Robert College

Robert College of Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul Özel Amerikan Robert Lisesi or Robert Kolej) is an independent privatehigh school in Turkey. Robert College is a co-educational, boarding school with a 65-acre (260,000 m²) wooded campus on the European side of Istanbul between the two bridges on the Bosphorus, with the Arnavutköy district to the east, and the upscale Ulus district to the west.

The 150-year-old institution is the oldest American school still in existence in its original location outside the United States. Robert College is accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools.

Robert College has a long list of notable alumni, including entrepreneurs, politicians, journalists, artists, two Turkish Prime Ministers, four Bulgarian Prime Ministers, three Turkish members of cabinet and one Nobel Prize recipient, Orhan Pamuk. The School is a member of the G20 Schools group.

History

In 1863, Robert College was founded in Bebek by Christopher Robert, a wealthy American and a philanthropist, and Cyrus Hamlin, a missionary devoted to education. Six years after its foundation, with the permission (Ottoman Turkish: irade‎) of the Ottoman Sultan, the first campus (at present, it is the South Campus of Boğaziçi University) was built in Bebek at the ridge of Rumelia Fortress, very close to a Bektashi tekke, whose leaders maintained an excellent relationship with the Congregational and Presbyterian founders of Robert College, according to Dr Friedrich Schrader, a German lecturer at Robert College during the 1890s. The first building of the school was named "Hamlin Hall" in memory of Cyrus Hamlin. A few years after the foundation of Robert College, in 1878, Christopher Robert died. According to the article, A Millionaire's Will, published in New York Times (November 27, 1878), Robert left a great portion of his wealth to the College.