Koç University

Koç University, a private higher education institution in Istanbul founded by the Vehbi Koç Foundation (VKV). It opened on a temporary campus in İstinye in 1993 and moved to a permanent campus in Rumelifeneri in 1999. Its mission as an exemplary educational and research institution is to bring together highly talented young people and skilled educational staff to support the development of creative, world-class graduates who can think critically and contribute to science on a global scale.

History
The management of the VKV, including Vehbi Koç and members of the Koç family, began working on the idea of founding a university after establishing Koç Private High School (see Koç School) in 1988. At a meeting of the VKV Board of Directors in September 1988, the decision was taken to set up a University Executive Committee and compile a feasibility report. The report was prepared by Professor Bülent Gültekin, Professor Özer Ertuna, Professor Işık İnselbağ and Professor Seha Tiniç. As a result of the committee’s investigation, it was concluded that the university should start as a small-scale but high-standard facility. It would be independently run, selecting its own students, and provide the most talented young people with an education of the highest quality that would enable them to contribute to the country as soon as possible; it would aim to be a “perfect” learning institution and a “center of excellence”. For the first stage, the report proposed a structure comprising three units: College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Administrative Sciences and Economics and the Graduate School of Business.

At the meeting of the VKV Board of Directors on December 20, 1989, the decision was taken to “found a university providing English-language education under the name Koç University”; the University Executive Committee was placed in charge of planning the investment, design and preparations for the official application. It was envisaged that the project would be financed by an investment fund composed of donations made by Koç Holding companies to the VKV over a five year period and that a working fund would also be established inside the VKV.

During the process of setting up the university, a number of unexpected bureaucratic and administrative difficulties were encountered regarding the legal procedure for establishing a foundation university, allocating land to the university, modifying construction plans, and managing the construction process. Tamer Şahinbaş was made director of Koç University (KU) in February 1990, after the foundation management took the decision to appoint an executive manager to solve these and other issues.

Following three years of work, KU’s establishment was legally completed on March 5, 1992, when the law relating to the establishment of the university was passed by the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The VKV Board of Directors designated the KU Board of Trustees on March 9, 1992. Rahmi M. Koç was chair of the board, which included Suna Kıraç, Ömer M. Koç, Can Kıraç, M. Fahir İlkel, Yavuz Alangoya, Bülent Gültekin and Tamer Şahinbaş. On March 16, 1992, Tamer Şahinbaş was appointed founding president of KU.
  On April 26, 1992, a ministerial cabinet granted a plot measuring 160 hectares, known as Mavromoloz State Forest, inside the borders of Rumelifeneri village to KU for a period of 49 years. However, when it emerged that construction work could not begin immediately, the search began for a temporary campus so that teaching could start sooner. Ultimately, the decision was taken to transform the old Türkay match factory in İstinye into a campus; the factory was already owned by the VKV and being used as a warehouse. The necessary arrangements were made over a short period of about nine months and by September 1993, the KU İstinye Campus was made serviceable, with classrooms, laboratories, a library, a gymnasium, cafe and canteen.
  The university’s academic structure was also formed during this period. Following recruitment work carried out by a research committee, composed of Suna Kıraç, Bülent Gültekin and Tamer Şahinbaş, decisions were taken to appoint Professor Seha Tiniç as president, Professor Seymour Smidt as dean of the College of Administrative Sciences and Economics, and Professor Attila Aşkar as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

KU began teaching 189 undergraduate and 42 postgraduate students at its İstinye Campus on October 4, 1993. Vehbi Koç taught the university’s first class on the same day, summarizing his expectations for the university, while referencing his own experiences. KU was formally declared open on October 12, 1993, and produced its first graduates in 1995, when a group of students completed MBAs. The undergraduate degree programs produced their first graduates in 1997.