Middle East Technical University (METU also known as ODTU in Turkish) was established in 1956 as a state university with an international mandate. English is used as the language of instruction at all levels in
all disciplines. The university has three campuses: Ankara (main campus, established in 1956), Mersin- Erdemli (established in 1975), and Northern Cyprus (established in 2005). METU/ODTU has 42 BS (first cycle) programs under 5 faculties and 167 MS/PhD programs (second and third cycles) under 5 graduate schools. The number of students in BS programs are 19,500 and 8,400 in MS and PhD programs with 270+ PhD graduates each year. Academic staff number exceeds 2,600 with 1,250 teaching staff.
METU/ODTU is a leading institution in various areas in Turkey including but not limited to research, technopark (technology development zone), internationalization policies and activities as well as in social responsibility activities. It was ranked the top university in Entrepreneurial and Innovative University Index in 2013 and 2014 by the Scientific and Technological Council of Turkey (TUBİTAK). In research, METU/ODTU has the highest share in EU competitive research funds brought to Turkey (% 11 among all institutions) and similarly, enjoys being the top institution in national competitive funds.
METU/ODTU has 2,300 international degree seeking students from more than 80 different countries as wellas hosts about 400 exchange students from all over the world. The number of Erasmus+ inter-university institutional agreements exceeds 600 along with an extra 500 agreements worldwide (excluding EU Erasmus+ zone). Since its foundation, METU/ODTU, as an international research university, has been the leading university in Turkey in terms of depth and breadth of international ties and the amount of funds generated from international research projects.
The University has completed the process of "Institutional Evaluation" by the EUA in 2002 and in 1991 all its engineering programs were accredited by the United States Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). METU/ODTU is going up in international rankings, 85th in the Times Higher Education Best Universities in the World list and in top 60 in the Most Reputable Universities list. Similarly, METU/ODTU is the top university in Turkey in other ranking systems such as QS, Webometrics and others. ODTU has 70 Turkish university partners in Turkey to train the future/junior academics of the newly established Turkish universities.