Özyeğin University was founded on May 18, 2007 by the Hüsnü M. Özyeğin Foundation as a private, non- profit, entrepreneurial research university. From its campus in Çekmeköy on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, it brings together 7 faculties and 3 graduate schools, offering 25 undergraduate, 25 master’s, and 10 doctoral programmes taught mainly in English. The university is home to close to 8,000 students, including more than 1,100 international students, supported by over 650 academic staff, and it counts more than 12,000 alumni. Since its foundation, it has held to a clear ambition: to be a globally impactful entrepreneurial research university that turns knowledge into action and prepares graduates to lead systemic change.

Sustainability has been one of the university’s core values, treated not as a parallel agenda but as a decision lens woven through education, research, campus operations, and community engagement. The university’s mission is to integrate sustainability into decision-making processes, institutional strategies, and organizational culture, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion; strengthening responsible environmental practices; supporting transparent and accountable governance; and developing projects that create measurable social, environmental, and economic impact. In 2018, Özyeğin signed the United Nations Global Compact. Today its strategy is organised around five impact pillars: Transformative Education, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Social Justice and Inclusion, Environment and Climate Action, and Social Empowerment and Local Development, supported by a cross- cutting governance dimension. This framework is aligned with the UN 2030 Agenda, Türkiye’s 12th Development Plan, and the university’s own 2024 to 2029 Strategic Plan, and it is coordinated through the Sustainability Platform and QHSE Department and a cross-institutional Social Impact Committee.

The university’s environmental performance reflects this approach in practice as well. Özyeğin University was the first university in Türkiye to publish a carbon footprint report, doing so in 2020, and the first to receive the national Zero Waste Certificate. It was also the first university to publish a water footprint report, in 2023. Özyeğin University strengthens its sustainable campus transformation through a car-free campus approach, smart irrigation systems, digitalization practices, and innovative projects such as NEED4B and Legofit aimed at improving energy efficiency. Campus operations are carried out through management systems certified to ISO 9001, 14001, 46001, ISO 45001, and 50001. Three of its buildings hold LEED Gold certification, and since 2024, it has documented, through I-REC certificates, that all electricity purchased comes from renewable energy sources. In addition, solar energy is generated on campus. Building on these foundations, the university has set a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 by progressively reducing its Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.

This work has earned sustained international recognition. Özyeğin has been named the foundation university with the highest social impact in Türkiye in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for five consecutive years, and it has consistently ranked first among Turkish foundation universities in the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings. In 2025, Özyeğin became the only institution in Türkiye to receive the International Safety Award. Beyond rankings, its impact reaches into surrounding communities through programs such as the Social Impact Seed Fund, a Local and Rural Development Program that has trained more than 500 practitioners, a partnership with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on Agricultural Heritage Systems, and the work of its Gender Equality Office.

Özyeğin University has now published its second sustainability report and is moving to an annual impact-reporting cycle, shifting from individual initiatives to a fully integrated model of sustainability governance. With a motivated community of students, faculty, and staff, the university aims to serve as a reference institution for sustainable higher education at the regional, national, and global level.

Sustainability Website: https://surdurulebilirlik.ozyegin.edu.tr/

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If you would like to contact the university, please email us at [email protected] and we will be happy to connect you.