Marmara University was entitled to receive the research university label from the 'Research-Oriented Specialization Program'. At the Research Universities Meeting held at the Ankara Bilkent Hotel by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kurt was given the certificate of our university, which is in the category of research universities,  by Mustafa Varank, Minister of Industry and Technology and  Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar, President of CoHE. 

As a result of the evaluations made within the scope of the "Research and Candidate Research Universities Program" announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the 2017-2018 Academic Year Opening Ceremony, 11 research universities and 5 candidate research universities were accepted to the program. This year, YÖK made some innovations in the Research-Oriented Mission Differentiation Program and it was stated that 20 state universities and 3 foundation universities will take part in the "Research-Oriented Mission Differentiation Programme."

 “Research universities usually attract the best and brightest students of the countries and employ the most qualified academics. These universities, which are central universities providing doctoral-level education, also produce the majority of research outputs. In the hierarchy of academic values, although teaching and consultancy services remain important, research is at the top”, Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar, President of CoHE, said in the ceremony.