Ozyegin University adheres the idea of a green university explicitly focusing on improving the impact that buildings and the campus have on the environment. In this direction, OzU cares about the integration of partnerships into education and research. The University has developed several initiatives with professionals and stakeholders. Among them, Sustainable Development Forum founded in 2015 with the collaboration of TUSIAD (Turkish Industry and Business Association) focuses mainly on sustainable development in the business world within the framework of SDGs. By being a part of this global agenda, OzU’s objective is to build a strong dialogue, support the business world with its unique research competences while nourishing and directing its research areas through the developments and needs of the business world. OzU has a broader participation on societal problems related to Istanbul and Turkey. In 2010, OzU CEEE has organized the first Workshop on Istanbul’2050, which brought together people from all walks of society. At the end the Workshop highlighted the challenges Istanbul has been facing. Interestingly, ‘the protection of the soul of Istanbul’ was found to be the most pressing issue; in essence this was the prelude to ‘sustainable cities’ emphasis of the UN SDGs. In 2011 CEEE organized a Conference on Integrated Engineering and Architecture for Sustainable Buildings. It was co-funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Turkish Science and Technology Council (TUBITAK). Since then CEEE is routinely organizing conferences and workshops on sustainable energy and human-building interactions for sustainable buildings. Since 2017, CEEE is also involved with the major effort called Sustainable Anatolia.

Ozyegin University has been emphasizing the principles of sustainable architecture, engineering, education, living and practices since it was established in 2007. Several strong initiatives have been started by the University administration, by the faculty members and most importantly by students which were aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) even before the subsequent announcement of the SDGs. As a result of all these efforts, OzU was ranked the top Turkish university and 72nd out of 450 universities in the overall category of THE Impact rankings globally. Our utmost advice will ‘bring SDGs to the heart of a university through teaching, research and service’.

The University Administration and the Board of Trustees have agreed unanimously on making sustainability one of the pillars of University which is reflected on its new strategic plan 2018-2023. To this end, the University plans to develop more inter-, multi and trans-disciplinary studies that combine the efforts of different academic and administrative units. These new initiatives will not only cover the academic curriculum but also include specific action plans to elevate the research output and impact to a higher level. Two OzU buildings are planned to have further contributions to the University sustainability efforts. OzU-X, a new open innovation coworking hub opened at the heart of the campus. A new Architecture Building is being constructed. This building is designed by combining all sustainable engineering-architecture principles with the sustainable energy emphasis. The University is continually reaching out to the world outside of the campus to transfer the new knowledge developed by its faculty and students to different sectors and businesses. Collaborations with TUSIAD, the plans of the new Center of Excellence for Industry 4.0 Competence and the research and the teaching efforts of the Center for Energy, Environment and Economy are all helping OzU to be one of the most impactful sustainable universities in Turkey and beyond.