Paid Private Universities in Istanbul Compared - LATEST 2026

Every university on this page is private, charges tuition and is based in Istanbul. All fifteen have dormitories and take applications through StudyLeo, so you can compare them on age, size and the programs each one runs.

Sabancı University is the oldest, founded in 1994, and also the smallest, with 5,168 students. Haliç University and Bahçeşehir University followed in 1998. The rest opened later: Istanbul Aydin University in 2007, Istanbul Gelisim University in 2008, Uskudar University in 2011 and Istinye University, the youngest, in 2015.

Size varies widely. Istanbul Aydin University has 50,000 students, Istanbul Medipol University 46,488 and Istanbul Gelisim University 39,052. Uskudar University has 24,000 and Bahçeşehir University 20,347. Istanbul Yeni Yuzyil University, with 18,347, İstanbul Esenyurt University, with 15,500, and Altinbas University, with 13,800, sit in the middle. Istanbul Gedik University, at 6,254, is close to Sabancı in size.

Fees are set per program, and teaching can be in English or Turkish depending on the program. Pick a few universities that match the size you want, then compare the programs in your field at each one.