ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how rankings are impacting Middle East Technical University (METU), a state institution in Ankara, founded in 1956 to serve as an international hub of higher education in the region. It ventures to define a world-class university as one which has maintained stable positions within a given (top) rank band, as reported by more than one internationally recognized global ranking system, over a sustained period. Global university rankings are ultimately about quality and academic excellence at the international level. METU uses global rankings to identify and select partners for collaboration. METU introduced to Turkey, and pioneered, many contemporary academic features in Turkish higher education. The Islamists now have a strong hold on higher education in Turkey. From 1998 on, led by Boazii University, METU, and Technical University (TU), Turkish universities started to apply to the Conference of European Rectors (CRE) for institutional evaluation.
