![]()
 |
Istanbul Technical University
|
|
|
|
The history of the Istanbul Technical University dates back to the Ottoman period, to the reign of Sultan Mustafa III. The Muhendishane -i Bahr-i Humayun (Imperial School of Naval Engineering), founded in 1773 as the first institution in the Ottoman Empire to offer instruction in engineering in the Western sense, trained personnel in boat building and the preparation of maritime charts. The founder of the school, which was located in the Golden Horn Dockyard, was the Hungarian noble, Baron de Tott.
Baron de Tott , who played an important role in Ottoman reform, himself taught in the school. The first head teacher was Seyyid Hasan Hoca of Algiers, who is credited with a knowledge of several foreign languages as well as a training in marine engineering. The school library is said to have contained a number of technical works translated from foreign languages.
The Muhendishane-i Berr-i Humayun was founded in 1795 during the reign of Selim III for the training of artillery officers. Instruction in the school, which was actually an enlargement of the Mühendishane -i Bahr-i Humayun, extended over four years. Selim III gave great importance to the development of this school and sent books from the Topkapi Palace Library. He also facilitated the founding of a printing press in the school while at the same time contributed to the school equipment by donating a number of observation and measuring instruments.
The curriculum of the school included subjects such as military engineering, cannon manufacture, artillery and astronomy. French teaching personnel played a very important part in the foundation and development of the school. The building, which stood on a site at Haskoy beside the column on the northern side of the present Golden Horn Bridge, was finally demolished.
In 1847 architecture was added to the curriculum of the Muhendishane-i Berr-i Humayun and taught in accordance with Western methods. In 1883 the Muhendishane-i Berr-i Humayun was converted into a Hendese-i Mulkiye (Mathematical College) and in 1909, under the name Muhendis Mekteb-i Alisi, began to teach civil engineering and to train engineers.
The foundation of the Republic was followed by a reorganisation of teaching of civil engineering and architecture and the Muhendis Mekteb-i Alisi adopted a curriculum that included road building, railroad construction, water supply networks and architectural construction. In 1929 the teaching of architecture was broadened in adding a construction department to the existing water and road branches. The Yuksek Muhendis Mektebi, which produced its first graduates in 1931, devoted itself to the training of the technical personnel required for public works in Republican Turkey. In the 1940s, the teaching faculty of the school was greatly strengthened by the addition of teachers who had been obliged to abandon their positions in Germany and Switzerland because of the war, and, as a result of their participation, the school attained a leading position in technical education in Turkey. The school was first housed in the old barracks buildings at Gumussuyu but the school was later enlarged following its transfer to the Arsenal at Taskisla and Macka and the number of students and teachers greatly increased. In 1944 the Yuksek Muhendis Mektebi was converted into the Istanbul Technical University (ITU). At first the teaching faculty was quite restricted but it later broadened with the development of new fields of expertise.
|