The history of Istanbul Gelişim University (IGU) begins with the vision of the Gelişim Foundation for Education, Culture, Health and Social Services, led by chairman Abdülkadir Gayretli, whose goal was to create a world-class educational institution in Istanbul. On 14 June 2008, the Foundation officially established the Istanbul Gelişim Vocational School, which began enrolling students at a modern 285,000-square-meter campus in the Avcılar district on the European side of Istanbul. Just three years later, with the adoption of Law No. 6114 on 17 February 2011, the institution received full university status from the Council of Higher Education of Turkey (YÖK), marking the start of an impressive period of growth.
By the mid-2010s, the university had rapidly expanded its academic portfolio and attracted students from dozens of countries: international enrollment grew from 28 students from 9 countries in 2017 to 664 students from 56 countries in 2018, and the trend has continued to accelerate. Today, IGU is home to more than 30,000 students — including learners from over 103 countries — studying across 7 faculties, 1 graduate institute, 2 vocational schools and 1 school of applied sciences. The university offers 85 bachelor's programs, 68 daytime and 33 evening associate programs, 41 master's programs with thesis and 39 without, as well as 11 doctoral programs.
IGU holds the national record as the Turkish university with the largest number of internationally accredited programs: 65 programs are accredited by organizations such as AQAS (Germany), ABET (USA), AHPGS (Germany) and MÜDEK (Turkey), and IGU is the first and only university outside Germany to hold a seat on the AQAS board. In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2025, IGU is placed in the 1001–1200 band globally, with a research-quality rating of 473rd worldwide. In THE subject rankings, the university stands at 601–800 in "Business and Economics" and 501–600 in "Social Sciences".
The university also entered the top 300 of QS EECA 2021, ranking 58th for "International Faculty" and entering the top 100 for citations per paper. In the THE Impact Rankings 2025, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, IGU climbed into the 601–800 band, ranking 19th among all Turkish universities and 4th among foundation (private) universities. The Avcılar campus has more than 150 laboratories, 22 research centers covering fields such as renewable energy, digital technologies, medical technology and aerospace, a library with more than 30,000 physical volumes and extensive electronic resources, sports facilities, canteens, medical clinics and 78 student clubs.
Cooperation agreements with more than 130 universities around the world and 150 Erasmus+ agreements in 21 European countries provide IGU students with genuine global academic mobility.