İstinye University, Istanbul — Admissions, Programs and Tuition

İstinye University is a private university in Istanbul, and what distinguishes it among the city's private institutions is the sheer size of its catalogue: 165 published programs, across all four levels — associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral. Few private universities in our partner directory combine that many programs with that full a range of degree levels.

The real depth of the catalogue is in health. Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing all appear on the published list — pharmacy with 6 entries and nursing with another 6 — and 18 engineering entries sit alongside them. If your target is a health-science degree but you want a serious engineering fallback on the table, both are possible inside one institution.

Instruction is bilingual: 50 programs in English, 115 in Turkish. Annual tuition runs from $5,000 to $29,000 — a spread that is what you would expect from a list that stretches from an associate diploma to medicine. It is also why "tuition at İstinye" is a meaningless figure until you name the program.

The practical advantage here is choice. With 165 published programs and four degree levels, there is a good chance your first choice and one or two acceptable fallbacks all sit within the same university — and that matters during an application, because if the quota on your first choice has closed you do not have to rebuild the file for a different institution.

The honest counterpoint, which an advisor should say out loud: 115 of those 165 programs are in Turkish. A 50-program English catalogue is large for a private university, but if the precise program you want exists only in the Turkish version, a Turkish preparatory year adds a year to your plan. Better to know that before you apply than after you are accepted.

The figure above is the university's own tuition — not our fee. Everything involved in getting you admitted here, from checking your documents to holding your acceptance letter, is done at no cost to you.

Bachelor's admission here, as at other Turkish private universities, is assessed on your high-school record; Iran's national entrance exam plays no part in it. The 50 English-taught programs require a language certificate or a pass in the university's own language exam; for Turkish-taught programs, a Turkish preparatory year is the usual route.

For the master's and doctoral programs on the list, the main criterion is your previous degree and its transcripts, and some programs also ask for a statement of purpose and references. Requirements specific to the health-science programs are confirmed with the university each year.

Like the rest of our partner private universities, İstinye runs rolling admission: there is no fixed, pre-announced application deadline, and each program closes when its own international capacity fills, not on a set calendar date. The main intake is September (fall).

At a university with this much of its catalogue in health science, medicine and dentistry tend to fill before the rest of the list. We check the current position for your target program in the free consultation and on the [tuition page](/en/pricing). The full month-by-month plan for reaching a September start is in our [application deadlines guide](/en/guides/deadlines).

A standard file holds your high-school transcripts and diploma with official translations, a copy of a valid passport, a passport photo and, for English-taught programs, a language certificate. For master's and doctoral applications, the previous degree and its transcripts are added, and some programs also want a statement of purpose and a CV.

Preparing and checking these documents is part of the same free service. At a university with 165 programs the common mistake is naming the wrong program on the application form rather than a missing document, so we match the program and its code against the official list before anything is submitted.

Medicine appears on this university's published list and its tuition sits at the top of the stated range. It is offered in an institution where pharmacy and nursing are part of the same catalogue, so health science here is not a single isolated program.

The specifics of medical admission — grade thresholds, which entrance exams are accepted, and whether the current year's quota is open — are things we confirm with the university each year rather than guess at. Your free consultation covers the current position for that exact program.

Dentistry is also on the published list and, like medicine, sits at the upper end of the tuition range. For Iranian applicants it is usually the most competitive choice at Turkish private universities, which is the concrete reason applying early makes a difference here.

Entry requirements, the documents needed and the places still available for your intended academic year are things we ask the university directly. We will not tell you more than the university has confirmed.

Istanbul is Turkey's largest city, a layered metropolis spread across two continents, and for many students the ferry crossing between Europe and Asia is part of the daily commute. It holds the country's largest concentration of universities, so student life turns up everywhere, from library cafes to cheap lunch spots in almost every district. Public transit is extensive — metro, tram, Marmaray rail under the Bosphorus, and city ferries all work with a single Istanbulkart — though rush-hour traffic tests everyone's patience. It is also Turkey's most expensive city, with rent taking the biggest share of a student budget, which is why shared flats and dormitories are common. Winters are mild and rainy, summers warm and humid.