Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering

The Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering have four academic units
including the departments of Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials
Engineering and Food Engineering and Bioengineering Program.
The Chemical Engineering Program is one of the relatively younger programs of the
Istanbul Technical University of 237 years of age, which is the oldest engineering school
in the country. The Chemical Engineering education at the Istanbul Technical University
was initiated in the Maçka Technical School in 1958 as a four-year program issuing
undergraduate degrees, and the first class of chemical engineers was graduated in 1962.
The Faculty of Chemistry was founded in 1963 and a five-year program issuing graduate
degrees (equivalent to an M.S. degree) in Chemical Engineering was pursued in between
1963 - 1969. A transition to separate undergraduate and graduate programs of four and
two years, respectively, was realized in 1969. The Faculty of Chemistry was organized as
six divisions (analytical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physical
chemistry, industrial chemistry and chemical engineering fundamentals) in those years.
In 1982, the latter two divisions (industrial chemistry and chemical engineering
fundamentals) offering about 60% of the undergraduate courses at the time, were
restructured to form the Program of Chemical Engineering in the Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, while the other four divisions were reorganized as the Chemistry Program in the Faculty of Science and Letters.
The education of metallurgical engineering in Turkey started in 1961 with the foundation
of the Metallurgical Engineering Program in ITU within the Faculty of Mining. In 1976,
the program became an independent faculty; but following the restructuring and
reconstruction of the Turkish Higher Education Council, it became a part of the newly
established Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering in 1982. In 1998, the name
of program has changed to the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, taking into
consideration the country’s changing needs, world trends, scientific approaches and
technologies. The Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Program’s 49 year-old
“cooperation and consensus” have always been her guiding principles throughout these
years. The program’s continuous effort to improve itself has been reflected in its students
who have become among the most sought after graduation in domestic industry. The
graduates have been very successful abroad, in industry, as well as in research and
academic institutions. The majority of the faculty members have also been serving in
other universities’ metallurgical and materials engineering programs of Turkey (over 10
programs) most of whom are holding Ph.D. degrees received abroad. Most of the
program’s graduates work in leading institutions in Turkey.
The Food Engineering program of the Istanbul Technical University is the first being
offered in Istanbul. The Program admitted the first students in the 1990-1991 academic
year. ITU Food Engineering presently offers both undergraduate and graduate programs.
The graduates are successfully recruited by a variety of food companies and some have
been accepted to graduate programs. The full-time faculty of the Food Engineering
Program has a broad range of technical interest and expertise, and their diverse
backgrounds are quite consistent with the multi-disciplinary nature of the food
engineering discipline. The program has been evaluated to be substantially equivalent to
the programs offering a similar degree in the US by ABET in 2003 and accredited in 2010.
Bioengineering, started in 2006 is a dual-diploma; interdisciplinary and paid program
being carried out by the Istanbul Technical University (ITU) and the Montana State
University (MSU). The main aim of the program is to educate students as bioengineers
acknowledged in the international level. Students complete their degrees by working
equal time at both universities. The freshman and junior courses are taught by ITU,
sophomore and senior courses are taught by MSU. For graduation, the students must
meet the program requirements of both partner universities. The language of courses
offered in the program is English. Thus the students are required to meet sufficient level
of TOEFL score which is 525 PBT or 71 iBT. If necessary, one-year pre-freshman intensive
English language preparation is provided by ITU. Upon completion the program
successfully, each student is awarded with two diplomas; one from ITU and one from
MSU.
Degrees offered at graduate level by the Institute of Science and Technology in the fields
of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials and Food Engineering are listed below:
1) Chemical Engineering M.Sc./Ph.D.
2) Food Engineering M.Sc./Ph.D.
3) Materials Engineering M.Sc.
4) Ceramics Engineering M.Sc.
5) Extractive Metallurgy & Technologies M.Sc.
6) Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Ph.D.