Bilkent University – the first private, nonprofit university in Turkey – was founded on October 20, 1984, by Professor İhsan Doğramacı, M.D., with the fundamental aim of creating a center of excellence in higher education and research. The name “Bilkent” exemplifies this aim, since it is an acronym of “bilim kenti”: Turkish for “city of learning and science.” The faculty is comprised of an academic staff from around 40 different countries. Most of them were working in prominent universities in North America and Europe when they received offers from Bilkent University. According to ISI Citation Indexes, Bilkent ranks high in Turkey and internationally in number of published papers per faculty member.
Bilkent University has been ranked 41st in the Times Higher Education BRICS & Emerging Economies Rankings for 2016. The THE BRICS & Emerging Economies Rankings include institutions from the 48 countries classified as emerging economies (advanced and secondary) or “frontier economies” by FTSE. Institutions from 35 of these countries appear among the top 200 for 2016.
Involved Researchers:
The national coordinator Ass. Prof. Dr. Ioannis Grigoriadis is is associate Professor and Jean Monnet Chair of European Studies at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Bilkent University. In the academic year 2016, he is Senior Research Fellow at the German Institute of International Affairs (SWP) in Berlin. Educated at University of Athens, Columbia University and University of London, he has worked at Columbia University, Oxford University, Sabanci University, Isik University and University of Athens before becoming a permanent member of Bilkent University Ankara in 2009. His research interests include European, Turkish politics, nationalism and democratization processes. He speaks fluent Greek, English, German, Turkish, French, very good Russian and good Arabic and Italian. His recent publications include Instilling Religion in Greek and Turkish Nationalism: A “Sacred Synthesis”, (London & New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), Trials of Europeanization: Turkish Political Culture and the European Union, (London & New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), “Religious Courses in Turkish Public Education: Explaining Domestic Change with Europeanization Theory”, Journal of Church and State (forthcoming) (with Tugba Gurcel), “Reform Paradoxes: Academic Freedom and Governance in Greek and Turkish Higher Education”, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1, March 2012, pp. 135-152 (with Antonis Kamaras), “Hubris, Ate and Nemesis: Taking Stock of the Greek Crisis”, World Policy Journal, Vol. 28, No. 2, June 2011, pp. 73-82, “Friends No More?: The Rise of Anti-American Nationalism in Turkey”, Middle East Journal, Vol. 64, No. 1, Winter 2010, pp. 51-66, “Islam and Democratization in Turkey: Secularism and Trust in a Divided Society”, Democratization, Vol. 16, No. 6, December 2009, pp. 1194-1213.
KEAC-BSR 