History

İTÜ Macka-Faculty of Mines

The Faculty of Mines was established in 1953 in Istanbul. At its first years, the faculty composed of mainly Turkish and German professors, and its program was similar to those days’ famous mining schools such as Aachen, Clausthal and Freiberg.

 
Turkey’s first Mining Engineer with an MS Degree is Ibrahim Ethem Pasa. He was graduated from Ecole des Mines de Paris and served as minister and prime minister in the government. Ibrahim Ethem Pasa is the founder of the short-lived Forestry and Mining School in 1872. In the early days of the Turkish Republic the Higher School of Mining and Industry was established in Zonguldak in 1924, but it was also closed after a short period.
 
Immediately after the establishment of the Mineral Research and Exploration Institute in 1935, a large number of students were sent to the outside countries in the areas of earth sciences and mining. The returning students in 1940’s with degrees taken from famous schools in earth sciences and mining in the world took important roles in Turkey’s newly founded establishments. The older Higher School of Mining and Industry was re-established in 1951 as Zonguldak Mining Technical School under the Ministry of National Education. In 1962, this institution was joined to the ITU Macka Technical School. Although a number of institutions were established/re-established in that period, the continuous Mining Engineering Education was started with the establishment of the Faculty of Mines.
 
The Faculty of Mines accepted its first students in 1953 with a faculty of 11 scientists : Professor Malik Sayar, Ord. Professor Hulki Eren, Ord. Professor Salih Murat Uzdilek, Professor İhsan Ketin, Professor İlhami Civaoğlu, Professor Nusret Kurkcuoglu, Assoc. Professor Kemal Erguvanlı, Assoc. Professor Remziye Hisar, Assoc. Professor Celal Erkman, Associate Professor Mehmet Öğder, and Assoc. Professor Saime Ergener.  
 
Between 1953 and 1960 the Faculty of Mines bestowed their graduates only with an M.S. diploma in Mining Engineering. After 1961, the Metallurgy, Petroleum Engineering and Geological Engineering Departments were established, and in 1963 Mineral Processing and Metallurgy laboratories were started. Until 1972, all the departments graduated the engineers with an MS degree. In 1974 Geophysical Engineering and in 2008 Mineral Processing Engineering Departments were joined to the Faculty of Mines.
Today, the Faculty of Mines with five departments (Mining, Geological, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Geophysical, and Mineral Processing Engineering) and 13 sub-divisions is graduating young and proficient engineers to search, develop and produce underground sources of Turkey.