According to the QS Europe University Rankings 2026 results published by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), Sabancı University rose to 148th place among 958 universities. Marking a remarkable 40-place increase compared to last year, Sabancı University significantly strengthened its position among European universities and further enhanced its international visibility.

SUCool Connect 2026, which brings together Sabancı University's entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem, was held with strong participation on the Altunizade Campus. The event aimed to create a common perspective and interaction space for 2026 by uniting investment, entrepreneurship, academia, and community components on the same platform.

The first panel in a series of events initiated by the Istanbul Policy Center (IPC) as part of preparations for COP31 was held under the title "Venezuela, Greenland, Trump… How Will Geopolitical Upheaval Affect Global Climate Policies?". Moderated by Ümit Şahin, the panel featured Senem Aydın-Düzgit, Altay Atlı, and Soli Özel as speakers.

The article entitled "SUperman: Efficient Permanent Computation on GPUs," co-authored by Deniz Elbek, an undergraduate student in the Computer Science and Engineering Program at Sabancı University, has been published in the journal Computer Physics Communications (Q1).

Associate Professor Umut Şahin, a faculty member at Sabancı University's Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, has been awarded funding for his project under the TÜBİTAK 2509 Bilateral Cooperation Program (Bosphorus) with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2025 call for proposals.

Sabancı University and IMEC, the leading Belgian international research and development organization in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, signed two new project agreements with a total budget of EUR 384.000 to conduct joint research on CMOS 2.0 technology. The CMOS 2.0 projects supported by IMEC will be supervised by our Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences faculty members Özcan Öztürk and Korkut Kaan Tokgöz.

Sabancı University has taken the top spot in Türkiye in the field of Social Sciences. According to the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings by Subject 2026 results, Sabancı University rose from the 201–250 bracket it was in last year to the 151–175 bracket, ranking first among universities from Türkiye.

The results of the 2nd term of the TÜBİTAK-ARDEB 1001 Program for 2025 once again revealed the universities with the top research performance in Türkiye. Sabancı University became the university receiving the most support within the scope of the program, with 27 new projects approved in this call and a budget of approximately 62 million TL. It also stood out with highest project productivity per faculty member, when considering the number of its academic staff.

Sabancı University Creative Technologies Atelier reached 5,809 people throughout 2025 with its training, technology, culture, and social impact-focused activities. 113 training programs and events were held during the year, implemented with a multidisciplinary program structure encompassing different age groups and social segments.

The project titled “R&D&I and Networking Platform for Utilization of Sensor Technologies (SENSOR HUB),” submitted under the coordination of SUNUM in response to the call (DIGITAL-2025-EDIH-AC-08) launched by the European Commission for the establishment of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) in our country, has been awarded funding.