QS World University Rankings Europe 2026 Announced: IGU Leads Scientific Productivity in Türkiye!

QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), one of the world’s most prestigious higher education ranking organizations, has released the highly anticipated World University Rankings: Europe 2026. Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU), recognized for its academic performance and global vision, secured its place among the top 500 universities in Europe, reaffirming its academic excellence. According to the latest results, IGU maintained its position as the 4th among foundation universities in Türkiye, while ranking 6th in Europe in the “Citations per Paper” category, which measures the impact of scientific research. The university achieved the 1st place in Türkiye, both overall and among foundation universities, in this category, i.e., citations per paper, marking a remarkable success.

Comprehensive Assessment Across 12 Indicators

In the ranking published by the UK-based QS, universities were evaluated across 12 indicators, including academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per paper, papers per faculty, international research network, employability, faculty-student ratio, international student diversity, international faculty, and sustainability.
Through this extensive evaluation, QS highlighted universities’ performance in global visibility, research strength, teaching resources, and internationalization.

Consistent Advancement in the Global Academic Arena

According to the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2026 results, Istanbul Gelisim University ranked 441st in Europe, continuing its steady upward trend in recent years. In the list evaluating Europe’s top 1000 universities, IGU placed 15th among 107 universities from Türkiye and 24th in the Western Asia ranking. In the foundation universities category, IGU ranked 4^th, following Koç, Sabancı, and Bilkent universities, once again reaffirming its academic success.

IGU’s Exceptional Achievement in Citations per Paper in Europe

Istanbul Gelisim University delivered an outstanding performance in “Citations per Paper,” one of the most critical indicators of the QS ranking. Receiving a full score in this category, IGU strengthened its strong standing in academic production and research impact.
Based on this performance, IGU ranked:
6th in Europe,
1st in Türkiye,
1st among foundation universities
in the “Citations per Paper” category.
IGU also ranked highly in the International Student Diversity indicator, placing 104th in Europe and 3rd in Türkiye, demonstrating its strong progress in internationalization.

“We Continue to Enhance Academic Performance with a Holistic Quality Approach”

IGU Rector Prof. Dr. Bahri Şahin evaluated the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2026 results, stating:
“As Istanbul Gelisim University, we aim to build a research-oriented, sustainable, and internationally engaged higher education ecosystem. The results achieved in the QS World University Rankings demonstrate that our university’s scientific production capacity, the quality of our research outputs, and our collaborations with global academic networks are now reflected quantitatively as well. In line with our goal of becoming a research university, we remain committed to strengthening interdisciplinary studies, increasing the production of internationally visible publications, and enhancing academic performance with a holistic quality approach.”
Istanbul Gelisim University, with its achievements in the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2026, has demonstrated its approach to academic production, research quality, and internationalization, while increasing its global visibility and maintaining its strong position within both European and Turkish higher education.