Today in History – 18 November

İstanbul University begins instruction

Minister of Education Dr. Reşit Galip invited Swiss scholar Prof. Albert Malche to İstanbul to restructure Darülfünun, the oldest and most prestigious school of higher learning in the country that dated back to Ottoman times. Following a four-month period of work, Prof. Malche drafted an unfavorable report stating that the existing structure of the institution was not suited to transform it into a modern university. Thus began an exhaustive process to restructure Darülfünun. Meanwhile, when the Nazis came to power in Germany in January of 1933 and began terminating the employment of Jewish and leftist professors at German universities, a golden opportunity was born to transform Darülfünun into a new university.

The draft bill “On the Dissolution of the İstanbul Darülfünun and its Replacement by İstanbul University under New Rules and Principles” Prime Minister İsmet Pasha presented to the Grand National Assembly was enacted on May 31, 1933. Consequently, a thorough process of elimination was initiated at the Darülfünun and a strong faculty was created with the remaining Darülfünun professors, young minds educated in Europe, and 38 foreign professors fleeing to Turkey.

İstanbul University was inaugurated with a ceremony held on November 18, 1933 and opened its doors to students as a much more progressive institution of education that fulfilled the demands of a modern university