Robert College
American Robert College of Istanbul is a highly selective, independent, co-educational, private high school in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded in 1863, Robert College is the oldest continuously operating American school outside the United States. The school has a long list of notable alumni, including scientists, actors, entrepreneurs, politicians, journalists, artists, two Turkish prime ministers, four Bulgarian prime ministers, multiple members of the Turkish cabinet, Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and philanthropist Osman Kavala. Robert College is a member of the G30 Schools group, and is accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools.
The school is situated in a wooded campus on the European side of Istanbul in the Beşiktaş district, with the historic Arnavutköy neighborhood to the east and the upscale Ulus neighborhood to the west.
History
In 1863, Robert College was founded in Bebek by Christopher Robert, a wealthy American philanthropist, and Cyrus Hamlin, a missionary devoted to education. Six years after its foundation, with the permission of the Ottoman Sultan, the first campus was built in Bebek at the ridge of the Rumeli Castle. At the time, the school was very close to a Bektashi tekke, whose leaders maintained an excellent relationship with the Congregational and Presbyterian founders of Robert College, according to Friedrich Schrader, a German lecturer at Robert College during the 1890s. Hamlin, who became the first president of Robert College, was preoccupied with the construction of the campus such that George Washburn acted as the de facto head of the college from 1871 onwards. In 1877, he was officially named president by the trustees. During his tenure between 1877 and 1903, Washburn "gradually assembled a faculty of distinguished scholars who firmly established the college's academic reputation."Christopher Robert died in 1878, leaving a significant portion of his wealth to the college. In that same year, a college catalog was compiled, providing general information and an outline of the courses of study. Defining the aims of the college, the catalog stated: "The object of the College is to give to its students, without distinction of race or religion, a thorough educational equal in all respects to that obtained at a first-class American college and based upon the same general principles."
After Washburn, Robert College was administrated by Caleb Gates. During his presidency, the student body of the school underwent a major demographic transition; whereas the student body previously consisted of Bulgarian, Romanian, and other Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire, the Young Turks' liberalization of policies directed towards foreign schools and an increasing demand amongst Turks for a western education resulted in considerable numbers of Turkish students enrolling. Founded at the time of the Ottoman Empire as an institution of higher learning serving the Christian minorities of the Empire as well as foreigners living in Constantinople, the school adopted a strictly secular educational model in accordance with the republican principles of Turkey in 1923. Robert College, at various points of its existence, had junior high school, high school, and university sections under the names Robert Academy, Robert Yüksek and American College for Girls. Since 1971, the current-day Robert College has functioned only as a "high school" on its Arnavutköy campus, yet it retains the title of "College". The Bebek campus and academic staff were turned over to the Republic of Turkey for use as a public university named Boğaziçi University, the renamed continuation of Robert College's university section.
Major events
- 1863, September 16: Robert College opened with 31 students at Bebek Seminary School.
- 1922: President Caleb Gates and Hüseyin Pektaş attended the Conference of Lausanne representing foreign educational institutions in the Ottoman Empire.
- 1932: With Paul Monroe, the joint presidency system was adopted by Robert College and the American College for Girls. Robert Academy was the preparatory school for Robert College, which had a reputable engineering school. Instruction was bilingual, in Turkish and English.
- 1957: Robert College was granted permission to become an institution of higher learning by the Republic of Turkey; Robert College Yüksek provided university-level instruction and is the precursor of the current Boğaziçi University. Robert Academy remained on the Bebek campus as a private high school.
- 1971: Robert College Yüksek officially closed on 18 May and was renamed Boğaziçi University. The merger of the American College for Girls and Robert Academy as a co-educational private institution with junior high and high schools, on the Arnavutköy campus was officially confirmed in September 1971. Robert College's Bebek campus was donated to the Republic of Turkey. Boğaziçi University was established as a public university on this land.
- 1998: With the adoption of a law calling for eight years of uninterrupted primary education in Turkey, the school stopped accepting students to its junior high school section.
- 2004: The last junior high school students graduated and the school's junior high school section was officially closed. Now, Robert College has Prep, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th grades, and accepts students who have finished compulsory primary education of eight years.
List of presidents and heads
Academics
, as per Turkish Ministry of National Education regulations, Turkish is the instructional language of history and social studies classes.Students
Robert College accepts 180 to 220 students each year, who have scored within the top 0.2 percentile in a nationwide examination, which every Turkish student must take in order to study in a high school after they complete their primary education. The school has around 1000 students each academic year.In the 1998–1999 academic year there were 942 students, with 99% having Turkish nationality.
Circa 1904, the school had about 300 students, with boarding space for about 200. Lucy Mary Jane Garnett wrote in the 1904 work Turkish Life in Town and Country that at that time most of the students were Christian as the college had a requirement for students to attend Christian Sunday church services and chapel services, and "it would be unsafe for any professed Moslem to become either a resident or a daily student" since the Ottoman government would take a dim view of a Muslim going to chapel. In 1904, Greek students made up the majority and other students included significant numbers of Armenians and Bulgarians.
Faculty and staff
The faculty have an average of 20 years of teaching experience and the majority have either Turkish or United States citizenship. The school currently has faculty who are 50% Turkish, and 48% native English speakers. Sixty percent of the full-time faculty hold master's degrees or higher.there were 102 teachers, with 45% being Turkish and 32% being American. Of the teachers, eight were part-time. The school's guidance counselors, as of that year, were English-speaking Turkish citizens.
, as per Turkish Ministry of National Education regulations, the school employs only Turkish citizens to teach history and social studies classes.
, the school pays its foreign employees funds so that their children may attend Istanbul International Community School. If an employee chooses another school, Robert College will pay an equivalent amount.
In 1904, the faculty included Americans, Turks, Armenians, Bulgarians, and Greeks.
Image:RobertCollegePlateau.gif|250px|thumb|Robert College Plateau