Middle East Technical University has been making contributions to the world of science and business with its approximately 150 thousand alumni since 1960, the year it had its first graduates. According to the data obtained from around 115 thousand METU alumni who live in various countries of the world including Turkey and are also members of LinkedIn, a social media platform, one out of every five METU graduates lives abroad.
The USA Ranks First
With almost 6 thousand alumni, the United States of America ranks first among the countries where METU alumni live outside Turkey. The number of METU alumni living in Canada, on the other hand, is roughly 1,500. According to these data, METU alumni working in countries in the Americas usually work at some of the most prominent universities such as Stanford and MIT, and some of the largest companies worldwide including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, and Intel. Having graduated from the departments of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Business Administration, METU alumni in the Americas work in engineering education and business development.
METU Alumni in Every European Country
When we look at METU alumni working in Europe, it can be seen that a total of 10 thousand of them live in the countries of the entire European continent. Germany, England, and the Netherlands have the highest population of METU alumni among European countries. Having graduated from such departments as Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Business Administration, and Computer Engineering, METU alumni in Europe continue their studies in the fields of engineering, research, and business development and find jobs in companies operating in many different sectors. Netherlands-based ASML, which contributes to chip production worldwide, seems to be the first choice of METU alumni. World-class companies such as Amazon, Philips, Google, and Booking.Com and leading Dutch universities in the world rankings are among the institutions most preferred by METU alumni.
More than three thousand alumni live in Asian countries. The United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan, and Russia are the top three Asian countries that METU alumni live. Most of the alumni living in these countries are the ones who graduated from departments such as Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Business Administration, and later on continued to work in the fields of operation, business development, and engineering. Among the companies in Asia with the most METU alumni, the top three consist of oil and construction companies.
METU Alumni Even in Antarctica
Similarly, most of the METU alumni living in Australia and New Zealand work in engineering, education, and business development as graduates of the departments of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. When it comes to the variety of sectors, unlike in other continents, METU alumni in Oceania work in some of the most prominent universities of Australia.
METU alumni living in the farthest corners of the world such as Antarctica and Iceland continue their research and sales activities in the fields of food, geology, and oceanography.
METU Alumni in the Administration of World-Class Institutions and Universities
Not only the presidents of many of Turkey’s leading universities are among the METU alumni, but the Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, the best university in the world according to many, is also a graduate of METU: Asuman Özdağlar.
Eren Bali, an entrepreneur and a double-major graduate of METU Mathematics and Computer Engineering Departments, is another shining member of METU alumni. Bali, who previously founded Udemy in 2010 and managed to make it a unicorn (a start-up with a value of over $1 billion), recently came up with his new business venture in the health sector, Carbon Health, which is already worth more than $3 billion with the latest investments it has received.
Last but not least, METU Civil Engineering alumnus Prof. Dr. Behçet Açıkmeşe, currently continuing his studies at the University of Washington, worked in developing the guidance, navigation and control algorithms of Perseverance rover of NASA that landed on Mars and thus took part in the team that made history.
