kadir Has University is committed to progress along the path towards being a third generation university while maintaining the traditional university functions.