İstanbul Bilgi University is a non-profit institution of higher education with over 20.000 students (50% of whom are on scholarship) and nearly 1,000 academicians. BİLGİ offers undergraduate and graduate programmes in social sciences, economics, business, communications, arts, law, engineering and architecture. Since it’s establishment in 1996, BİLGİ is known for adopting an open-minded position in important social and political debates in Turkey and has been involved in discussions and debates concerning the EU integration process but also on sensitive social and societal issues.

The “European vocation” of Bilgi has in fact led to the launch of the Centre for European Studies which, later in 2007, became the “European Institute”. The European Institute undertakes in-depth research on EU politics and policies with a specific emphasis on diversity and pluralism. Building on EU expertise acquired within BİLGİ, the European Institute is now the primary focus for the interdisciplinary study of processes of integration in the politics, legal systems, society and economies of Europe.

To this end, the European Institute supports interdisciplinary academic programs on EU studies and undertakes interdisciplinary research with primary focus on themes such as processes of integration, Europeanization, multiculturalism, diversity, and construction of European identities.

Besides many other EU funded (numerous FP7 projects)  and international projects, the Institute has been awarded a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence Award (2013), two Jean Monnet Chairs, and several other Jean Monnet modules and Learning EU at School Projects.
The European Institute is also active in outreach projects and is involved in training Turkish high school students and teachers in fundamental values linked to EU such as human rights, pluralism and diversity.

İstanbul Bilgi University’s European Institute has been selected for “Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence” with the "European Values at School - EUducate" project. Having received a very high score during the evaluation process, BİLGİ thus became the fourth university to be nominated as “Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence “ in Turkey as a result of intensive academic work on European Integration since 1996.

İstanbul Bilgi University has already been awarded three Jean Monnet Modules for highly specialised teaching on EU development in the fields of political science, economy and international relations as well as two Jean Monnet Chairs within the European Institute and the Department of International Relations in 2011 and 2013. The “Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence “ which is the latest award received by BİLGİ within the framework of Life Long Learning Programme, will provide an enhanced support for interdisciplinary academic studies and research on European Integration as well as for public activities on Europe and the EU.

Institute Staff

Prof. Ayhan KAYA (Director)

Faculty Member, PhD Özge ONURSAL-BEŞGÜL (Vice Director, Dept. of International Relations)

Didem BALATLIOĞULLARI, MA (Institute Projects Professional)

Dr. Deniz Güneş YARDIMCI (DAAD Research Fellow, Lecturer)

Emre GÖNEN, MA (Dept. of International Relations)

Prof. Laurent BAECHLER (Programme Director, CIFE )

 

Academic Board

Prof. Nurhan YENTÜRK (Dept. Of Economics)

Prof. Erkan SAKA (Dept. of Media)

Faculty Member, PhD İdil Işıl GÜL (Faculty of Law)

Faculty Member, PhD Büke BOŞNAK (Dept. Of International Relations)

 

Executive Board

Prof. Aslı TUNÇ (Dept. of Media)

Prof. Serdar KARABATI (Dept. of Business)

Faculty Member, PhD Azer KILIÇ (Dept. of Sociology)